National Institute of Statistics

Population and external migration unit.

Demography and Social Statistics Directorate.

16^th Libertăţii Avenue, District 5

Bucharest

Romania

Postcode: RO-050706

The Adult Education Survey (AES) covers adults’ participation in education and training (formal - FED, non-formal - NFE and informal learning - INF). The 2022 AES focuses on people aged 18-69. The reference period for the participation in education and training is the twelve months prior to the interview.

Information available from the AES is grouped around the following topics:

• Participation in formal education, non-formal education and training and informal learning
• Volume of instruction hours
• Characteristics of the learning activities
• Reasons for participating
• Obstacles to participation
• Access to information on learning possibilities and guidance
• Employer financing and costs of learning
• Self-reported language skills

For further information see the 2022 AES legislation (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/education-and-training/legislation) and the 2022 AES implementation manual (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/education-and-training/methodology).

- Classification of Learning Activities (CLA, 2016 edition)
- International Standard Classification of Education 2011 (ISCED 2011)
- Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO 08)
- Classification of economic activities Rev. 2 (NACE Rev. 2)

AES covers all economic sectors.

Definitions as well as the list of variables covered are available in the 2022 AES implementation manual (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/education-and-training/methodology).

Individuals, non-formal learning activities.

Individuals aged 18-69 living in private households.

The entire country was covered.

Fieldwork was carried out during 17/10/2022 - 31/12/2022.

Not applicable.

Number, EUR.

12 months prior to the interview.

Fieldwork period: 17/10/2022 - 31/12/2022.

At European level:

Basic legal act: Regulation (EU) 2019/1700

Implementing act: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/861

At national level:

Annual National Statistical Plan - approved by Government Decision 913/2022

Not applicable.

According to the national statistical law (no. 226/2009) and statistical standard rules on confidentiality, which are in line with European legislation (Council Regulation no. 223/2009 and Commission Regulation no. 557/2013).

According to the national statistical law (no. 226/2009) and statistical standard rules on confidentiality, which are in line with European legislation (Council Regulation no. 223/2009 and Commission Regulation no. 557/2013).

Both, press release and publication are announced in advance on INS website.

Publications catalogue - on INS website:

https://insse.ro/cms/files/catalog/Catalogul_publicatiilor_INS_2023.pdf

https://insse.ro/cms/files/catalog/calendar-comunicate-de-presa-2023.pdf

Press release calendar - on INS website:

https://insse.ro/cms/ro/comunicate-de-presa-view

https://insse.ro/cms/ro/publicatii-statistice-in-format-electronic

Both, press release and publication are available in electronic format on INS Website.

Every 6 years.

Press release scheduled for 8th of December 2023.

National publication scheduled for 20th of December 2023.

Tables will be included in INS website.

Not applicable.

Anonymized data files for researchers will be available on request.

Quality report will be available to INS website.

Not applicable.

Press release, publication and online tables will be accompanied by methodological description.

Not applicable.

https://insse.ro/cms/files/eurostat/Ghid%20de%20calitate%20al%20statisticii%20oficiale.pdf

Quality guidelines for Romania Official Statistics are applied in all phases of statistical production process.

https://insse.ro/cms/files/eurostat/Ghid%20de%20calitate%20al%20statisticii%20oficiale.pdf

One of the most important drawbacks of the survey is the high number of questions (which results in a very long questionnaire) and questions asking for detailed information for which answers are likely to be affected by memory recall problems (for example number of hours spent in education in the past 12 months; amount paid for education).

Compared to AES 2016, in AES 2022 several changes were implemented – among them: data collection method (2016 - PAPI, 2022 – CAPI) and the questionnaire (which is connected to change of the collection method) which can explain large differences between the two of them.

As regards comparability with the same indicators from LFS, main reasons are - different sample and weighting, different questionnaire and main focus of the survey.

However, the quality of data is considered to be reasonable. Response rate was good (85.4%) and the data collection was carried out in accordance with the set time schedule.

In Romania, official statistics is under the responsibility of National Institute for Statistics. In order to ensure the objectivity, transparent and scientific character of the methodologies, indicators and classifications used in statistics, and to ensure that statistical programme cover all user requirements, the National Statistics Council was established.

The representatives of the Council meet quarterly or more frequently as necessary in working groups by statistical fields. During these meetings National Institute for Statistics is receiving a strong feed-back from the users in terms of the results already disseminated (including the level of detail, breakdowns etc.) and the requests for further needed information to be included in next statistical inquiries.

User satisfaction survey is conducted by INS but it refers to broad domains rather than specific surveys.

The final dataset covers all mandatory variables as requested in the 2022 AES legislation.

Not applicable.

Measures were taken in order to minimise measurement errors, like good and extensive training to interviewers, a good supervision process and quality checks performed during data collection. 

Standard error, coefficient of variation and confidence interval were computed for main indicators of the survey.

For the main indicators, coefficient of variation was 4.1% for participation rate in formal education and training, age 18-24 and 4.3% for participation rate in non-formal education and training, age 25-69.

The estimation of the sampling variance considers the sampling design. Taylor linearization technique for variance estimation was performed, using the ReGenesees package.

For details on sampling and weighting, see sections 18.3 and 18.5 below.

See table 13.2.1 “Sampling errors - indicators for 2022 AES key statistics” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Non-sampling errors are covered by items 13.3.1 - 13.3.5 below.

Household surveys carried out by NSI-Romania are based on the repeated use of a master sample EMZOT, i.e. the Multifunctional Sample of Territorial Areas designed after the 2011 Census. Due to the lack of appropriate information, new dwellings, built after 2011 Census of the Population and Dwellings, have not been taken into account.

On the other side, some dwelling listed in the sample frame were, at the time of the survey, impossible to locate or became unoccupied or seasonal. But most of the over-coverage was due to out of scope household (all household members under 18 or over 69 years old).

See table 13.3.1.1 “Over-coverage - rate” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

Interviewer training takes place at the territorial offices.

In order to ensure a good understanding of the concepts behind the questions a survey handbook was developed. This Handbook included the information of the AES survey manual (designed by Eurostat) and also provided explanations (that took into account national circumstances) and examples.

It was stressed that the information should be collected from each individual and proxy answers should be avoided if possible. The rate of proxy answers was 19.9%.

In order to minimize non-response, advance notification was sent to each household selected in the sample.

If contact with the household at the first visit was successful, the interviewer conducted the interview. Otherwise, the interviewer left a notice scheduling a new visit. In case of repeated non-contact, several attempts were done by the end of data collection period (at least 3).

See table 13.3.3.1 “Unit non-response - rate” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

See table 13.3.3.2 “Item non-response rate” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Validation rules were included directly in the questionnaire, thus most of the errors were identified and corrected during data collection. Supervisors (at the territorial offices) and statistician (at the central office) also reviewed the questionnaires in order to accept or reject them.

One error may need several variables to be corrected or, if the figures correspond to reality due to unusual phenomena, figures were accepted as such and no correction was made.

For the correctness of the data and the correlations between variables, a large number of tests were applied.

Most frequent errors refers to the correlation between level of education graduated and the one attended during the 12 months/level of education dropped; relationships between the members of the household; number of instruction hours.

Not applicable.

See 14.1.1 and 14.1.2 below.

06/30/2023

07/14/2023

First data transmission took place 6 months after the end of the data collection. The final transmission took place two weeks later, after minor revisions.

See table 14.2 “Project phases - dates” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

See table 15.1 “Deviations from 2022 AES concepts and definitions” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

No additional variables related to COVID-19 were collected.

Not applicable.

For the AES 2022, several changes were implemented – among them: data collection method (2016 - PAPI, 2022 – CAPI) and changes to the questionnaire (which is connected to change of the collection method). These changes explain most of the changed visible in the data, i.e. there is a break in series.

See table 15.2 “Comparability - over time” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

See table 15.3 “Coherence - cross-domain” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

AES results for a given data collection round are based on the same microdata and results are calculated using the same estimation methods, therefore the data are internally coherent.

Average duration of the interview: 19 min per person.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Adult Education Survey, see table 18.1 “Source data” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Every 6 years.

Data collected by face to face computer assisted interview.

Questionnaire was designed following closely Eurostat model.

Sampling plan:

Because of the lack of appropriate registers (dwelling register, population register etc.), the household surveys carried out by NSI-Romania are based on the repeated use of a master sample (EMZOT - i.e. the Multifunctional Sample of Territorial Areas), which involves further the use of multi-stage sampling designs.

The sampling plan is a two-stage probability sampling of clusters of housing units.

In the first stage, a stratified random sample of 792 areas, Primary Sampling Units (PSUs), was designed after the 2011 Census, using as stratification criteria the residence area and county (corresponding to NUTS 3 level).

This is the Multifunctional Sample of Territorial Areas, so called the master sample EMZOT. The EMZOT sample has 450 PSUs selected from urban area and 342 PSUs selected from rural area.

In the second stage, 18216 dwelling units were systematically selected from the initial sample of PSUs. All households in the selected dwellings were included in the survey and all persons in the target population (18-69 years old) were interviewed.

Stratification concerns only the first stage sampling. There are 88 strata, the criteria used being the area where a certain PSU is located (urban or rural area) and county (NUTS 3 level).

The primary sampling unit, corresponding to the selection of the master sample, is a group of census sections.

The secondary (ultimate) sampling unit, corresponding to the selection of the survey sample, has been the dwelling.

Most of the validation rules were included in the electronic questionnaire.

During data collection phase, supervisors in the territorial offices were in charge of reviewing data collected by interviewers as well as with the codification of certain variables such as: occupation (ISCO 08), economic activity (NACE Rev. 2), country of birth, the fields of education training. 

After data collection, validation procedures were run at central level and data were edited/ imputed if necessary.

Survey weights were calculated in four steps.

1. The first step assigns the inverse of the selection probabilities to each sampled dwelling unit.

2. The second step adjusts for non-response, categorizing the responding dwelling units by the following characteristics: county (NUTS 3) and urban/rural residency.

3. The third step consists in re-adjusting the weight with the inverse of the probability of selecting the two persons aged 18-69 from a household. In the calibration process, this step is crucial for adjusting the sample weights to better match the population parameters. The aim is to make the sample as representative as possible of the larger population from which it was drawn. The adjustment is described above.

3.1. Inverse probability of selection: First, calculate the inverse of the probability of selecting the two individuals from the household. For example, if 2 persons from a household of 5 have been selected, the inverse of the selection probability is 5/2.

3.2. Adjusted weight: The weight of each sampled individual, already adjusted for non-responses, is further modified by multiplying it with the calculated inverse probability (5/2 in this case).

4. The fourth and final step consists of calibrating the secondary weights to the population totals by region (NUTS 2), urban-rural residency, gender, age groups (18-24 years; 25-34 years; 35-44 years; 45-54 years; 55-64 years and 65-69 years), education level (low, medium, high) and the number of households by region. The objective of these calibration steps is to correct the sample weights to ensure that the sample is as representative as possible of the general population, considering these multiple demographic and socio-economic factors.

The calibration procedure is performed in R statistical software (R Core Team, 2023). The package used is ReGenesees (Zardetto, 2015, 2022). The calibrated weights computed by the implementation of ReGenesees ensures that the calibration estimators of the auxiliary variables exactly match the corresponding known population totals.

The package offers also facilities for calibration process diagnostics. The global calibration problem gets split into as many sub-problems as the number of subpopulations defined and the package gives a diagnosis in terms of convergence.

Variance estimation:

The estimation of the sampling variance considers the sampling design i.e. the stratification. Taylor linearization technique for variance estimation was performed, using the ReGenesees package developed by Zardetto (2015, 2022) in the R statistical environment (R Core Team, 2023).

References:

• R Core Team (2023). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/.
• Zardetto D (2015). “ReGenesees: an Advanced R System for Calibration, Estimation and Sampling Error Assessment in Complex Sample Surveys.” Journal of Official Statistics, 31(2), 177 - 203. https://sciendo.com:443/article/10.1515/jos-2015-0013.
• Zardetto D (2022). “ReGenesees: R Evolved Generalized Software for Sampling Estimates and Errors in Surveys.” R package version 2.2.

See table 18.5.1 “Imputation - rate” in annex “RO - QR tables 2022 AES (excel)”.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

None.