2011 Census and the PAT

I have just started working for StatsSA on the 2011 census. It is a month of hard work doing training and then making contact with the respondents in the area in which I will be working. We all have to get information from the 150 households in our designated areas. After today's training I thought of databases and the PAT.

• In the PAT you need to find information. In the Census the government wants to get information.
• In the PAT data collected has to be in a format which can be analysed. In the Census data is in a number format which can be analysed.
• In the PAT data collected is meant to be confidential. In the Census all information collected is confidential.
• In the PAT you often give a questionnaire a number to help with sorting and checking. In the Census questionnaires are also given a code for checking purposes.

Between 10 and 31 October households will have enumerators visiting them with questionnaires that need to be completed for the Census. Make sure you see them. As you look at them, think PAT.