Chapter 6
Indicators of community need
6.1 Introduction
One of the goals of this research was to identify the key indicators of community need that
could be used to assess change in the longer term. This has proved to be a challenging task.
On the one hand, there is a variety of possible statistics across the wide range of aspects of
community life relevant to social need in the area. On the other, there is a limited amount of
data that is gathered in a consistent way across all four territorial authorities. A lot of
potentially useful national data is not reported at the territorial authority level, and data from
local services frequently does not cover the entire area.
This chapter, therefore:



provides a review of the available national data;
discusses other options for gathering relevant information, and
identifies a small selection of recommended national statistics that if monitored would
provide key pointers to community wellbeing.
6.2 New Zealand national data
The census is the best source of demographic and other useful socio-economic indicators.
Although there are some changes in data from census to census, the core features are stable,
readily available, and reported at the territorial authority level. These can be obtained from
the Statistics New Zealand website,1 and key findings are published in a series of leaflets for
each territorial authority. The disadvantage of the census is that data is only available fiveyearly and there is a time lag between data gathering and its availability. In all other respects,
however, this data is reliable, regularly reported and consistent with internationally
recognised indicators of socio-economic wellbeing.
Statistics New Zealand conducts regular national surveys such as the Household Labour
Force Survey (HLFS) and the Household Economic Survey (HES). However, because these
are sample surveys, they do not usually provide reliable data on the smaller territorial
authority areas.
Government departments provide regular data in specific areas. However, published reports
usually only provide data at a national level. Some detailed data at the territorial authority
level is provided on health in the Health Information Statistics compiled for the Ministry of
Health, and the Ministry of Education can provide data by territorial authority on request.
Police and the Land Transport Safety Authority (LTSA) report data by territorial authority,
and the LTSA produce specific reports identifying and discussing the key issues for each.
1
www.stats.govt.nz
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Currently, there are several initiatives working to develop social indicators for New Zealand,2
all of which grapple with the data difficulties described here. The outcome is likely to be
more effective ways of assessing the social wellbeing of communities in the future, as well as
improved provision of background national data and commentary. In addition, the
requirement under the Local Government Act 2002 for local authorities to profile the social
needs of their community is likely to create pressure for relevant data to be available.
6.3 Limitations of data
Many measure that seem useful, are not so helpful on examination. Some common
limitations are:
-
Statistics for significant but relatively rare events fluctuate widely in small populations.
For example traffic deaths and violent crime show useful trends nationally but the
numbers are too small and the events too intermittent in a small population3
-
Events that require a service response are affected by service resources and practice. For
example rates of cleared crime are influenced by levels of Police activity, and reported
crime is affected by people’s decisions about what to report. Similarly, hospital
admissions can be constrained by bed capacity and thus may not measure need or demand
-
Things that seem significant may not be. For example, while crime is important, most
crime committed is very minor, and the categories used are often misleading so that
reported rates can cause unnecessary alarm. For example: violent offences include minor
threats and fighting among children, and sexual offences include many minor offences
including obscene language and phone calls.
-
The numbers may not actually show what they seem to. For example, reported rates of
youth offending and child abuse give the number of incidents not the number of children
or young people involved. Hence, one major offending spree by a young person can
hugely inflate the rates in any one year, especially in an area where overall numbers are
small
-
Many variables require a social judgement which is potentially unreliable. For example,
while the record that a death has occurred is generally highly reliable, a coroner’s verdict
of suicide is less so. The latter is often necessarily based on circumstantial evidence and is
subject to social factors such as concern for family feelings
-
Organisations periodically change the names and categories of data they collect making it
impossible to use the data to track trends over time. For example: truancy statistics were
kept for some years in the 90s and then collection stopped; the way the term suspension
was used and counted changed 3 years ago; and in 1995 there was a major change in the
way care and protection notifications are categorised.
2
These include The Social Report 2003 (Ministry of Social Development, 2003); New Zealand Living
Standards (Krishnan et al, 2000); New Zealand’s Agenda for Children (Ministry of Social
Development, 2002); the Big Cities Quality of Life Project (Big Cities Project Team, 2001) and
Framework for the Measurement of Social Capital in New Zealand (Spellerman et al, 2001)
See for example the local youth offending rates in Table 3.1 which fluctuate markedly from year to
year. These changes seem significant when viewed in isolation, but examining the longer term shows a
stable rate with no obvious trend upwards or downwards.
3
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-
Individual pieces of data need interpretation in context. For example, income data does
not take into account buying power in the local area, and measures of business activity are
heavily influenced by national and international factors, such as interest rates, exchange
rates, and the regulatory environment, that are outside local control and do not necessarily
reflect the changes that actually impact on the local community.
All these factors present traps for the inexperienced and reduce the usefulness of much of the
potentially available data as an indicator of social change in a relatively small area.
6.3 Community perceptions
All the reports from large-scale indicator projects that we examined, including the Big Cities
Project in New Zealand, use both statistical and opinion data. Community views are a valid
source of data that amplifies the statistical picture and provides information that cannot be
obtained any other way.
Community views are an integral part of the measurement of social capital4. Ways to
measure social capital are being explored world-wide.5 It is an assessment of social capital
that is now considered more closely related to the overall sense of health and well being in a
community than measures such as employment, income and educational level.6 Most of the
definitions that are being used to measure it rely on the views of community informants.
Regularly checking community perceptions is also critical for any group or body that is
required to make decisions that affect the community. Empirical data cannot provide
guidance on the community’s prime values and priorities, and is slower to identify changes
than those closely involved.7
At the same time, there are also obvious limitations to this type of data. Community opinion
on social issues is affected by personal experience and the influence of powerful media where
information conveyed is affected by business imperatives. Single, dramatic events may have
no local relevance yet can affect local perceptions: for example the SARS epidemic or the
Bali bombing are likely to have changed local perceptions of safety even though there was no
local threat. Information is also distorted by selective use of statistics, such as comparing the
current year with another particularly low or high year, rather than reporting the trend over
time.
4
5
6
7
Social capital refers to the extent that members of a community are able to provide support for one
another. It is used as a concept to define the potential of members of a community to contribute to
community well-being through their involvement in civil society, for example as a voter, worker,
neighbour, volunteer, newspaper reader, or member of clubs. It is a concept linked to the sense of
community connectedness, and it is the trust and confidence that flow from this interaction that makes
the difference to the strength of the community.
For example, the World Bank (www.worldbank.org/poverty/scapital/methods/index.htm, Spellerberg et
al, 2001 in New Zealand; Bullen and Onyx, 1998 in Australia.
Putman, 1995; Sanquaro Seminar on Civic Engagement in America (Executive Summary, p7), 2001
For example, in this study several people observed the rapidly changing ethnic structure of the
community but this is not yet evident in statistics.
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In conclusion then, statistics by themselves are not necessarily useful or informative. It is
their interpretation in relation to other information and analysis that assigns meaning. Thus
inevitably, the analysis of local needs can only rely in a limited way on statistical indicators
gathered by national or local bodies. On the other hand, some of the data that is available is
useful, especially if used in conjunction with community views, and more is likely to become
available in future.
6.4 Recommended approach
Taking all these factors into account, we recommend the following approach. The literature
we have reviewed suggests that effective measurement of community wellbeing needs to
combine a mix of:


statistical data, and
community survey responses
We recommend regular collection of a small set of relatively straightforward key indicators
and suggest some ways that these could be monitored. We also suggest some approaches to
monitoring community opinion.
Statistical data
In the recommended key statistical data below, we have selected measures that are available
on websites, in public records or on request. For the most part we have selected indicators
that are also part of the data sets being used by national projects to measure well-being, so
that national comparative data and commentary will be available.
The Social Report, which is updated regularly, provides a comprehensive set of indicators
designed to measure the social wellbeing of New Zealanders nationally. The Big Cities
project is working with and developing a set of consistent indicators to measure the quality of
life in New Zealand’s biggest cities. The latter project has perhaps more relevance with the
focus on particular communities and the types of data available at the local level.
Updating the census and/or annual statistical data could be a school holiday project for an
able student, and achieved at minimal cost. Alternatively, it would be worth discussion with
directors of social science courses at the universities or polytechnic (or even teachers of
bursary level geography) where it could form a practical component of a course for one or
more students.
A large annual data collection exercise would probably not be an economic, and changes
from one single year to another are often misleading because of small numbers. The most
useful data is provided in the census which is conducted every 5 years;
Community consultation
The community consultation methods used in this research (ie, 25 key informant interviews
and 4 community meetings) used quite small samples and yet were extremely time
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consuming in both their organisation and data analysis. It would seem neither a practical nor
judicious use of community resources to repeat an exercise of this scale very often.
However, it is critical to maintain links with community opinion, and small-scale, simplified
versions of approaches used by community development projects, planners, and social
analysts seem possible.
A common and manageable process is an annual telephone survey. Devising an appropriate
instrument requires a clear idea of the key topics on which information is required and would
require the assistance of someone with social science expertise, at least in the first instance.
In some overseas centres, local marketing and research agencies will conduct a small survey
as a philanthropic act, and this may be possible. Alternatively, this could also be an exercise
that would be undertaken by a local tertiary institution as a training practicum or by a tertiary
social science student.
A number of ready-made resources are available to help sample community opinion
including sets of ready-made questions that have been used and refined by researchers. Onyx
and Bullen (1998) state on their website8 that they will make available to community groups
the questions they have used in Australian work on social capital measurement. The Big
Cities project includes resident perception surveys which may be available and could be
adapted. It will also be important to discuss with local marae the best ways to obtain valid
Maori opinion. It may be that meetings with local marae would serve to meet this goal.
There are a number of agencies who complete community profiles. The Local Government
Act 2002 requires District Councils to develop a community profile, and Child Youth and
Family is currently involved in a Local Services Mapping initiative. The report of the health
needs assessment conducted for the Public Health Consultancy (2001) states in its foreword
that a full rework will be undertaken periodically, and some information updated in the
interim. The Safer Community Council has also drawn up community profiles in the past.
Criteria for selection of recommended indicators
The indicators selected are part of national data sets that will provide national benchmarks
against which local trends can be considered. Some provide measures that can stand as
indicators for more than one dimension. The indicators we recommend have been chosen
because they are:
8

standard indicators nationally and internationally

available regularly for territorial authority areas

potentially useful

likely to be comparable with national and international data.
http://www.mapl.com.au/A2.htm or direct to http://www.mapl.com.au/A13.htm which contains the 36
best questions
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Recommended statistical indicators
To be supplemented by community opinion data
Key areas
Annual Statistics9
5-yearly census
Social need
Income
Proportion of high to low incomes
Proportion of population receiving
accommodation supplement
(WINZ)
Median personal income
Employment
Proportion of population
unemployed
Home and family
Proportion of sole parents
Numbers of people registered as
unemployed (WINZ)
Proportion of private homes owned
Proportion of population receiving
accommodation supplement
(WINZ)
Average rent
Areas of need
School decile ratings (MOE)
Also, accommodation
supplement, above
Social groups
Children
Proportion under 15 in population
Young people
School leaver qualifications
(MOE)
Older people
Proportion 65+ in population
Maori
Proportion of Maori in population
Proportion of Maori & Pacific
children educated via Maori &
Pacific mediums (MOE)
Te Reo speakers
Other ethnic
groups
Proportion of various ethnic groups
in population
Proportions educated via Maori &
Pacific mediums (MOE)
Skills
Proportion of population with
qualifications
School leaver qualifications
(MOE)
Structure
Work and labour force status
Economy
Community
Access
Access to private motor vehicle
Access to telecommunication
Participation
Voter turnout in local body
elections (DIA)* (Triennial only)
Safety
Road traffic death and injuries
(LTSA)
9
Key to abbreviations used:
WINZ = Work and Income NZ
DIA = Department of Internal Affairs
MOE = Ministry of Education
LTSA = Land Transport Safety Authority
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