QUICK GUIDE 5 - KEY QUANTITATIVE METHODS QUICK GUIDE 5 - KEY QUANTITATIVE METHODS The following steps are recommended: 1 Identify the date of the next Official Census.2 2 United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), Census dates for all countries: https:// unstats.un.org/unsd/ demographic/sources/census/ censusdates.htm 2 Examine the questionnaire from the most recent official census to see how and if citizenship status (including statelessness) status was recorded and investigate whether a question on citizenship status is planned for the upcoming official census. 6 Once the questions have been included, provide input to any official census training manuals or participate in any physical training of enumerators to help them understand key concepts related to nationality and statelessness, any follow-up questions to clarify responses to questions on and related to nationality and how to code such responses. 46 3 Obtain early drafts of the questionnaire and questions for the upcoming official census. 4 Look critically at the wording of the nationality question, if any, and suggest the inclusion of specific response options “stateless/no citizenship” and “citizenship unknown,” if these options do not already exist. 7 Consider sensitizing communities that are known to be stateless or have a high proportion of stateless persons about the upcoming census exercise. This can include assurances that the census will not be used to the detriment of respondents, and information on the content U N H C R > R E S E A R C H I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S - Q U I C K G U I D E S 5 Propose other proxy questions that might be relevant for identifying statelessness, especially if cross-tabulated with the response to the question on nationality (e.g. questions related to ethnicity, migration nationality and place of birth of parents, and documentation as noted above). Adding a census question is very costly and must be balanced with other policy needs by the Government, but there may be some synergies with vital statistics needs which could be used to justify new questions. 8 and meaning of questions related to citizenship and migration. It is important to ensure that in the course of sensitizing stateless communities about an upcoming census exercise that the community is not coached to respond to census questions in a particular manner. U N H C R > R E S E A R C H I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S - Q U I C K G U I D E S Advocate for pilots of the questionnaire before the official census is taken, including of questions related to nationality. Data from such tests should be analysed and evaluated to confirm whether the census is capturing statelessness effectively and accurately. 47