I did my bit for the 2016 Census last evening and completed our household form. No problems with any of the questions - it was very similar to the 2011 census. In my Statistics classes I regularly use census data - students are interested in this source of data and it is relatively easy to understand. For me it is an ideal source of non-normal data for nonparametric data analysis. I'm sure that we'll switch to the 2016 census once the data are released later this year.
![](http://census.ie/app/themes/census/assets/images/census-logo.png)
The
Central Statistics Office makes its data available online and it can be quite fun to go through. Looking at my own
Electoral Division Blackrock-Newpark (CSO Area Code ED 05013) where I live, the population is 2,164 (1,001 males and 1,163 females). Of this, 1,608 respondents said they were Catholic. Just 8 males were reported as single (27 females), while 1,069 were reported as not being able to speak Irish. Only 8 out of 776 households had no central heating - the vast majority of houses (564) were heated by natural gas. As for education, there are 32 people in my local area with PhDs (24 males/8 females), Social sciences, Business and Law was the field of study with the highest number (369). 269 people gave their occupation as Professional Occupations. 641 houses (out of 776) have a computer, while 10 households have four or more cars.
Census data is truly a treasure trove of information. The release of the 1901 and 1911 census data a few years ago was hugely popular, and no doubt in a 100 years time the 2016 census data will be poured over by our descendents (and used in Statistics classes!).
I was disappointed with the "Personal Computer" question. Surely in 2016, the question should have been "how many devices"?
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
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