CAI is widely acknowledged to be the most important technological development in the survey process in recent decades. Social Survey Division (SSD) of ONS pioneered the use in the UK of CAI for large-scale complex household surveys for official statistics. Its first CAI survey, the quarterly Labour Force Survey, started in production in 1990. Other existing and new surveys followed, and by 1994 SSD had moved over completely to CAI. Today, SSD remains at the forefront in the use of survey technology for data collection and processing.
The proposed paper will discuss the impact of introducing this major new technology in the UK's national statistical institute. One focus will examine the impact against the objectives of producing better quality data, faster and cheaper. Another focus will be on changes in the survey process, looking particularly at the strategic options and reasons for the particular choices made by SSD. The paper will make international comparisons with other national statistical institutes and agencies which carry out surveys for official statistics. It will look forward to the strategic issues of the coming decade.
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