Processing the information

The 2011 Census will adopt a similar processing strategy to that used in the 2001 Census.

The 2011 Census questionnaires are designed to be electronically scanned to capture all the ticked responses and hold written answers in digital form. Once information from the questionnaires has been electronically captured in a database, the paper documents will be pulped and recycled. The digital images will be held electronically to be made available as public records after 100 years.

For the first time, questionnaires will also be able to be completed online.

Data processing systems will monitor the quality of the data and calculate adjustments in case of error or omission. They will also adjust for any shortfall in the number of people detected by the census follow-up survey.

It  is anticipated that the data from 2011 Census will be processed much quicker than it was for the previous census. This will allow more time for the extensive quality assurance procedures.