Opinion: Losing the Stats NZ lottery - when form filling turns into a five-hour ordeal

James Pocock and his flatmates spent over five hours in total answering questions after being randomly selected for a Stats NZ Household Economic Survey. Photo / Unsplash Scott Graham

OPINION:

Some of you may be dreading the thought of spending 20 minutes filling out the census this year.

But my three flatmates and I have already had five hours of our time taken up by Statistics New Zealand data gathering.

At the start of February, before Cyclone Gabrielle hit Hawke’s Bay, we found out our Hastings household was selected to participate in the annual Household Economic Survey (HES).

Pretending to not be home does not get you out of a Stats NZ door-knock.

The letter left behind invites you to set your own time for them to return and kindly informs you that you could be prosecuted for refusing.

We didn’t see any ‘estimated time required’ provided with the information sheet, so we all booked it with little idea what we were in for.

Stats NZ estimates that the interview generally takes about 20 to 40 minutes for each person in your household, depending on which version of the survey a household has been selected for.

We weren’t excited about it, but I thought it couldn’t possibly take longer than two hours for our household of four people.

And then on a miserable summer evening, the interviewer came. And 5.30pm became 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, 10, and then, finally, 11pm.

It was three hours into questioning us as individuals when we were finally informed that we could answer some questions as a group.

Before that belated piece of advice, I was essentially trapped in the house, hovering around thinking I was unable to start anything like dinner or a shower, because I might be called up at any moment.

About 9.30pm we were asked if we wanted to end it and have the survey continue another day, but by that point we all just wanted it over and done with.

At 11pm, we were then told as individuals to keep a comprehensive diary of our spending for a week, with receipts included if remembered.

Our experience is not unique - our interviewer told us it was not the first time she had been interviewing at a house until 11pm.

Households are selected for HES surveys every year, and everyone has a chance to get hit with this unexpected and compulsory time sink.

A letter came from Stats NZ in the mail a few days later, which I half-heartedly opened while wondering if it would contain some compensation for our time.

The letter explains that Government agencies use the information collected to help develop policies and make decisions.

Our expenditure data feeds into the consumer price index (CPI), which measures the country’s official inflation rate (rate of price change) and can be used to adjust the benefit and New Zealand Superannuation rates, among other things.

I get that, but you can’t convince me that the experience was worth it.