1970 HUNGARIAN CENSUS OF POPULATION Information on the data collection and processing (1977)

I. THE COMPREHENSIVE REWIEV OF THE DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING - 6. Sampling techniques applied in the census

d/ SURVEYS TAKEN OF THE PERSONS OVER 80 YEARS AFTER THE CENSUS Following the census of 1970 and connected with it, the Central Statistical Office performed a survey of the inhabitants aged 80 years and more in-order to get acquainted with the problems of the aged, being significantly older than the average as well as with the problems of the ageing process. The registration has been executed in two stages, by means of the cooperation of census-takers using identical inquiry forms. The persons registered had to be personally interrogated, but considering their age, if they were unable to give an adequate answer, the census-taker could also accept the answer of a member of the family, or a related person, but this circumstance had to be registered in the column of the remarks. In the first stage, two months after the census performed in January, a full-scale survey of the persons aged 90 years and more was executed. During the census, the inquiry forms of the individuals have been filled in by the census-takers in two copies. The duplicates served as the basis of the survey to be performed in March as well as of the directories. The identical questions put on the occasion of both registrations connected ensured, at the same time, the checking of the accuracy of the answers. Besides, the survey of March which required a written documentation of the date of birth, ensured the possibility of controlling the age of the person. The second phase of the registration was executed by the Central Statistical Office in September: the survey included 5 per cent of the people aged 80-89 years. The selection of the sample took place in several stages. The starting point was the sample of 25 per cent representativity used in the census of January 1970 including each fourth full census district to the sample. The census-taker had to record, in such districts, the name, the year of birth, the address of the persons aged 80-89 years on a separate list (the formula "I" used during the census). Further, the lists have been stratified according to the size of the settlements, then it came to two sorts of procedures. In the case of settlements having more than 5 000 inhabitants, each fifth person became registered, while in the case of.settlements having less, a second stratification followed: then the selection of the settlements has been performed by using random number tables. In these spots each person aged 80-89 years was registered and contributed to the shaping of the sample size of the wanted 5 per cent. In this manner, the proportional representativity could be ensured with different size of the settlements. Consequently, the technique applied was a two-stage stratified sample survey. The registration form ("X/form; inquiry list for the survey of persons born in 1889 or earlier") can be found in the Annex. 56