Publication:Sea Talk Autumn 2007/Putting the people into our planning
Defence Census 2007 - what's in it for you
By CMDR Warren Johnston, RANR*
Wednesday, May 16 is Defence Census Day and organisers are hoping for a record response which will be used to plan the future.
The census, which is conducted every four years, will seek responses from all permanent ADF personnel, Active Reserves, including those on continuous full-time service (CFTS), and APS members.
The 2007 census will involve some 90,000 Defence personnel throughout Australia and in many parts of the world
Already I can hear the cries of 'Not another questionnaire' and 'Why should I fill it in?'. In short, you may ask, what's in it for me?
The answer is, quite a lot.
Like the national census conducted last year, the Defence Census is primarily a means of gathering hard data that describes our members' situations, rather than a survey that assesses opinions, like the Defence Attitude Survey.
Questions seek demographic data, as well as information on pay, accommodation, families and special needs.
By conducting the Defence Census at four yearly intervals, Defence has established a valuable database that is widely used in housing, pay and allowances. It also gives us data that is credible with other Government departments.
Although for comparison purposes most of the questions asked in the census are the same for each census, less useful questions are deleted and new questions introduced. For example, in 2007 permanent ADF members will be asked questions that will assess the impact of the introduction of married with dependants (unaccompanied) (MWD (U)) provisions in 2006.
The Defence census asks more questions than the national census. This is because service people are subject to special conditions, like postings and removals, that affect their families. But questions are vetted carefully to ensure that the information will be used: if the information is simply nice to know it won't be included.
The information from past censuses has been used extensively to improve conditions of service and overall lifestyle of Defence personnel.
This includes the provision of childcare facilities in many Defence establishments, and the procurement of housing and other accommodation in regional areas.
The data is also used to compare life in the ADF with that in the wider Australian community in identifying attractive and unattractive localities, housing ownership and family income levels.
So the census does help us achieve better conditions of service, housing and facilities for families.
Petty Offcer Dave Jenkins is reunited with his daughers after six month deployment to the Persian Gulf. Pic by ABPH Nadia Monteith
A high response rate adds considerable weight to the information gained in a census. The last census in 2003 achieved very good results with the permanent ADF achieving a 70 per cent response rate, ADF Reserves achieving a 43 per cent response rate and Defence APS personnel achieving an excellent 78 per cent response rate.
We would like to achieve even better rates in 2007.
The Defence Census team, consisting of AIRCDRE Ken Birrer, Mr John Hinchy from Roy Morgan Research and myself, has been working for some months to finalise the census questionnaires and recently 'road tested' the draft ADF (Permanent) Census questionnaire with pilot groups in Sydney including two groups of people from the Fleet.
Their input will help to ensure that the census questionnaire is well constructed, easy to understand and simple to complete.
The census team are also putting in place the necessary administrative arrangements to make sure that everyone in Defence will have an opportunity to take part in the census.
Particular care is being taken to ensure that the many members deployed on operations at sea and serving overseas do not miss out on the census activity.
Detailed census information can be found on the Defence Census 2007 website intranet.defence.gov.au/dpe/defencecensus2007/ which, at the time of going to press, was expected to be operational from mid-March. The Defence Census team can be contacted via e-mail at defence.census2007@defence.gov.au
Points worth considering are:
While the census is voluntary, the better the return rate the more valuable the data will be;
Your anonymity and confidentiality are assured. Roy Morgan Research will be responsible for distributing, collecting and analysing the Census data.
The forms will be destroyed after the analysis, and Defence will not be able to identify anybody from the data.
By completing the census you can help make a difference to our conditions of service and the support provided to our families.
- Assistant Manager Defence Census
