My use of the term comes from attending briefings for fieldworkers doing face-to-face surveys based on DWP samples (DWP research staff also present). Issues of addresses on DWP records being uncontactable (after 10-15 visits over a six-week period) are a regular feature of this sort of meeting.
DWP tend to be quite good on research ethics - they have not asked for returns of these addresses (at least in my hearing) for anti-fraud targeting.
Survey houses will regularly contact neighbours to find out if they know where a non-contact address has moved to, and sometimes they get the answer that nobody seems to live there but someone calls regularly to pick up the post.
Survey interviewers seem to be quite close to the communities in which they work - the trade is pretty casual with bonanzas like census coming along infrequently but interviewers having regular work from possibly several different survey houses. The job does regularly involve working late and weekends - as you have to interview people who work when they are in.
Quite possible that a proportion of interviewers are also claiming benefits (legally, under 16 hours,or permitted work under Incapacity Benefit, etc...). At any rate, they seem to be aware of a range of strategies local people use. Sensitivity on this point might lead survey houses not to pass on too many details upstream.
LFS (using ONS interviewers) may use a less casual workforce.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: R.Thomas [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 14 November 2007 09:17
> To: Paul Bivand; [log in to unmask]
> Subject: RE: Benefit drop address
>
> If these 'nuances' are so well known to field workers why
> does not the ONS publish information on what they 'know'?
>
> The problem with the term 'benefit drop address', for
> example, is not that it is infelicitous, but that it is unclear.
>
> Is BDA defined by what those 'in the trade' believe? Are
> BDAs regarded as indicative of regulations that encourage
> fraud? Why do those in the trade keep their light under a bushel?
>
> Ray Thomas
> *********************************
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: email list for Radical Statistics
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ] On Behalf Of Paul Bivand
> Sent: 13 November 2007 10:20
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Benefit drop address
>
>
> Perhaps the more important statistical point to this
> discussion is that people with knowledge of census and survey
> fieldwork are well aware of these issues. The problem is that
> the process of moving from interviewing people (or collecting
> forms) through to published statistics can lose a lot of the
> nuances that fieldworkers are well aware of.
>
> We had this discussion about the census, then ONS found that
> the address registers were not as good as they thought.
> Subsequently we have had this discussion of what Are known in
> the trade as 'benefit drop addresses' however infelicitous
> the term may be. Both issues are known to fieldworkers and
> fieldwork co-ordinators. They should not come as a surprise
> to statistics producers or subsequently users.
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------
> Paul Bivand
> Head of Analysis and Statistics
> Direct Line: 020 7840 8335
>
> Inclusion
> 3rd floor, 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP
> Tel: 020 7582 7221
> Fax: 020 7582 6391
> Inclusion website: www.cesi.org.uk <file://www.cesi.org.uk>
>
> The contents of this e-mail and any attachment(s) are
> intended solely for the use of the addressee. If you are not
> the intended recipient please return the e-mail to the sender
> and delete from your mailbox. The contents of this e-mail and
> any attachment(s) are intended solely for the use of the addressee.
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: email list for Radical Statistics
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ] On Behalf Of Martin Rathfelder
> > Sent: 12 November 2007 17:51
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Benefit drop address
> >
> > Certainly in Manchester people with relevant experience
> were employed
> > to count people sleeping rough.
> >
> > Martin Rathfelder
> > Director
> > Socialist Health Association
> > 22 Blair Road
> > Manchester
> > M16 8NS
> > 0870 013 0065
> > www.sochealth.co.uk <file://www.sochealth.co.uk>
> >
> > If you do not wish to be on our mailing list please let us
> know and we
> > will remove you.
> >
> >
> > Ursula Huws wrote:
> >
> > how many of those missing 300,000 were sleeping rough, I
> > wonder. is
> > this something that was guesstimated?
> > best wishes, Ursula Huws
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: email list for Radical Statistics
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ] On Behalf Of Paul
> > Bivand
> > Sent: 12 November 2007 10:00
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Benefit drop address
> >
> > After the last Census the ONS did a lot of
> work (given
> > the
> > extreme level of anger from various local
> authorities).
> >
> > A result of these investigations is that the mid-year
> > population estimates were nothing like 1
> million down -
> > all
> > the documentation is either on the ONS website or
> > statistics
> > commission.
> >
> > From memory, they 'found' most of them -
> leaving around
> > 300-350,000 unaccounted for. That would figure
> > reasonably
> > well with the 1 million lone parents claiming
> some form
> > of
> > benefit (about 725,000 claiming Income
> Support which is
> > the
> > main figure usually quoted - the rest claim
> Incapacity
> > Benefit or Carer's Allowance, with a few
> claiming JSA.
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: email list for Radical Statistics
> > [mailto:[log in to unmask]
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> ] On Behalf Of
> > John Whittington
> > Sent: 12 November 2007 09:26
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: Benefit drop address
> >
> > At 18:26 11/11/2007 +0000, R.Thomas wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > ....But 1.9 million are not. A
> > regular boy-friend can
> > make any of these 1.9 single mums feel
> > vulnerable to a charge
> > of cohabitation. So it can be
> > expected that single mums
> > will explain their vulnerability to
> any regular
> > boy friend
> > (or more than one regular boyfriend!?).
> > So any regular
> > boyfriend is is likely to have
> another address
> > to protect the
> > single mum's financial position.
> >
> >
> > Indeed so, and I thought/presumed (seemingly
> > incorrectly)
> > that this is what we were talking
> about (which
> > would render
> > the phrase 'benefit drop address'
> inappropriate
> > for that
> > 'other address' in many of the cases).
> >
> >
> >
> > How often regular boy friends
> are at their
> > separate
> > address and what response the Census
> enumerator
> > gets at that
> > address are matters for speculation.
> > It is difficult to
> > imagine how an estimate might be made of how
> > often the
> > situation might lead to men being missed from
> > the Census.
> > But it seems likely that there is
> more than just
> > the
> > possibility that these single mums
> are the major
> > factor
> > involved in the missing million men.
> >
> >
> > As you say, that will almost certainly be a
> > factor -
> > although, as I said before, I would
> have thought
> > that many of
> > these boyfriends would want to be included in
> > the Cenus at
> > the 'other address', perceived as a way of
> > reinforcing their
> > attempts at protecting' the single mother's
> > position.
> >
> >
> >
> > Is there any other kind of
> situation that
> > would be
> > associated with a difference between
> the number
> > of men and
> > women missed in the Census?
> >
> >
> > Well, if one assumes that one of the major
> > reasons for
> > deliberately 'hiding' from the Census is
> > probably related to
> > unlawful activities or 'status', I
> would hazard
> > a guess
> > (although I may be wrong) that men would
> > probably appreciably
> > outnumber women in those categories.
> >
> > Kindest Regards,
> >
> >
> >
> > John
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > Dr John Whittington, Voice:
> > +44 (0) 1296 730225
> > Mediscience Services Fax:
> > +44 (0) 1296 738893
> > Twyford Manor, Twyford, E-mail:
> > [log in to unmask]
> > Buckingham MK18 4EL, UK
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
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