IBGE starts today the attended training program for the 209,826 applicants approved for the second selection phase of Census 2010 enumerators...

IBGE starts today the attended training program for the 209,826 applicants approved for the second selection phase of Census 2010 enumerators. This group, spread around the 5,565 Brazilian municipalities, will have classes until next Friday (23) and will do a test on Saturday (24), after which 191,972 of them will be selected to begin data collection for the Census, on August 1^st.

As the only survey that visits all the Brazilian households (about 58 million), the Census will enable us to know more about the life conditions of the population in each Brazilian municipality. From information collected by enumerators, Brazil will be prepared to make plans for the 10 coming years: these data will help define public policies at national, state and municipal level, besides helping the private segment with investment-related decisions.

Most applicants are women and youngsters

Women make up the majority of future enumerators (58%), as well as young people: about 45% of the applicants are between18 to 25 years. Strength to work, however, does not depend on age: there are five over 80 years of age.

In only eight of the 27 Federation Units (UFs), the number of male enumerators is bigger than that of female ones – Amapá, in the North Region; and Alagoas, Ceará, Maranhão, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí and Rio Grande do Norte, all of them located in the Northeast Region.

Acre and Roraima are the only two Federation Units that do not have enumerators with special needs. On the other hand, Minas Gerais and São Paulo, each one with 27 professionals, are the two states where one can find the biggest number of persons with special needs in the group of future enumerators. Among the Five enumerators over 80 years of age, the oldest one – who is 87 – is in Goiânia. Three others are in São Paulo and one in Rio de Janeiro.

During data collection, the identities of all of them may be confirmed through the telephone number 0800-7218181. It will also be possible to check if someone is a Census 2010 enumerator on the page (www.censo2010.ibge.gov.br), accessible from the IBGE web site, on the link www.censo2010.ibge.gov.br/recenseadores.php.

Future enumerators will learn how to use a handheld computer

After the release of data of the first selection phase, the 209 thousand applicants received a self-instruction manual, the Enumerator’s Manual, the Enumerator’ s Study Guide, and the Starting Test, which was handed in completed this Monday (07/19).

The methodological proposal for training, including attended training and distance learning, was developed by IBGE, and Senac Rio was hired for the elaboration of instructional products – manuals, video classes and distance courses. In order to make the material more attractive, practice books, video classes and CDs have been included. With this material, enumerators will learn what the Census is, how important it is, and how to classify dwellers and households, besides finding out how to use the handheld computer (PDA) that will be their working tool during data collection in interviews.

On this second phase – attended training – applicants’ knowledge will be evaluated and they will study more deeply the basic concepts of Census 2010, allowing IBGE to improve data handling. These professionals will also be taught how to conduct and interview and how to behave in case of a sudden problem. They will also have the chance of dealing with a handheld computer (PDA).

The used of handheld computer equipped with GPS (Global Positioning System), which allows the identification of precise coordinates of position in the territory) in the questionnaire is part of a series of innovations first completely computerized census in Brazil. For example, there will be real-time monitoring of enumerators’ work: the information will be transmitted to a system that will provide reports and graphs, displaying the progress of data collection and the number of households covered and persons interviewed.

Computerized data collection will lead to an earlier release of Census results. Besides, supervision and management systems, programmed with previously-know information about municipalities and census sectors, will performs immediate editing, identifies possible coverage mistakes and  automates the end of collection and the subsequent payment of enumerators when their work is done. The transmission of data to IBGE will be done from about 7,000 collection units which are being installed all over the country.

See below the handheld computer developed especially for Census 2010.

Enumerators start field work in two weeks

From August 1st on, the enumerators approved in the training will start household interviews for the XII Population Census. For about three months, these professionals will visit all the households in the country, in the 5,565 Brazilian municipalities.

It will be possible to indentify enumerators by their identity card (with their name and photograph), by the data collection apparatus (PDA) and by their uniform (a Census 2010 vest and cap).

Each enumerator will manage his working hours, in order to be able to interview at least one resident from all the households assigned to him. In case the enumerator cannot find the residents during the business hours, he or she will have to visit the household in the evening or even on the weekend. Another new fact in the 2010 Census is the possibility of filling out the questionnaire on the Internet. This is only possible after the enumerator’s visit, in which he or she will give the resident an envelope with codes to access the questionnaire on a safe, cryptographed web page. This measure ensures secrecy of information. It must be pointed out that the questionnaire will not be available on the IBGE web page, and it will be impossible to access it before the enumerator’s interview. Besides, IBGE will not send any e-mail asking for questionnaire completion.

IBGE counts on the population’s cooperation for the success of Census 2010: enumerators will not require documents which prove the veracity of information given. Therefore, the Institute expects Brazilians answer the questionnaires correctly, so that we can make a precise portrait of Brazil and of its people’s life conditions.

The census will show who we are and how we live

Census 2010 will reveal a new portrait of Brazilian society, a group of demographic, socio-economic and housing-related data. By investigating the characteristics of households, family ties, fertility, education, labor, income, color and race, disability and religion, among others, the Census will lie on the basis of public and private planning in the coming decade. Being widely discussed with specialists and users and in accordance with international recommendations, the 2010 Census questionnaire will contain questions that can measure social changes effected since the last census edition, in 2000.

Among the new issues concerning households, the Census will investigate the existence of an electricity gauge; of a cell phone, a motorcycle and Internet access; if any resident has emigrated to another country and if there is more than one person responsible for the household, among others.

Enumerators will enquire household members about the existence of birth registers for persons aged up to 10; if someone receives income from social programs; how long it takes them to commute to work; the ethnicity or people they belong to and the language they speak (in case of Indian populations) and the existence of same-sex partners.

These and other facts about Census 2010 can be obtained from the 2010 Census Guide for Journalists” (a publication in Portuguese), that is available for download and consultation in the “Sala de Imprensa” section on IBGE website (version in Portuguese) https://www.ibge.gov.br/home/presidencia/noticias. As a list of questions and answers, the guide is easy to understand and presents detailed aspect of this big operation.