USING THE CSF AND FILE STRUCTURES

ABOUT THE DATA ITEMS

The full classification structures for all CSF data items can be found in the Census Dictionary, 2011 (cat. no. 2901.0).

Many of the classifications in the CSF have been collapsed and the full listings of the CSF classifications are detailed in the Data items lists in the Downloads tab.

OVERSEAS VISITORS

For the 2011 Census, overseas visitors are separately categorised in standard tabulations (where the table population is 'all persons' and with the exception of the Age, Sex and Marital Status tables). For overseas visitors, the only variables available are Age (AGEP), Sex (SEXP) and Registered Marital Status (MSTP). In all other person variables an Overseas visitor category appears in order to separately designate overseas visitors when compiling tables.

DWELLING INDICATOR FOR PERSONS

The DWIP (Dwelling Indicator for Persons) variable was introduced in 2006 as a way of enabling users of the CSF to more easily distinguish between those people enumerated in private dwellings and those enumerated in non-private dwellings (without the need to link to the household file).

The DWIP variable applies to all persons enumerated in an occupied private dwelling or non-private dwelling. Categories are:

1 Enumerated in an occupied private dwelling
2 Enumerated in a non-private dwelling.

As migratory, off-shore and shipping areas were not included in the sample, there is no `Not applicable' category for this variable.

GEOGRAPHIC AREAS

The CSF contains information on the geographic area of selected dwellings. For 2011, geographic areas in the CSF have been based on the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). This replaces the Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) used in previous CSFs.

To ensure that the information on the file is not likely to enable identification of a person or household, all areas have been defined using a minimum population size from the full Census data set. For the 1% Basic CSF the minimum population size is 250,000 persons (except for the Northern Territory which has a total population of 234,000 persons). For the 5% Expanded CSF the minimum population size is 124,000 persons. All regions can be aggregated to the state level. Records have been randomly ordered within a region to further reduce the likelihood of individual identification.

Geographic regions have been formed from Statistical Areas Level 4 (1% Basic CURF) and Statistical Areas Level 3 (5% Expanded CURF) and are the basis of the following data items: AREAENUM (Area of enumeration), REGUCP (Region of usual residence on Census night), REGU1P (Region of usual residence 1 year ago) and REGU5P (Region of usual residence 5 years ago) data items. A list of the regions is available in the Downloads tab.

RECORD TYPES AND STRUCTURES

There are three types of records: dwelling, family and person records. For the purposes of the CSF these records are stored in three separate files.

The data in the CSF are hierarchical in structure with one or more families in each dwelling and one or more people in each family. The dwelling, family and person level variables included on the file, and the codes used to describe the values within each variable. A complete list of all data items included on the Basic (1%) and Expanded (5%) CSF are provided in Excel spreadsheets located in the Downloads tab.

The dwelling, family and person records can be linked to each other through their respective record IDs: ABSHID – Dwelling (Household) ID, ABSFID – Family ID, and ABSPID – Person ID.

FILE STRUCTURE

CSF 1% Basic CURF file contents

CSV

These files contain Dwelling, Family and Person Level CURF data in a comma delimited ASCII text format.
CSF11 BD.csv
CSF11BF.csv
CSF11BP.csv

SAS

These files contain Dwelling, Family and Person level data for the CURF in SAS for Windows format:
CSF11BD.sas7bdat contains the Dwelling level data
CSF11BF.sas7bdat contains the Family level data
CSF11BP.sas7bdat contains the Person level data

SPSS

These files contain Dwelling, Family and Person level data for the CURF in SPSS for Windows format:
CSF11BD.sav contains the Dwelling level data
CSF11BF.sav contains the Family level data
CSF11BP.sav contains the Person level data

STATA

These files contain Dwelling, Family and Person level data for the CURF in STATA format:
CSF11BD.dta contains the Dwelling level data
CSF11BF.dta contains the Family level data
CSF11BP.dta contains the Person level data

Information Files

FORMATS.sas7bcat
This file is a SAS library containing formats.

CSF11.SAS
This file contains a SAS program to run the SAS formats.

Important Information CD ROM Census Sample File. PDF
This file contains details to sale and use of ABS microdata.

FREQUENCY FILES
These files contain one-way frequencies of all the data items in an ASCII text format.
CSF11BD_freq.txt
CSF11BF_freq.txt
CSF11BP_freq.txt

CSF 5% Expanded CURF file contents

SAS
These files contain the data for the CURF in SAS for Windows format:
CSF11ED.sas7bdat contains the Dwelling level data
CSF11EF.sas7bdat contains the Family level data
CSF11EP.sas7bdat contains the Person level data

SPSS
These files contain the data for the CURF in SPSS for Windows format:
CSF11ED.sav contains the Dwelling level data
CSF11EF.sav contains the Family level data
CSF11EP.sav contains the Person level data

STATA
These files contain the data for the CURF in STATA format:
CSF11ED.dta contains the Dwelling level data
CSF11EF.dta contains the Family level data
CSF11EP.dta contains the Person level data

Information Files

FORMATS.sas7bcat
This file is a SAS library containing formats.

FREQUENCY FILES
These files contain one-way frequencies of all the data items in an ASCII text format.
CSF11ED_freq.txt
CSF11EF_freq.txt
CSF11EP_freq.txt

CONFIDENTIALISATION OF RECORDS

The CSF is released under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 which provides that data may be released in the form of unit records where the information is not likely to enable the identification of a particular person. Accordingly there are no names or addresses of respondents on the CSF and other steps have been taken to protect the confidentiality of respondents. These include:

• restricting the data items included on the CSF
• reducing the level of detail shown on the CSF for some data items
• changing some characteristics within individual persons records
• limiting the size of households on the CSF.