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Application of Information Technology in the 2011 Population Census of Macao, China. Government of Macao Special Administrative Region Statistics and Census Service. 2011 Population Census. Conducted in August 2011, for the duration of 15 days 13 work branches, distributed geographically
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Application of Information Technology in the 2011 Population Census of Macao, China Government of Macao Special Administrative Region Statistics and Census Service
2011 Population Census • Conducted in August 2011, for the duration of 15 days • 13 work branches, distributed geographically • A total of around 240,000 building units covered, in which 28,000 using long forms
Data collection • Short form: • Paper-based questionnaires, scanned and recognized at each work branch • Web-based e-questionnaire • Long form: • Interactive enumeration software system
Application of Information Technology (IT) • CATI call centre • OCR & marks recognition • SMS • E-questionnaire • Tablet PC
E-questionnaire • Immediate validation • Submission through SSL encryption • 9% of the building units using equestionnaire for data submission
Benefits: e-questionnaire • At the convenience of households • No more time restriction • Higher response rate • Better data quality
Use of tablet PC • Feasibility study started in 2009 • Tablet PC processing power • Wi-Fi reliability • Battery life • Data security
Tablet PC: hardware • Dual Core low power CPU • 10.1” touch screen • Solid state storage drive • Wi-Fi connectivity • 0.97kg weight • Battery life is enough for a full work shift
Partially completed Completed Could not be contacted Test data for demo purpose
Benefits: tablet PC • Improving data quality • Facilitating skip pattern of the questionnaire • Maps and photos of entrances • Tight integration with other subsystems to get up-to-date information (e.g. appointments, remarks) • More efficient work and progress monitoring
Challenges: tablet PC • Data security • Battery life • User interface
Data security • Data at rest stored on the tablet PC storage media • Data in transit during synchronization
Data at rest • Login password protection (OS and enumeration system) • Basic user privileges for census officers • Use of the enumeration software system • Data synchronization • File system level encryption of the local database files • Census officers do not have access to the decryption key • USB flash drives disabled
Data in transit • From tablet PC to work branch • Wi-Fi 802.11n WPA2 • IPsec/L2TP VPN using digital certificates • From work branch to HQ • Private network infrastructure • IPsec VPN tunneling
User interface • Colour-coded questions • Appropriately distanced buttons for touch operation • Touch friendly keyboard • Questions grouped in tabs instead of scrolling • Experience and feedback from pilot census
Printed reports Digital reports Geographic Information System (GIS) Data dissemination
Future development • Possibility of full time connectivity • Reduce use of SMS • Speed up notifications • Two-way communications • Broader use of tablet PC • In other surveys • Devices of other form factors