Cape Town - Just over a year after Stats SA suspended face-to-face data collection due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation's Survey Officers (SOs) have returned to the field to collect data for a household survey.
Statistician-General Risenga Maluleke said: “We are conducting field visits to ensure data integrity for household surveys amid Covid-19 restrictions.
“SOs will go into the field every month to collect contact information from the households they will be contacting to participate in that month’s data collection,” he said.
The visits should be fairly short, as they are only collecting contact details for someone who will be able to answer the questions for the whole household, he said.
StatsSA said that the SOs have been trained in Covid-19 health protocols, and have been issued with the relevant personal protective equipment. They will complete a screening questionnaire and temperature check before being allowed into the field.
Stats SA spokesperson Felicia Sithole said: “Today (Wednesday) is our second day of data collection. Once the contact details have been collected, the SOs will work from home and do telephonic data collection.
“Households that have been selected to participate in the Quarterly Labour Force Survey will be contacted four times in the year; households who have been selected to participate in one of the other surveys such as the general household survey, the domestic tourism survey or our governance, public safety and justice surveys, will be contacted for completion of the questionnaire once,” Sithole said.
Sithole said the SOs will wear Stats SA-branded bibs and have been issued with Stats SA ID cards, and letters explaining the nature of the data collection they are doing.
Households can verify that the person collecting information from them is legitimate by going online, via the call centre on 0800 110 248, or the nearest district office.
Cape Argus