4714.0 - National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, 2014-15  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 28/04/2016   
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QUALITY DECLARATION—SUMMARY


Institutional environment

For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.

Relevance

The 2014–15 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) provides information on a range of demographic, social, environmental and economic indicators, including: personal and household characteristics; geography; language and cultural activities; social networks and support; health and disability; education; employment; stressors; income; housing; and crime, law, and justice. Information from the 2014–15 NATSISS contributes to existing data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the formulation of government policies and legislation.

This is the fourth social survey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians conducted by the ABS. The previous surveys were conducted in 2008 and 2002, and the first survey, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey (NATSIS), was conducted in 1994.

Timeliness

Data from the survey are released within twelve months of the completion of enumeration.

Accuracy

Estimates from the NATSISS are subject to sampling and non-sampling errors. Information on sampling and non-sampling errors is provided in the Technical Note.

The NATSISS was designed to produce reliable estimates at the national level and for each state and territory.

Only estimates (numbers and proportions) with RSEs less than 25% are considered sufficiently reliable for most purposes. Estimates with RSEs between 25% and 50% have been included and are annotated to indicate they are subject to high sample variability and should be used with caution. In addition, estimates with RSEs greater than 50% have also been included and annotated to indicate they are considered too unreliable for general use.

Coherence

Supporting documentation provided with this release can assist in understanding the relationships between data variables within the dataset. The Explanatory notes contain relevant information for this release. Further information on comparisons to the 2008 NATSISS is provided in Appendix 1, and Appendix 2 provides information on comparisons with data from other sources. In addition, there is a full list of data items available in spreadsheet format from the Downloads tab.

Interpretability

Detailed information on the terminology, classifications and other technical aspects associated with the NATSISS can be found in the Explanatory notes, Technical Note and Glossary included with this release. More information will be available in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey: Users' Guide, 2014–15 (cat. no. 4720.0), planned for release in May 2016.

Accessibility

Tabulated data and associated RSEs are available in Excel spreadsheets which can be accessed from the Downloads tab.

It is expected that a TableBuilder and an expanded Confidentialised Unit Record File (CURF) will be produced from the NATSISS, subject to the approval of the Australian Statistician. The expanded CURF will be available via Remote Access Data Laboratory (RADL) and ABS Data Laboratory (ABSDL), and the TableBuilder will be accessible via the ABS website, using a secure log-on portal. For further details, refer to the Microdata Entry Page on the ABS website. It is expected that the TableBuilder will be available in May 2016, and the expanded CURF will be available in July 2016.

Data are also available on request. Note that detailed data can be subject to high relative standard errors which in some cases may result in data being confidentialised. A data item list is available from the Downloads tab.

For more information about this survey and associated products contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics on 1800 633 216 or email ncatsis@abs.gov.au.