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Census Rehearsal took place on 25th April 1999, with the aims
as set out in the Government’s White Paper "The 2001 Census
of Population" (published in March 1999), being:-
"making sure that both the
procedures for delivery and collection of the census forms, and the
systems for processing the data and producing outputs, will be
effective. It will also be used as the final opportunity, before
laying of draft Census Orders , to assess the reaction of the public
to the proposed census questions."
The
test covered some 5,000 households throughout Northern Ireland areas
chosen to include a cross-section of the population and types of
housing found in the country as a whole, for example, areas with
high levels of multi-occupancy, student accommodation, hotels and
holiday accommodation, various ethnic minority groups, rural areas,
and areas with a cross section of Irish speakers. A
sample of 19 Enumeration Districts located in the Coleraine and
Limavady areas were used.
Questions on all required
topics were included on the Census forms used in the rehearsal.
Additionally, a question on income was also included to assist the
Government in making a final decision on whether or not to propose
to include the question in the Census itself. As a result of this
procedure, the proposed income question was dropped from the 2001
Census.
An
extensive testing process of the form scanning and data recognition
software being used was conducted as part of the rehearsal. This
involved the creation of an exhaustive set of test forms that were
processed using the systems that were used for the 2001 Census. The
data produced was compared with pre-prepared output and the results
used to fine-tune the processing system. The process was repeated
until full system functionality was obtained.
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