THE Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is conducting a “listing of dwellings exercise”, which is aimed at updating the count of dwellings in Jamaica between censuses.

It will provide the sampling frame for the selection of households to be included in the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions, and the Labour Force Survey, among others, STATIN said.

Acting director of the Research, Design and Evaluation Division at STATIN, Jessica Campbell, said that “because the census is done every 10 years, there has to be some form of exercise between censuses to update the list of dwellings in Jamaica, so that when we send out the interviewers, they can find, accurately, the dwellings that we assign them to”.

She informed that the exercise will be completed on June 30 and will cover 952 enumeration districts across the island.

Campbell pointed out that each enumeration district generally contains an average of 100 to 150 dwellings, and, so far, 700 of the 952 enumeration districts have been completed.

Explaining the process, she noted that an interviewer is assigned to an enumeration district and is tasked with covering every dwelling in that area.

“The interviewer goes out with a tablet and a map of the district and begins at the starting point indicated on the map and canvasses every single dwelling until the exercise is completed,” Campbell outlined.

She said one member of the household is asked to participate in the exercise.

“The person will be asked three basic questions — how many persons live there, the number of rooms, and the rooms used for sleeping. Answers to other questions relating to the type of dwelling, the type of roof, and material of the outer walls will be obtained from observation,” she pointed out.