Research project AG/II/135 (Research action AG)
Research with a focus on poverty and social exclusion often relies on income surveys as a principal source for the measurement of poverty. The EU-SILC survey (‘Statistics on Income and Living Conditions’), launched. by the EU in 2003, aims to co-ordinate the collection and dissemination of comparable statistical data in the member states and at the Community level. This survey is also the tool used by the EU and researchers alike to measure and monitor social exclusion and poverty and to evaluate the effectiveness of measures to fight poverty.
An important problem when using the EU-SILC questionnaire to measure poverty is the under-representation or exclusion of some groups as a consequence of the sampling method. The EU-SILC sample is based on the population register of natural persons. Consequently, persons without a permanent address (homeless), living in collective households (homes, hospitals…) or people residing illegally in the country are not included in the sample and therefore excluded from the survey. Moreover; these groups excluded from the survey often include persons who have a higher poverty risk.
The main purpose of this research project is to design a supplement to the EU-SILC, which will allow the collection of more information about the living conditions of those groups that are not included in the current EU-SILC. This additional information is useful for poverty research and policies aimed at combating poverty.
The research project includes the following parts:
• Inventory of the possibilities to include under-represented or excluded groups into the survey.
• An estimate of their size and the extent of the poverty risk that they are facing.
• A sample design
• Adaptation of the questions in the EU-SILC to the specific target group and the design of a questionnaire with group –specific questions complementary to the EU-SILC questionnaire. For persons residing illegally in the country, a translation of the questionnaire is foreseen
• The design of a pilot-survey, analysis and interpretation of the results
• Designing and conducting of the final survey, report and validation
