Central Bureau of Statistics, the government body that conducts census and surveys, commented in its Population and Housing Census 2011 report that it had faced challenges in maintaining the quality of data.

Officials at the bureau are getting more concerned about the quality of data as it prepares to incorporate more than 70 questions in the questionnaire for respondents in the Population and Housing Census coming up at the end of the current fiscal year.

They are of the view that a high number of questions may irritate the respondents who may not provide quality data. The lack of reliable data about a person, family, and community could lead to bad policymaking from the government agencies.

“After the country entered into federalism, there is a growing demand for data from the provincial and local levels. Various social groups are also demanding that the questions related to them be also included in the questionnaire,” said Tirtha Raj Chaulagain, information officer at the bureau. “But, we are apprehensive of the possibility of unreliable information from respondents, if the questionnaire is too long.”

The bureau said that the census to be completed by 2021 will be the most comprehensive yet, surveying not just households but also livestock, household amenities, and community infrastructure.

Moreover, instead of using a sampling method to infer larger trends in the population, the bureau plans to reach out to every household and collect data directly, thereby creating a whole picture.

“There will be 15 to 20 questions related to community infrastructure and facilities, which were not part of the 2011 census,” said Chaulagain. The questions related to livestock and housing will be an additional burden on the respondents, he added.

There is also demand from the transgender community to collect data about the LGBTIs (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex), according to bureau officials.

The bureau wants to conduct a separate survey on transgenders as their efforts to collect data on them didn’t produce reliable data in the past because the respondents probably didn’t want to discuss different sexual orientations of some family members.

The bureau usually records the responses from the main person at a household for the census.

According to last census, the country has just 1,500 LGBTIs but the LGBTI community claims that the number of third gender people is around 900,000.

“If they insist on incorporating questions about LGBTIs in the census, we are ready to do so. But they should not oppose publications of the report about them,” said Dhundiraj Lamichhane, director at the bureau.

As demanded by LGBTI rights’ campaigners, the bureau did not publish new data on them after the 2011 census.

According to Suman Raj Aryal, former director-general of the bureau, there is the need for keeping the questionnaire short for not just the quality of data, but also to limit the cost of holding censuses in the future.

The bureau expects to spend more than Rs4.5 billion in the upcoming census, a considerable jump from Rs1.5 billion last time around.

Aryal, however, said there are no fixed standards regarding the number of questions.

Based on the questionnaire, the bureau will conduct a pilot census in one district in each province starting February next year.

Officials told the Post they will make necessary improvements in the questionnaire after looking at the results of the pilot census.

The final census is planned to be held from June 7 to June 21 next year.