8146.0 - Household Use of Information Technology, Australia, 2014-15 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 18/02/2016   
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GLOSSARY


Age

The age of a person on their last birthday.

Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED)

The ASCED is a national standard classification which includes all sectors of the Australian education system: that is, schools, vocational education and training, and higher education. The ASCED comprises two classifications: Level of education and Field of education. See Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0).

Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS)

Effective from July 2011, the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) developed by the ABS provides the framework for the collection and dissemination of statistics. See Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001), Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 4 - Significant Urban Areas, Urban Centres and Localities, Section of State, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.004) and Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 5 - Remoteness Structure, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.005).

Country of birth

Country of birth is classified according to the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 2011 (cat. no. 1269.0)

Employed

All persons aged 15 years and over who met one of the following criteria during the reference week:

    • worked for one hour or more for pay, profit, commission or payment in kind, in a job or business or on a farm (employees and owner managers of incorporated or unincorporated enterprises)
    • worked for one hour or more without pay in a family business or on a farm (contributing family workers)
    • were employees who had a job but were not at work and were:
        • away from work for less than four weeks up to the end of the reference week, or
        • away from work for more than four weeks up to the end of the reference week and received pay for some or all of the four week period to the end of the reference week, or
        • away from work as a standard work or shift arrangement, or
        • on strike or locked out, or
        • on workers' compensation and expected to return to their job
    • were owner managers who had a job, business or farm, but were not at work.

Equivalised weekly household income quintiles

Equivalised household income can be viewed as an indicator of the economic resources available to each member of the household. Using equivalised household income enables the direct comparison of the relative incomes of households of different sizes and composition. 'Equivalised household income' is 'Total income' at the household level adjusted using an equivalence scale. 'Total income', also referred to as gross income, is the sum of income received from all sources before any deductions such as income tax, Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge or salary sacrificed amounts are taken out.

Equivalised weekly household income quintiles are derived by ranking households in ascending order according to their total equivalised weekly household income from all sources and dividing the ranked population into five equally sized groups, each comprising 20% of the population. Equivalised household income quintiles for 2014-15 HUIT have been calculated on the full Multipurpose Household Survey sample (of which HUIT is a 50% sample). Quintiles based on the full sample, rather than the smaller sample used to enumerate the HUIT topic, will provide a more accurate estimate of the likely income distribution of the whole population.

While equivalised income generally provides a useful indicator of economic wellbeing, there are some circumstances which present particular difficulties. Some households report extremely low and even negative income, which places them well below the safety net of income support provided by government pensions and allowances. Households may under report their incomes in the survey at all income levels, including low income households. However, households can correctly report low levels of income if they incur losses in their unincorporated business or have negative returns from their other investments. Studies of income and expenditure from the Household Expenditure Survey, Australia (cat. no. 6530.0) have shown that such households in the bottom income decile and with negative gross incomes tend to have expenditure levels that are comparable to those of households with higher income levels. This suggests that these households have access to economic resources such as wealth, or that the instance of low or negative income is temporary, perhaps reflecting business or investment start up.

Greater Capital City Statistical Area (GCCSA)

Represent the socioeconomic area of each of the eight state and territory capital cities as defined in Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 1 - Main Structure and Greater Capital City Statistical Areas, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.001). These boundaries are built from aggregations of whole Statistical Areas Level 4. GCCSA boundaries represent a broad socioeconomic definition of each capital city, they contain not only the urban area of the capital city, but also surrounding and non-urban areas where much of the population has strong links to the capital city, through for example, commuting to work. The whole of the ACT is included in the Greater capital city area.

Hours spent online

Refers to the number of hours spent on the internet in a typical week by persons who accessed the internet for personal use.

Household

A group of two or more related or unrelated people who usually reside in the same dwelling, who regard themselves as a household, and who make common provision for food or other essentials for living; or a person living in a dwelling who makes provision for his/her own food and other essentials for living, without combining with any other person.

Internet user

An internet user is a person aged 15 years or over who accessed the internet for personal use in a typical week.

Level of highest educational attainment

Level of highest educational attainment identifies the highest achievement a person has attained in any area of study. It is not a measurement of the relative importance of different fields of study but a ranking of qualifications and other educational attainments regardless of the particular area of study or the type of institution in which the study was undertaken. Level not determined includes inadequately described responses or where no responses were given. For more information regarding how 'Level of highest educational attainment' is derived, see the coding rules described in Education Variables, June 2014 (cat. no. 1246.0) - The Standard for Highest educational attainment variables, Version 1.6, Collection methods. Level of highest educational attainment is based on the Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED), 2001 (cat. no. 1272.0).

Main English-speaking countries

Refers to the main countries from which Australia receives, or has received, significant numbers of overseas settlers who are likely to speak English. Comprises the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, the United States of America and New Zealand. Classified according to the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 2011 (cat. no. 1269.0).

Mean number of devices

The total number of devices used to access the internet at home by a group of households (e.g. households with children under 15 years), divided by the number of households in that group.

Also available for type of device:
  • Desktop or Laptop computer
  • Mobile or smart phone
  • Tablet
  • Internet connected TV
  • Internet connected music or video player
  • Internet connected games console


Mean number of hours

The total number of hours spent on the internet for personal use in a typical week by a group of persons (e.g. 15–17 year olds), divided by the number of persons in that group.

Mean number of transactions

The total number of transactions made purchasing goods or services over the internet in the last 3 months by a group of persons (e.g. Employed persons), divided by the number of persons in that group.

Not employed

Refers to a combination of those people Not in the labour force and Unemployed. Not in the labour force describes persons who, during the reference week, were neither employed nor unemployed, as defined. Unemployed persons are those aged 15 years and over who were not employed during the reference week and had actively looked for full-time or part-time work at any time in four weeks up to the end of the reference week and were available for work in the reference week; or were waiting to start a new job within four weeks from the end of the reference week and could have started in the reference week if the job had been available then.

Occupation

Occupation is classified according to the ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, 2013, Version 1.2 (cat. no. 1220.0).

Other countries

The group comprises all countries except Australia and the Main English-speaking countries (the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, the United States of America and New Zealand). Classified according to the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC), 2011 (cat. no. 1269.0).

Personal income

Indicates the total income, from all sources, that the person usually receives each year before tax.

Purchasing goods or services online

Refers to persons who purchased or ordered goods or services over the internet in the last 3 months.

Remoteness area

The ABS has defined Remoteness within the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 5 - Remoteness Structure, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.005). The structure defines six Remoteness Areas (RA): Major Cities of Australia; Inner Regional Australia; Outer Regional Australia; Remote Australia; Very Remote Australia; and Migratory. It divides each state and territory into several regions on the basis of their relative access to services. The Remoteness Structure is categorised into Remoteness Areas (RAs). RAs aggregate to states and territories and cover the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps.

The delimitation criteria for RAs are based on the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA), which measures the remoteness of a point based on the physical road distance to the nearest Urban Centre in each of five size classes. The ASGS SA1 boundaries are overlayed onto the ARIA+ grid and an average score is calculated based upon the grid points that are contained within each SA1. The resulting average score determines which remoteness category is allocated to each SA1.
  • Major Cities of Australia - SA1 average ARIA+ value of 0 to 0.2
  • Inner Regional Australia - SA1 average ARIA+ value of greater than 0.2 and less than or equal to 2.4
  • Outer Regional Australia - SA1 average ARIA+ value of greater than 2.4 and less than or equal to 5.92
  • Remote Australia - SA1 average ARIA+ value of greater than 5.92 and less than or equal to 10.53
  • Very Remote Australia - SA1 average ARIA+ value of greater than 10.53

For 2014-15 HUIT the categories of Remote and Very Remote have been combined into one category.

Section of State (SOS)

The ABS has defined SOS within the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS): Volume 4 - Significant Urban Areas, Urban Centres and Localities, Section of State, July 2011 (cat. no. 1270.0.55.004). The structure represents areas of concentrated urban development. It consists of Statistical Areas Level 1 (SA1s) aggregated together to form regions defined according to population density and other criteria. Urban centre and localities (UCLs) can cross state or territory boundaries so the structure therefore does not aggregate to state and territories. The UCL/SOS structure covers the whole of Australia without gaps or overlaps:
  • Major Urban - a combination of all Urban centres with a population of 100,000 or more
  • Other Urban - a combination of all Urban centres with a population between 1,000 to 99,999
  • Bounded Locality - a combination of all bounded localities
  • Rural Balance - represents the remainder of state/territory

For 2014-15 HUIT the categories of Major Urban and Other Urban have been combined into one category called Urban, and the categories of Bounded Locality and Rural Balance have been combined into one category called Rural.

Transactions

Refers to transactions made by persons purchasing or ordering goods or services over the internet in the last 3 months.