THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAMBIA

SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

THE DEPARTMENT OF POPULATION STUDIES.

NAME: MWAMBA MWAMBA

COMPUTER NUMBER: 13004026

COURSE: DEMO 2110

ASSIGNMENT: TWO.

LECTURER: MS. KALINDI.

TUTOR: MS. SIWALE.

TUTORIAL DAY: THURSDAY, 15-16 HOURS.

DUE DATE: FRIDAY, 12TH DECEMBER, 2014.

QUESTION: DISCUSS IN DETAIL THE CONTENTS OF THE CENSUS. DEVISE A

MECHANISM OF CAPTURING HARD TO REACH POPULATIONS.

The escalating population changes scourging the world over the years have created a need for

a more systematic and effective measure of population change such as the census. As such,

the first part of this paper will look at key definitions in relation to the census. Secondly, it

will touch on its brief history through the years, as well as expand its contents in much more

detail and lastly devise a more apt mechanism of capturing hard to reach populations. A

synopsis will be available at the end of the paper with reference to the findings.

The United Nations (1998) describes the census as total process of collecting, compiling,

evaluating and disseminating demographic, social and other data at a specified time covering

all persons in a country or in a well-delimited part of a country.

The census is a primary source of the basic statistics on the size, distribution and composition

of a population, covering not only the settled population but also homeless persons and

nomadic groups. Data from censuses is necessary to plan for, and implement, economic,

social development and scientific research which allows for presentation and analysis on a

wide variety of geographical units ranging from the country as a whole to individuals (Meyer,

1994).

Censuses have been taking place for thousands of years all over the world, with the first

known census undertaken nearly 6000 years ago by the Babylonians in 3800 BC. There are

records to suggest that this census was undertaken every 6 or 7 years and counted the number

of people and livestock, as well as quantities of honey, milk, wool and vegetables. The

Roman censuses lasted about 800 years. Citizens and their property were inventoried for

fiscal and military purposes. This enumeration was extended to the entire Roman Empire in 5

BC. The first major modern census, using a household form, was the so-called Great Census

of 1841. This census was notable for the introduction of the de facto system of enumeration

where everyone present in the household on census night was included on the census form

where they spent the night, as well as the first ever constructed anywhere ‘Life tables for the

civic and rural districts of the country’ (Bauer, 2008).

The traditional census is among the most complex and massive peacetime exercises a nation

undertakes. It requires mapping the entire country, mobilizing and training an army of

enumerators, conducting a massive public campaign, canvassing all households, collecting

individual information, compiling vast amounts of completed questionnaires, and analysing

and disseminating the data. Traditionally, the census process is carried out in a 5-10 year

period of enumeration. Unlike other forms of conventional data collection such as sample

surveys or vital registration system which happens yearly, the census takes about a decade to

happen in most First and Third World countries. This has been the international standard time

of enumeration set by the United Nations Population Division since the population census

was regarded as main source of data (Oostervyk, 2006).

A census has a number of features that act as a framework for proper enumeration and

collection of data. These features are individual enumeration, universality within a defined

territory, simultaneity and defined periodicity.

Individual enumeration lists persons individually along with their specified characteristics.

However, in some earlier types of censuses, the “group enumeration” method is employed,

whereby the number of adult males, adult females, and children is tallied within each group

or family. This procedure was widely practiced in most of the enumerations of the Third

World populations during the colonial era. The first few censuses of the United States

represented a variation of such group enumeration methods. The main disadvantage of this

method is that no greater detail on characteristics can be provided in the tabulations than that

contained in the tally cells themselves. Tabulation becomes a process of mere summation. It

is impossible to cross-classify characteristics unless they were tallied in cross-classification

during the enumeration (Siegel, 2004).

Censuses should be taken at defined periods so that comparable information is made

available in a fixed sequence. A series of censuses makes it possible to assess the past,

accurately describe the present and make future population projections. It is recommended

that a national census be taken at least every 10 years. For international comparability, the

United Nations suggests that censuses be taken as closely as possible to the year ending with

‘0’ (Ibid).

Simultaneity suggests that each person and each set of living quarters should be enumerated

as of the same well-defined point in time and the data collected should refer to a well-defined

period. The time-reference period need not be identical for all of the data collected. For most

of the data, it will be the day of the census; in some instances, it may be a period prior to the

census (United Nations, 2008).

Universality within a defined territory entails that the census should cover a defined territory

(for example, the entire country or a well-delimited part of it). The population census should

include every person present and/or residing within its scope, depending upon the type of

population count required. The housing census should include every set of living quarters

regardless of type. When these ideals cannot be met for some reason such as enemy

occupation of part of the country in wartime, then the type of coverage attempted and

achieved should be fully described in the census report (USDC, 1985).

Census data, besides these features, has a wide range of contents that can be summed up to

social, economic, demographic and educational characteristics of the population to be

enumerated.

Education is among the major contents of a census, which essentially interplays with the

social aspect of a population. It is a basic human right and is of central importance to the

economic and social development of a nation. Educational attainment is among the most

prominent of collected data. It is the highest grade completed within the most advanced level

attended in the educational system of the country where the education was received. This data

takes into account education and training received in all types of organized educational

institutions, particularly at tertiary, secondary or primary level regardless if it was provided at

a regular institution. Likewise, it can also be used to reduce illiteracy levels by increasing

school enrolment, as well as the recruitment of educational personnel with close reference to

the findings. (Central Statistical Office, 2000).

Furthermore, education statistics is used to calculate the net school attendance rate which

measures the percentage of the school-age population that is attending a designated level of

education. The net attendance rate is used to determine the extent of under and over age

school attendance in an education system (Ibid).

Another vital characteristic is the economic aspect of a population. As individuals engage in

economic activities for the consumption of goods and services to sustain their lives, economic

statistics provides demographers with data on employment status, economic dependency and

labour force participation and national planning (International Labour Office, 2002).

Employment status for a population is important for the government to map how many jobs

are to be created, by looking at both the working age population and number of people in the

labour force. Besides this, economic statistics provides data on dependency. If there is a large

number of young persons and the old above 65 years who are dependent on the working age

population, then there is need to reduce the dependency burden by creating more jobs to

boost growth. Lastly, these statistics are necessary for planning the national budget and for

accurate calculation of the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita of a country (Central

Statistical Office, 2010).

The demographic aspect of the population census looks at information on the age and sex

structure. Age being the time interval between the date of birth and the date of the census,

expressed in completed solar years. Efforts should be made to ascertain the precise age of

each person, particularly of children under 15 years of age. Sex, together with age, represents

the most basic type of demographic information collected about individuals in censuses, as

well as through administrative recording systems, and the cross-classification of these data

with other characteristics forms the basis of most analyses of the social and demographic

characteristics of the population such as fertility, migration and mortality. Fertility being the

childbearing performance of a population is closely monitored by demographers as it shows

the growing patterns of a population, as well its use of contraceptive methods and effects of

non-demographic factors such as income and education on fertility. Mortality, which is of

great importance in the calculation of the life expectancy, as well other subfields such as

morbidity and epidemiology (United Nations, 2008).

In addition, migration patterns are also mapped by looking at why many people move from

rural to urban areas, as well as a much broader scope such as international migration. The

stock of international migrants is the set of persons who have ever changed their country of

usual residence. These persons who have spent at least a year of their lives in a country other

than the one in which they live at the time the data are gathered. The country of birth and

country of citizenship must be recorded in the census. Collected data is important to record

year of arrival in the country so as to establish length of stay in the country of international

migrants (United Nations, 1998).

Social characteristics of a population census include features such as household composition,

which is the number of people in a home, their sexes as well employment status and whether

there is a family nucleus present or not. Another feature is the voting population, being the

age group of people eligible to take part in the electoral process of government, usually above

18years. Census collects information on the number of registered voters at the time of

enumeration. This is found by cross-classifying the population with voting age and

determining who is eligible to vote. Besides this, marital status is a social feature found in

census questionnaires which is the categorization of the population in relation to whether an

individual has never been married, is married, cohabiting, separated, divorced or widowed

(Weeks, 2008).

Disability is also among the much observed characteristics of a census. Disability is the

impairment problem, activity limitations as well as participation limitations faced by the

human body. These are walking, seeing, hearing and cognition. Census data can be utilized

for planning programmes and services (prevention and rehabilitation), monitoring selected

aspects of disability trends in a country, services that promote the equalization of

opportunities, and for international comparison of selected aspects of disability prevalence in

countries (World Health Organisation, 2001).

Furthermore, another characteristic of a census is ethnicity, which is the tribal group that one

identifies himself with. Data on ethnicity provides information on how diverse a population is

and can be used to identify its subgroups. Areas of study that rely on such data include

demographic trends, employment practices and opportunities, income distributions,

educational levels, migration patterns and trends, family composition and structure, social

support networks, and health conditions of a population (Preston, 2001).

However, most census data has challenges of undercount due to the recurring phenomenon of

hard to reach populations that pose great difficulty to the correctness and accuracy of data

collected. Hard to reach populations refer to minority groups, such as immigrants and can

also be used to refer to ‘hidden populations’, groups of people who do not wish to be found

or contacted, such as illegal drug users or gang members and may also refer to people with

disabilities The persons concerned do not wish to disclose that they are members of this

population because their behaviour is socially stigmatised such as prostitutes. People living in

areas to which access is difficult such as damaged road networks or mountainous landscapes.

It also encompasses street kids or the homeless, who have no usual place of residence.

Likewise, nomadic groups are increasingly hard to count due to their ever changing location,

which proves difficult for enumerators to collect data (Sydor, 2013).

One technique used to collect data on the hard to reach population is snowball sampling.

Snowball sampling may simply be defined as a technique for finding research subjects. It is a

link-tracing methodology that is used often for qualitative research. In essence, the technique

relies on a series of referrals that are made within a circle of people who know each other or

are loosely connected. The respondent is asked to name other persons that fit the criteria

described by the researcher. The newly identified persons are then interviewed and in turn

asked to nominate others that fit the criteria and so on. This strategy can be viewed as a

response to overcoming the problem associated with sampling concealed populations such as

the criminal and the isolated (Faugier, 1997).

Snowball sampling may be applied as a more formal methodology for making inferences

about a population of individuals who have been difficult to enumerate through the use of

descending methods such as household surveys. A range of advantages have been claimed for

snowball sampling. It has enabled access to previously hidden populations. Often members of

such populations may be involved in activities that are considered deviant, such as drug

taking or they may be vulnerable, such as stigmatized in society, making them reluctant to

take part in formal studies using traditional research methods (Atkinson, 2001).

The other method that can be used to capture hidden populations is the respondent driven

sampling (RSD). Respondent-driven sampling derives a principle from studies of incentive

systems. Enumerators will target individuals and they will promise them a coupon or reward

if they respond to certain questions. Whenever a person is recruited, the recruiter is paid. The

coupon has two parts and the recruiter will present his part of the coupon when he comes to

claim his remuneration. At that point it can be checked that the other part corresponds to a

questionnaire that has been filled in. The person recruited, who is also paid for filling out the

questionnaire, in turn receives the same number of coupons. A higher sum can be paid for the

recruitment of persons with certain characteristics (e.g. women). The survey is stopped when

the size of the sample has been reached and the composition of the sample is stable in terms

of those characteristics that form the subject matter of the research (Heckathorn, 1997).

Unlike snowball sampling, RSD involves a dual incentive system where a reward is given for

being interviewed, otherwise known as primary reward, plus a reward for recruiting others

into the study (secondary reward). In addition, RSD does not require subjects to identify their

peers to the enumerator, but only to recruit them into the study. This makes dealing with

populations that are subject to stigma and social oppression such as prostitutes and drug

dealers easier (Ibid).

In conclusion, censuses are the most widely used method of population data collection and

have thus far provided both First and Third World Countries with data on demographic issues

such as age and sex, economic status, social and cultural situation of a population as well as

issues of international migration. However, census data collection is not easy as enumerators

face challenges such as geographical barriers, nomadic groups, and stigmatised members of

society such as prostitutes, disabled people and drug dealers who shun away from being

counted, thus invalidating the accuracy of the census. Nonetheless, it is possible for these

minority groups to be fairly counted in the census using the sampling techniques mentioned.

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