The household data collection of the dress rehearsal of the 2020 Census begins today (October 1st) in Poços de Caldas (MG). Nearly 180 IBGE enumerators will visit more than 60 thousand housing units of Poços de Caldas in order to apply the questionnaires of the survey. Data will also be collected in municipalities of more seven states.

It is expected that the visits will begin next Thursday (October 3) in Poços de Caldas. The latest guidelines will be passed on to the field teams along the next two days and the mobile data collection devices, smartphone-like devices, will be loaded.

As the major rehearsal of the 2020 Population Census, the dress rehearsal aims at testing not only the questionnaire, but also all the infrastructure needed to carry out this mega operation, which begins in August next year in the entire country.

The household data collection of the dress rehearsal begins today (October 1st) and finishes on December 2. During this period, the residents of Poços de Caldas can answer the survey directly to the enumerator or through the Internet on https://questionario2020.ibge.gov.br. Those interested in this alternative should ask the enumerator a code and a password to access the online questionnaire.

Two models of questionnaire are available: the basic one, with 26 questions, and the sample one, with 76 questions, which will be applied in 10% of the housing units in Poços de Caldas, randomly selected. Among the subjects raised are characteristics of the housing unit, attributes of each resident – like age, sex and color or race – and information on labor and income, schooling and religion. It is worth mentioning that the collected information is confidential and that one resident can answer for the entire household. 

The tests carried out in the dress rehearsal of Poços de Caldas will serve as the basis to improve systems and procedures, which will be used by the IBGE in the 2020 Population Census. In the census operation next year, the entire national territory will be covered by the enumerators.

Internet data collection is the bet of 2020 Census

As the Brazilian population is more and more connected, the data collection through the Internet is one of the bets of the 2020 Census. Between September 21 and 29, another approach was also tested in Poços de Caldas for this way of filling the questionnaire.

Even before the visit of the enumerator, the residents of Poços de Caldas received a letter with a code and a password to answer the questionnaire online. The housing units that correctly participate in this step will not be visited anymore.

Other Brazilian municipalities involved in dress rehearsal

Poços de Caldas is the only municipality in Brazil in which the dress rehearsal is being applied to the entire population. Yet, some variables of the census operation – like the use of different sampling fractions and the household data collection in high-income condos, subnormal agglomerates, improvised dwellings, quilombola and indigenous lands and localities with persons not speaking Portuguese – are also being tested in other Brazilian municipalities.                                                                           

Areas in the municipalities of Bujari (AC), General Sampaio (CE), Rio de Janeiro (RJ) and São Paulo (SP) will be visited by the enumerators along October, as well as indigenous lands in Jatobá, Tacaratu and Petrolândia (PE). On the other hand, the dress rehearsal in quilombola lands of the municipalities of Restinga Seca and Porto Alegre (RS), and in some areas of Juiz de Fora (MG), will be carried out up to November 25.

Enumerators will work in uniform using cap, vest, bag and badge

In order to identify the enumerators, they will work in uniform during the dress rehearsal, using a blue cap, vest and bag with the IBGE logo. The vest also shows the identification badge, including the photograph, registration and id numbers of the interviewer. The enumerators will also use a mobile data collection device - DMC, like a smartphone.

The informants can check the identity of all interviewers through the https://respondendo.ibge.gov.br website or phone 0800 721 8181.