Abstract

Information Technology is one of the important factors in the release of timely and accurate statistics to the data users by the National Statistics Office (NSO). The NSO uses different types of IT resources. The use of the handheld computers in data capture is being tested by the NSO in a number of survey operations. Data capture here means two things: firstly, as data encoding machine after data collection, and secondly, as direct means (without questionnaire) of capturing the information while interviewing the respondent. The Handheld Personal Computer (HPC) as data encoding device was first tested in the 1998 Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS). Its relevance was proven when the APIS results were released to the public merely four months after the survey operation. The HPC as a direct data capture machine, replacing the written questionnaire has, however, hitherto not yet been tried in any of the NSO surveys. Actually this was the original intention for acquiring the HPCs but because of some delays in the acquisition, these were just used as data entry machines. The objective of this research paper is to use the HPC for direct capture in the Labor Force Survey. It is the main intention of this study to show that through the use of the HPCs, the LFS results can be released earlier than the third month of the quarter. However, since this research study was applied only to two areas of Laguna, the paper will show only how much time was consumed in the processing of the results and generation of pertinent statistical tables. In addition to this, the use of HPCs will reduce the cost of conducting the LFS because printing and shipping the questionnaires will no longer be necessary. The expenses of procuring supplies and materials like diskettes, etc. will also be reduced with the use of HPCs in direct data capture.