Questionnaire development

The questions on the 2011 Census in England and Wales were researched, tested and rehearsed to make sure the resulting data would be high quality.

2007 test and 2009 rehearsal questionnaires

Describes the questions that were tested during the 2007 Census Test in England and Wales.
Finalising the 2011 questionnaire

Details and justifies the recommended questions for the 2011 Census in England and Wales.
Considering the income question

Before excluding an income question on the 2011 Census, ONS considered the impact on response rates, field operations, public perception and the quality of data.
Equality impact assessments for the 2011 Census

Equality impact assessments were conducted to identify the potential impact of the census design.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) engaged in a programme of consultation, question development and testing to finalise the content of the 2011 Census questionnaire.

New questions were developed for topics where there was a new demand for information, and existing questions were redeveloped to account for increasing or changing user requirements. Initial meetings focused on ethnicity and identity questions in particular.

A key part of this development programme was the 2007 Census Test, where some newly developed questions were used on a large scale for the first time. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its plans and proposed questions in the White Paper ‘Helping to shape tomorrow’ in December 2008 (see Census legislation). This was followed up with comprehensive testing across three local authorities during the 2009 Rehearsal. After some further research and testing, the final recommendations for the 2011 Census questions were published.