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

I. THE COMPREHENSIVE REWIEV OF THE DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING - 8. The electronic data processing of the census of 1970

The data published reflect the frequencies of the corrections performed, as calculated for an average county. Mechanical correction In this chapter the absurd (not interpretable) code numbers as well as special notions which only exceptionally occur, have been examined. As far as the task is concerned which aimed at the selecting of the right code numbers enumerated in the instructions, 0,22 per cent of the codings had to be corrected, while 19,1 per cent i. e. each fifth correction originated from mechanical error. The low frequencies point to the rather successful performance of the mechanical procedure of the coding. At the same time, the conclusion might be drawn that the coding staff, in the knowledge of the mechanical procedure, had badly recorded the code-numbers, and that resulted sometimes in absurd coding. It also happened that the persons performing card punching activity, made mistakes when reading the code-numbers. For instance 0 could be read for 6 or 9, or 1 could be taken for 4, and so on, but an absurd code-number like this was impossible in the case of the notion in question. The correcting of the basis criteria As soon as during the coding and punching, separate control activities were performed in order to test of the reliability of the selected basis criteria. The efforts were successful, mainly if we take into consideration that 0, 99 per cent of the conceptual errors and 19, 06 per cent of the total errors committed might concern basis criteria. But when considering that the majority of the errors originated from the wrong qualification of the family status, and the error of this kind also affected other persons belonging to the household, leaving aside the family status, the proportion of the errors originating from the logical examination of the causal chain of the basis criteria, amounted to 0,19 per cent, i. e. 2, 76 per cent when considering the total errors. The correction of the family status could be rather simply performed by means of transformation, since even in the case of of the wrong qualification of the head of the household from the demographic aspect, the family status of the other members of the household could remain acceptable, to be the starting point of the corrections to be performed. For instance, the mother-in-law has been registered as the head of the household; her married daughter was recorded as "child", while the husband of the latter as the "spouse of the child." From the point of view of the census, the right sequence is the following: the son-in-law should be registrated as the head of the household; the daughter as the spouse and the person in question is the mother-in-law. The correction of the composition of the families and households During the preparatory activities, it has been decided that the composition of the material concerning the families and households be made by means of computers and not by manual techniques. By means of the latter, a restricted number of items have been coded with each person registrated; as for instance, to which household living in the flat does the person belong; what is his status within the household; to which family does he belong within the latter arid, finally, what is his family status. The right classification was impeded more or less by the fact that the census-taker had to code ac80