slawomir nalecz, ph. d. - ccss.jhu.edu

Sharing the Experience of

Volunteer Work Measurement.

Lessons from pioneer implementation of

the ILO methodology by

the Central Statistical Office of Poland

Slawomir Nalecz, Ph. D. Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences

Social Surveys and Living Conditions Department

Central Statistical Office of Poland

Plan of the presentation

I. Reasons and aims for Volunteer Work

Measurement

II. Basic facts on research work connected with

VWM

III. Lessons from the implementation of VWM

by CSO of Poland

IV. Next steps

The presentation is based on research work

of Central Statistical Office of Poland

Reasons and aims (1)

Social Surveys Department of CSO initiated the work on

Volunteer Work Module (VWM) to get data on several

issues within the scope of the department area of

responsibility:

Non-profit Sector and Social Economy

• volunteers as vital part of social base of the Civil

Society Organizations (social structure of volunteers),

• development of Non-profit Sector Satellite Account

(monetary value of volunteering),

• filling the data gaps on some types of nonprofits.



Reasons and aims (2)

Other research topics addressed with the Volunteer Work

Measurement:

Human capital

- volunteer work as an unmeasured part of the country’s

labour force and labour value

Social capital

- volunteer work as a gauge of Poles’ engagement in

various types of social networks (prevalence of various

types of social capital in the society)



Basic facts about CSO research on

volunteer work measurement : Timetable (1)



When? What happened?

Nov. 2009 Strategy for Development of the Third Sector & Social Capital

Statistics adopted by the Board of Public Statistics.

Fall 2009 Preparation of Pilot VWM questionnaire by Social Surveys

Department of CSO

March

2010 Pilot VWM fieldwork done by 2 local Statistical Offices

March

2010 CSO Poland representative became a member of ILO

Technical Expert Group on Measurement of Vol. Work

May 2010 Concluding meetings with Pilot VWM interviewers

Summer

2010 Adjustment of the VWM pilot questionnaire and the survey

design – by Social Survey Department CSO

Basic facts about CSO research on

volunteer work measurement : Timetable (2)



When? What happened?

Oct. 2010 The work on VWM passed to Labour Dep. CSO

Feb. 2011 Training for local coordinators of VWM fieldwork

I-III 2011 VWM fieldwork - all Stat. Offices headed by SO Gdańsk

Feb.- March

2011 Social Cohesion Survey fieldwork realised by all (regional)

statistical offices headed by Living Conditions Department

June 2011 The work on VWM passed back to Social Surveys Dep.

June-Nov.

2011 Cleaning, recoding, weighting, value estimation for the

preliminary results - Social Surveys Dep. CSO

Dec. 2011 Preliminary results presented - conference concluding EYV

Basic facts about surveys used for VWM :

population and sample



VW Module attached to LFS

2011

Social Cohesion Survey 2011

Popul-

ation

Residents of Poland aged

15+ living in non-institution-

alized households

Non-institutionalized

households and their

members aged 16 or more

Sam-

pling

frame

Households and all their

members,15+, selected for

LFS in 1. quarter of 2011

Households and one

randomly selected member

in each household, in

February-March 2011


realized samples and completion rates



VW Module 2011 Social Cohesion

Survey 2011

Realized sample size 13.5 thousand 13.3 thousand

Completion rate as to

LFS realized sample

94% (households)

63%

(head count)

-

Completion rate as to

original sample

64,1%

(households)

55,1%

(head count)


survey type



VW Module 2011 Social Cohesion Survey

2011

Respondent selection in the household

All, 15+ inhabitants

present

1 inhabitant, 16+, selected

according special random

procedure

Data

collection

Face-to-face, self-

completion available

Face-to-face

Administra-

tion method

PAPI PAPI


questionnaire (1)



VW Module 2011 SCS 2011

Handling

the term

‘volunteer

work’

No direct translation of volunteering or vol.

work in the VWM – such terms are not

rooted in Polish context or have too limited

scope (e.g. volunteering – only in

organisations).

The VW – is described as non-compulsory,

contribution of free time with no intention

for remuneration, for the benefit of

organizations, environment, society or

individuals (excluding only the help to

members of respondent’s own household).

No questions on

direct VW here.

The same

descriptive

language -

focused on

volunteering in

organisations or

institutions


questionnaire (2)




Order of

questions

on VW

Cognitively based sequence of questions

allows to avoid posing general open-ended

questions at the beginning of the

questionnaire => helps to shorten the

interview.

Completely

different,

multidimensional

questionnaire.

Questions

on direct

VW

The questionnaire starts with 4 questions on

the VW for (1) relatives, (2) friends / neig-

bours, (3) strangers, (4) society / environ-

ment during last 4 weeks

No such

questions.

Details on

direct VW

No. of hours & type of work are recorded

(ISCO-08) in a table below the 4 questions

No such

questions.


questionnaire (3)




Questions

on the

VW in or

through

organisa-

tions/insti

-tutions

-After asking about well-known forms of indivi-

dual engagement come the questions on less

popular volunteering in organisations.

- Most popular forms of them (associations,

foundations, churches, Fire Brigades, Parents

School Committees etc.) are mentioned in the

general question on organised VW, but many

more organisations types are listed on a

card the respondent gets during the interview.

- To balance possible seasonal variation 2

questions on organised volunteering were

posed: (1) in last 4 weeks, (2) – during last

year (2010).

- The list of

org./institution

s is shorter,

but compa-

tible with the

one in the

VWM.

- Resp. are

asked about

each item se-

partely and

tell frequency

of their VW.


questionnaire – coding (4)




Details

on the

volun-

teer

work in

organisa

tions

In the table following the 2 questions on

volunteering many pieces of information are

recorded:

(1) No. of hours volunteered,

(2) type of work – depicted with

occupational codes of ISCO-08 standard,

(3) institutional type of organisation

(association, church, co-op, government, for-

profit firm) according to groups

(4) main field of the org. activity was coded:

- with ICNPO & ISIC in Pilot VWM 2010,

- with ICNPO only - in VWM 2011.

Information on

major

institutional types

of organisations

is conveyed

through answers

on 9 questions

described

above.

Basic facts about VWM survey:

additional materials for interviewers (1)

1) Cards specifying types of organisations for which VW

was contributed according to:

- main field of their activity (ICNPO convergent

classification) – CARD A,

- legal form and institutional type – CARD B.

2) Card specifying types of organisations to which

respondent may belong to as a member – CARD C

(similar to CARD B)



Basic facts about VWM survey:

additional materials for interviewers (2) 1 ) Cards specifing types of organizations for which VW was contributed acording to:

2) - main field of their ac tivity (ICNPO convergent c lassificatoin) – CARD A,

- legal form and institutional type – CARD B

3) Guidelines on completion the VW Module containing:

aims of the research,

tasks of interviewers and local statistical offices,

definition of the VW and other specific terms used,

guidelines on selection of respondents and interview administration,

instructions how to use the questionnaire, tables, cards,

tables with examples of typical WV types specifying proper ISCO-08 codes (4 digits),

tables with examples of coding typical organisations in which the WV may occur making use of Card A and Card B).



Basic facts on surveys used for VWM :

VWM compared to LFS and its other modules

* Proxy respondents were excluded. There were extra 5 easy

questions concerning methodological issues. The presentation is based on research work


LFS LFS modules Pilot VWM

2010

VW Module

2011

No. of

variables 143

40

(29-48) 70 61

Interview

duration (m) 11.1

6.5

(5.4-7.4) 13.5* 9.4

No. of var.

per minute 12.9 6.2 5.2 6.5

Basic facts about VWM survey: unfavourable conditions for VWM 2011 realization

1) Overloaded interviewers (3 other big surveys launched during

the same period + preparations for National Census).

2) Relatively big questionnaire of VWM and new subject of the

research demanded extra effort from interviewers.

3) No extra stimuli encouraging interviewers nor respondents to

engage in the VW Module.

4) The sample for the VW Module was the „rotating out”

subsample – for which interviewers not always visit the

households and make a telephone interview instead; this also

hampered proper administration of the VW Module.




significant differences in the org. volunteering rates



Volunteer work through organisations during last

4 weeks and during previous year

VW Module

2011

Social Cohesion

Survey 2011

Volunteer rates level

*

**

Questioning and data One question +

explanation +

card

9 questions on volunteering frequency;

data translated into last 4 weeks

and previous year


triangulation and calibration of the VWM 2011

The comparison of results and conditions, in which the VW

Module 2011 was realised with the Pilot VWM 2010

and SCS 2011 as well as checking of the structure of

VWM 2011 data against other 2 surveys and CBOS

survey* (triangulation) allowed us to prepare the

weighting procedures.



* CBOS – In April 2011 Public Opinion Research Centre carried out a survey using nearly

the same questions as in VW Module and the results were on the same level as in SCS

2011 and Pilot VWM 2010.

Lessons (1)

To guarantee proper conditions of the interview (real

access to households members) other group of LFS

interviewees should be considered than just the ones

which are interviewed in LFS for the 4th and last time.

=> Ideally each of the 4 visits to the household should be

used to try interview the household members with VWM.

Alternative solution are:

- strong motivation techniques (including proper training

for all interviewers, extra motivation for respondents) &

- extra measures of the interviewing quality control.



Lessons (2)

To avoid unwilling interactions between the

VW Module and Unregistered Employment

Module – the same respondents of LFS

respondents should not be surveyed with this

two modules.

Before launching the VW Module for the first

time or after several years break – enough

effort must be made to provide proper

training for the interviewers.



Lessons (3)

Proxy responses must not be used in the VWM :

proxy respondents give twice lower number of volunteer work declarations than normal respondents;

being a proxy respondent strongly decreases the number of declared types of VW even within best educated, urban, well-paid and aptly aged groups;

proxy respondents are mostly not aware they lack an important part of information on VW of the persons instead of whom they are interviewed; only 10-15% of proxy respondents acknowledged having insufficient information.



Lessons (4)

The questionnaire should be adjusted to the

cultural background of studied population (not just

higher strata) when the concept of VW is introduced

=> descriptive wording of the term VW naming all

important qualities should be used at the begining

of the interview,

=> interviewers should be supplied not only with

definition but also with the examples and trained to

introduce the concept of VW for respondents with

different social backgrounds The presentation is based on research work


Lessons (5)

The sequence of questions should be adjusted to

cognitive abilities of the studied population.

If we know that volunteering through organizations is

not frequently met in the society

=> first we pose separate close-ended questions on

time devoted for helping 1) relatives, 2) neighbours, 3)

friends, 4) strangers, 5) community/environment and

then we smoothly ask about devoting time for

help/activities/work in organizations/institutions/grups.



Lessons (6)

To ensure proper measurement of in-direct

volunteering rate – the close-ended questions

must be used instead of general question with

prompts that interviewers may not use.

=> some questions on main types of organisations /

institutions (exhaustive classification)

At the same time the general question on

organisation based volunteering should be reduced

to avoid respondents fatigue.



Lessons (7)

ICNPO works better than ISIC/NACE for coding main field of activity among entities for which the VW is contributed.

ICNPO was developed for nonprofits and nonprofits are the major group of entities mentioned by respondents as beneficiaries of volunteer work.

The rate of wrongly coded cases is much lower with ICNPO coding than with ISIC/NACE.

Never the less we advise to keep a copy of originally worded answers in case there is no 1:1 cross-walk between ICNPO and ISIC / NACE.



Lessons (8)

ICNPO works better than ISIC/NACE for coding main field of activity among entities for which the VW is contributed.

ICNPO was developed for nonprofits and nonprofits are the major group of entities mentioned by respondents as beneficiaries of volunteer work.

The rate of wrongly coded cases is much lower with ICNPO coding than with ISIC/NACE.

Never the less we advise to keep a copy of originally worded answers in case there is no 1:1 cross-walk between ICNPO and ISIC / NACE.



Lessons (9)

CALIBRATION OF THE RESULTS - TRIANGULATION

Differences between volume of volunteer work estimated on the basis of a) 4-weeks volunteering rate + number of hours and b) 12-months rate + number hours should be carefully studied against results of other credible data sources (incl. Time Use Survey and organisational surveys; other surveys on voluntary unpaid activities) : - to understand the factors influencing the results, - to make sure which of the estimation procedures produce less biased results.



Further steps (1)

1) Preparation of final results for the book – to be

published in March 2012.

This final data release will base the value of

volunteer work on structure of salaries and

wages of 2010.

2) The data from VW Module will be soon used for:

- Non-profit Sector Satellite Account,

- social capital analyses.



Further steps (2) 1 ) Preparation of preliminary results of Volunteer Work Measurment for the Conference Concluding EYV – December 1, 2011.

This preliminary data release will base the value of volunteer work on the extrapolated struc ture of salaries and wages of 2008.

2 ) Preparion of final results for the printed offic ial publication in February 2012.

This final data release will base the value of volunteer work on struc ture of salaries and wages of 2010.

3) The next enhanced VW Module is to be

launched in 2015.

4) According to 2011 Programme of Statistical

Surveys of Official Statistics the Volunteer Work

Module is to be repeated every 4 years.



Thank you for your attention!

In case of unanswered questions,

please send an e-mail to:

Slawomir Nalecz

[email protected]

slawomir nalecz, ph. d. - ccss.jhu.edu

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