More than 26,000 households will receive a visit from Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) this year, including households across Northern Tasmania.
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ABS have a permanent base of about 28 interviewers around Tasmania,12 of them are based in the north.
But ABS programme manager for data acquisition and provider management Andrew Henderson said many people did not realise surveys were conducted all year round.
The Census was the survey most people knew about, Mr Henderson said.
The Labour Force Survey was an eight-month, compulsory survey, where households are randomly selected.
It is the most regular of the surveys, although several others are conducted each year, including supplementary surveys into health and education.
Most people were initially unaware they had been chosen as notification letters were often thrown out because they were addressed as ‘to the household’, he said.
It meant it could be quite a surprise then to find an interviewer on your doorstep, but there were a few ways to verify they were the real deal, Mr Henderson said.
Interviewers were only meant to work if they had visible photo ID on them and were authorised to go to the door, but only go inside if they were invited, he said.
Initial interviews took about 35 minutes and usually covered the basic demographics, employment status, how many people were in the household, and education level attained.
After the first interview, people had the opportunity to choose whether they continued with online, face-to-face or telephone interviews.
The Labour Force Survey was an “once in a lifetime” event for most people.
“We’re perfectly happy to ring and confirm they’ve been selected.”
Participating in the survey was compulsory if their household was chosen, but homeowners could tell interviewers to return another day if the timing did not suit them, Mr Henderson said.
Launceston resident Mandy Kidd took to social media after receiving an impromptu visit on a Sunday afternoon from an interviewer.
Concerned she might have received an unauthorised visitor, her Facebook post attracted a plethora of comments from others about their survey experiences.
“It calmed me down, otherwise I wouldn’t have slept that night.”