Data Processing
Data Editing
Data Processing System
The introduction of internet technology and GIS in the 2010 Population and Housing Census has made the census more technically advanced than the previous ones. Compared to the data processing of the 2000 Population and Housing Census the techniques and technological abilities of the NSO have advanced. The central office - National Statistical Office has used an internal network with 1000 Mbps speed, an independent internet line with 2048 Kbps speed and server computers with special equipments to ensure the reliable function of internal and external networks and confidentiality. The Law on Statistics, the Law on Population and Housing Census, the guidelines of the safety of statistical information systems and policies, the provisional guidelines on the use of census and survey raw data by the users, the guidelines on receiving, entering and validating census data have created a legal basis for census data processing.
The data-entry network was set up separately from the network of the organization in order to ensure the safety and confidentiality of the data. The network was organized by using the windows platform and managed by a separate domain controller. Computers where the census data will be entered were linked to this server computer and a safety devise was set up to protect data loss and fixing. Data backup was done twice daily at 15:10 hour
and 22:10 hour by auto archive and the full day archive was stored in tape at 23:00 hour everyday.
The essential resources of important equipments and tools were prepared in order to provide continuous function of all equipment, to be able to carry out urgent repairs when needed, and to return the equipment to normal function. The computer where the census data would be entered and other necessary equipment were purchased by the state budget. For the data processing, the latest packages of software programs (CSPro, SPSS) were used. Also, software programs for the computer assisted coding and checking were developed on NET within the network framework.
INTERNET CENSUS DATA PROCESSING
One of the specific features of the 2010 Population and Housing Census was e-enumeration of Mongolian citizens living abroad for longer period. The development of a web based software and a website, and other specific measures were taken in line with the coordination of the General Authority for State Registration, the National Data Centre, and the Central Intelligence Agency in relation to ensuring the confidentiality of data. Some difficulties were
encountered in sharing information between government agencies and ensuring the safety and confidentiality of census data due to limited professional and organizational experience, also because it was the first attempt to enumerate its citizens online.
The main software to be used for online registration, getting permission to get login and filling in the census questionnaire online as well as receiving a reply was developed by the NSO using a symphony framework and the web service was provided by the National Data Centre.
Due to the different technological conditions for citizens living and working abroad and the lack of certain levels of technological knowledge for some people the diplomatic representative offices from Mongolia in different countries printed out the online-census questionnaire and asked citizens to fill in and deliver them to the NSO in Mongolia. During the data processing stage these filled in questionnaires were key-entered into the system and checked against the main census database to avoid duplication.
CODING OF DATA, DATA-ENTRY AND VALIDATION
Additional 136 workers were contracted temporarily to complete the census data processing and disseminate the results to the users within a short period of time. Due to limited work spaces all of them were divided into six groups and worked in two shifts with equipments set up in three rooms and connected to the network. A total of six team leaders and 130 operators worked on data processing. The census questionnaires were checked by
the ad hoc bureau staff at the respective levels and submitted to the NSO according to the intended schedule.
These organizational measures were taken to ensure continuity of the census data processing that included stages of receiving the census documents, coding the questionnaire, key-entering into the system and validating the data. Coding was started on December 13, 2010 and the data-entry on January 7, 2011. Data entering of the post-enumeration survey and verification were completed by April 16, 2011. Data checking and validation started on April 18, 2011 and was completed on May 5, 2011. The automatic editing and imputation based on scripts written by the PHCB staff was completed on May 10, 2011 and the results tabulation was started.
