Abstract

Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) collects a wealth of information on HH income and expenditure, such as source of income by industry, HH expenditure on goods and services, and income and expenditure associated with subsistence production and consumption. In addition to this, HIES collects information on sectoral and thematic areas, such as education, health, labour force, primary activities, transport, information and communication, transfers and remittances, food expenditure (as a proxy for HH food consumption and nutrition analysis), and gender.

The Pacific Islands regionally standardized HIES instruments and procedures were adopted by the Government of Tokelau for the 2015/16 Tokelau HIES. These standards were designed to feed high-quality data to HIES data end users for:

1. deriving expenditure weights and other useful data for the revision of the consumer price index;
2. supplementing the data available for use in compiling official estimates of various components in the System of National Accounts;
3. supplementing the data available for production of the balance of payments; and
4. gathering information on poverty lines and the incidence of poverty in Tokelau.

The data allow for the production of useful indicators and information on the sectors covered in the survey, including providing data to inform indicators under the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This report, the above listed outputs, and any thematic analyses of HIES data, collectively provide information to assist with social and economic planning and policy formation.

Geographic coverage

National coverage.

Analysis unit

Households and Individuals.

Universe

The universe of the 2015/16 Tokelau Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) is all occupied households (HHs) in Tokelau. HHs are the sampling unit, defined as a group of people (related or not) who pool their money, cook and eat together. It is not the physical structure (dwelling) in which people live. The HH must have been living in Tokelau for a period of six months, or have had the intention to live in Tokelau for a period of twelve months in order to be included in the survey.

Household members covered in the survey include: -usual residents currently living in the HH; -usual residents who are temporarily away (e.g., for work or a holiday); -usual residents who are away for an extended period, but are financially dependent on, or supporting, the HH (e.g., students living in school dormitories outside Tokelau, or a provider working overseas who hasn't formed or joined another HH in the host country) and plan to return; -persons who frequently come and go from the HH, but consider the HH being interviewed as their main place of stay; -any person who lives with the HH and is employed (paid or in-kind) as a domestic worker and who shares accommodation and eats with the host HH; and -visitors currently living with the HH for a period of six months or more.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

The 2015/16 Tokelau Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) sampling approach was designed to generate reliable results at the national level. That is, the survey was not designed to produce reliable results at any lower level, such as for the three individual atolls. The reason for this is partly budgetary constraint, but also because the HIES will serve its primary objectives with a sample size that will provide reliable national aggregates.

The sampling frame used for the random selection of HHs was from December 2013, i.e. the HH listing updated in the 2013 Population Count.

The 2015/16 Tokelau HIES had a quota of 120 HHs. The sample covered all three populated atolls in Tokelau (Fakaofo, Nukunonu and Atafu) and the sample was evenly allocated between the three atoll clusters (i.e., 40 HHs per atoll surveyed over a ten-month period). The HHs within each cluster were randomly selected using a single-stage selection process.

In addition to the 120 selected HHs, 60 HHs (20 per cluster) were randomly selected as replacement HHs to ensure that the desired sample was met. The replacement HHs were only approached for interview in the case that one of the primarily selected HHs could not be interviewed.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaires for this Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) are composed of a diary and 4 modules published in English and in Tokelauan. All English questionnaires and modules are provided as external resources.

Here is the list of the questionnaires for this 2015-2016 HIES: - Diary: week 1 an 2; - Module 1: Demographic information (Household listing, Demographic profile, Activities, Educational status, Communication status...); - Module 2: Household expenditure (Housing characteristics, Housing tenure expenditure, Utilities and communication, Land and home...etc); - Module 3: Individual expenditure (Education, Health, Clothing, Communication, Luxury items, Alcohonl & tobacco); - Module 4: Household and individual income (Wages and salary, Agricultural and forestry activities, Fishing gathering and hunting activities, livestock and aquaculture activities...etc).

Cleaning operations

All inconsistencies and missing values were corrected using a variety of methods: 1. Manual correction: verified on actual questionnaires (double check on the form, questionnaire notes, local knowledge, manual verifications) 2. Subjective: the answer is obvious and be deducted from other questions 3. Donor hot deck: the value is imputed based on similar characteristics from other HHs or individuals (see example below) 4. Donor median: the missing or outliers were imputed from similar items reported median value 5. Record deletion: the record was filled by mistake and had to be removed.

Several questions used the hotdeck method of imputation to impute missing and outlying values. This method can use one to three dimensions and is dependent on which section and module the question was placed. The process works by placing correct values in a coded matrix. For example in Tokelau the “Drink Alcohol” questions used a three dimension hotdeck to store in-range reported data. The constraining dimensions used are AGE, SEX and RELATIONSHIP questions and act as a key for the hotdeck. On the first pass the valid yes/no responses are place into this 3-dimension hotdeck. On the second pass the data in the matrix is updated one person at a time. If a “Drink Alcohol” question contained a missing response then the person's coded age, sex and relationship key is searched in the “valid” matrix. Once a key is found the result contained in the matrix is imputed for the missing value. The first preferred method to correct missing or outlying data is the manual correction (trying to obtain the real value, it could have been miss-keyed or reported incorrectly). If the manual correction was unsuccessful at correcting the values, a subjective approach was used, the next method would be the hotdeck, then the donor median and the last correction is the record deletion. The survey procedure and enumeration team structure allow for in-round data entry, which gives the field staff the opportunity to correct the data by manual review and by using the entry system-generated error messages. This process was designed to improve data quality. The data entry system used system-controlled entry, interactive coding and validity and consistency checks. Despite the validity and consistency checks put in place, the data still required cleaning. The cleaning was a two-stage process, which included manual cleaning while referencing the questionnaire, whereas the second stage involved computer-assisted code verification and, in some cases, imputation. Once the data were clean, verified and consistent, they were recoded to form a final aggregated database, consisting of: Person level record - characteristics of every (household) HH member, including activity and education profile; HH level record - characteristics of the dwelling and access to services; Final aggregated income - all HH income streams, by category and type; Final aggregated expenditure - all HH expenditure items, by category and type.

The cleaning was a two-stage process, which included manual cleaning while referencing the questionnaire, whereas the second stage involved computer-assisted code verification and, in some cases, imputation. Once the data were clean, verified and consistent, they were recoded to form a final aggregated database.

Response rate

Overall, 99% of the response rate objective was achieved.

Sampling error estimates

Refer to Appendix 2 of the Tokelau 2015/2016 Household Income and Expenditure Survey report attached as an external resource.