1. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
Adult Education Survey
progress report
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

2. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Implementation TF meeting (16-17 March 2006)
AES quality report scheme
IT infrastructure
AES document update
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

3. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Implementation TF meeting March 2006
Exchange of experiences as for:
ways of asking questions on participation in formal, non-formal education and training and informal learning;
problems with implementation of CLA concepts;
different methods of interviewing;
ways of dealing with the long reference period, recalling problems and overlapping;
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

4. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Implementation TF meeting March 2006
Discussion on:
result tables
imputation and editing
post coding of fields of education and learning
importance of interviewers training
data confidentiality
dissemination rules
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

5. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Implementation TF meeting March 2006 conclusions
TF members agreed to:
share information on the difficulties with classification and distinction between formal, non-formal education and training and informal learning (which appeared during the interviews),
provide to Eurostat a list of difficult cases in coding fields of education and training (learning) and proposal for classification. This lists will be merged and circulated for the consultation so, that when approved, the list can be used by all the countries in post-coding the same way.
All the Countries are invited to exchange their experiences (Circa, and later Quality Report)
This was already included in the Quality Report Scheme
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

6. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Implementation TF meeting March 2006 conclusions
Imputation and editing
Experience of social survey interviews shows that respondents normally participate during the whole interview so the item non-response should not be significant.
AES is conducted for the first time and using assumptions for the imputation rules this may destroy or wrongly modify real correlations between variables.
The TF recommends:
avoiding any imputation of the item non-response.
reporting the non-response for all variables when publishing the data.
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

7. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Implementation TF meeting March 2006 conclusions
Data dissemination
The first results will be published after receiving data from half of the countries (covering approximately half of the EU population) - end of 2007, beginning of 2008.
Countries having conducted survey before that day may already publish their national results.
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

8. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Implementation TF meeting March 2006 conclusions
Next meeting
After arrival and validation of first data sets. Not earlier than late November or December 2006
could be January 2007
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

9. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
Confidentiality
TF members see no danger of disclosure in case of the AES data and strongly support the micro data availability for the research purposes with the respect of effective rules.
Current consultation on adding Adult Education Survey to the list of surveys or statistical data sources to which Community authority may grant access to confidential data included in the Commission Regulation (EC) No 1104/2006
Deadline for the ETS coordinators .
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

10. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
Quality Report Scheme
Quite typical as for the Eurostat’s quality reports but also heavy.
IX Problems encountered and lessons to be learnt
Problematic modules and variables/questions
Problems with the definition of different types of learning activities which appeared during the interviews
Category "other"
In principle, whenever category "other" is one of the options in the variables/questions, it should be formulated: Other/please specify.
What were the questions with significant number of answers that could constitute separate not already existing category, proposal for a missing category/ies. .
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

11. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
IT Infrastructure
AES data (csv. files, coma separated values) are foreseen to be delivered through the EDAMIS System.
All NSIs have a contact point for EDAMIS
In addition other institutes may deliver data via the EDAMIS WEB interface
- Access will be fully operational before January 2007.
“Checking Tool“ is being developed, but it’s distribution to countries is around January 2007.
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

12. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Document update
The main changes done in the documents are the following:
Concerning the survey itself:
Addition of the results of the Swedish cognitive tests
Concerning variables:
Update of the variable NFE7Y (NFECER1-NFECER3) and additional explanations concerning this variable,
Update of the categories for the variable NFE20Y (NFEPROV1-NFEPROV3),
Changes were discussed via .
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

13. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Document update
Concerning code book and checking rules:
Addition of some checking rules (helpful for checking information already during an interview or at the data editing process), as recommended at the TF meeting
Variables for which no missing values are allowed (otherwise it is a unit non-response) were marked more visibly
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

14. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Document update
A set of technical variables needed for calculation of variance.
Countries are asked to provide quality indicators (CV or confidence interval) for a limited number of indicators included in the Quality Report Scheme.
but
the AES is a completely new survey and it might happen that there will be a need of calculation of the quality of some other indicators, checking the variance for some variables, etc.
To facilitate possibility of doing so we added a set of technical variables. This should reflect the sampling process, calibration and correction of non-response (if applicable). It is not necessary that the codes provided there are the same as in the real process. They can differ. It is also possible that not all of them will be provided (for example not all sampling stages will be relevant for different countries).
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006

15. ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006
AES Document update
Simplified coding of some variables (e.g. ISCOFATH1D, ISCOMOTH1D), NFERAN1-NFERAN3, FRLGSKIL1, FRLGSKIL2)
Some changes in the names on variables on obstacles to better define the possible values of these variables (which in fact is the name of one of the obstacles reported before) and harmonise their length.
More strict limits put on the values of variables FEDLEN1-FEDLEN3, NFELEN1-NFELEN1, NFETRAW1-NFETRAW3, as recommended at the TF meeting
Update of the list of languages Annex5 and some small changes in the list of countries (Annex1). These changes were made as a result of some political changes and correction of mistakes.
ETS WG meeting 6-7 September 2006