Distance travelled to place of work or study (Daytime/workday population) (Super Output Areas in Northern Ireland) 2011

Dataset population: Daytime population aged 16 to 74

Daytime/workday population

Northern Ireland (Daytime Population)

The daytime population of an area is defined as 'All usual residents who are either in employment or full-time students in the area, or not in employment or full-time students but are usually resident in the area'. People who work or study mainly at or from home, or do not have a fixed place of work or study, are included in the area of their usual residence.

The following population groups are excluded from the daytime population of an area:

• Those living in Northern Ireland but working or studying in England, Wales, Scotland, outside the UK or on offshore installations
• Those with a place of work or study in Northern Ireland but who are not usually resident in Northern Ireland
• Short-term residents

Northern Ireland (Workplace Population)

The workplace population of an area is defined as 'All usual residents aged 16 to 74 who are in employment and whose workplace is in the area'. People who work mainly at or from home or do not have a fixed place of work are included in the area of their usual residence.

The following population groups are excluded from the workplace population of an area:

• Those not working the week before 27 March 2011
• Those living in Northern Ireland but working in England, Wales, Scotland, outside the UK or on offshore installations
• Those with a place of work in Northern Ireland but who are not usually resident in Northern Ireland
• Short-term residents

Distance travelled to place of work or study

The distance in kilometres between a person's residential postcode and their workplace postcode or the postcode of their place of study, measured in a straight line.

Derived distances that result in a distance travelled that exceeds 1200km are treated as invalid and a value is imputed. A distance travelled of 0.1km indicates that the workplace postcode is the same as the residential postcode.

For Northern Ireland, Question 43 in the Census questionnaire asked all respondents to provide information relating to where they travelled to for their main job or course of study (including school). It was anticipated from this question that those in employment would indicate where they worked and those who were studying would give information relating to their place of study. Those in neither category were expected to tick 'Not currently working or studying'.

Outputs from this question show that there were approximately 30,000 students of Primary School age to 15 who are reported as 'Studying mainly at or from home'. While it was expected that there would be a certain number of students being homeschooled, this is considerably higher than the Department of Education estimate.

The Census responses concerned were examined in an attempt to establish the reasons behind these unexpected results. In almost half of these responses, it was identified that the data processing stage which resolved 'tick and text' responses had set Question 43 to 'Work or study mainly at or from home' where the postcode of place of work or study was the same as their enumeration postcode. In the remainder, the respondents may have misunderstood the question and answered in relation to the place where they study or do homework instead of their place of study.

These two scenarios would serve to increase the number of respondents reported as 'Studying mainly at or from home' and should be noted by the user.