Nonresponse and Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Enumeration Areas

Metka Zaletel and Vasja Vehovar

The data from national registers (Central Register of Population, Tax Register, Register of Territorial Units, Register of Housing Units), Census '91 data and some other sources (e.g., Telephone Directory) were merged at the level of enumeration areas for the whole territory of Slovenia. There are about 9,000 enumeration areas with around 65 households each. The centroids of the building and the altitudes were also included as there exists a strong correlation between interviewing costs and altitude of the responding household. In addition to Census and administrative data the survey data from telephone and face-to-face surveys were also included, especially non-response, refusal and non-contacted rates, and the travel expenses of the interviewers. All these data were used to build the model of detailed geo-demographic stratification of the country. The model enables us to conduct more efficient sample designs, to minimize costs of surveys and to reduce non-response rates by adjusting interviewers' training for "more difficult" areas.