Terms & definitions

Terms & definitions

A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   Q   R   S   T   U   V   W   X   Y   Z

A

Adult(s)

Only people 15 years old and over were included in the NZCASS. The term ‘Adult’ refers to all NZCASS respondents.

Asian

  1. This ethnicity category includes: Asian (not further defined), South-East Asian, Chinese, Indian and other Asian.
  2. Also see ethnicity.

Assault

  1. Where someone uses force against the respondent (including throwing objects), whether or not the respondent is injured. The respondent must have been the victim of the assault themselves for the offence to be counted in the NZCASS.
  2. There were two types of assault:
    1. Grievous assault: Involves an aggravating element (where there was actual or intended injury or serious harm) in addition to the application of force.
    2. Other assault: any assault that is not grievous or indecent.

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B

Burglary

  1. When a person enters a building intending to commit a crime.
  2. Burglary does not require forced entry. Includes thefts from enclosed spaces, such as yards. Does not cover theft by someone who had a right to be in the building.
  3. The NZCASS only covers domestic burglary.
  4. Burglary is a household offence in the NZCASS because the whole household, not just the respondent, were victims.

Buildings

Any ‘building-type’ structure on a property. This can include:

  1. homes or holiday homes
  2. flats, including ‘common areas’ (hallways, stairs, garages etc)
  3. caravans
  4. outhouses (connected)
  5. sleepouts
  6. garages, carports or boat sheds (on the property)
  7. toolsheds
  8. any ‘enclosed yard’ surrounding the dwelling.

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C

CAPI (computer-assisted personal interviewing)

  1. Where an interviewer enters answers to the survey directly into a laptop computer.
  2. Used for the NZCASS in 2006, 2009 and 2014.

CASI (computer-assisted self-interviewing)

  1. Where the survey participant puts their answers into a laptop computer themselves.
  2. ensures that survey responses remain private from the interviewer.

Classification

  1. A way to group a set of related categories in a meaningful, systematic and standard format.
  2. Term used to describe how demographic and geographic categories (rather than offences) are grouped together.
  3. Where possible, NZCASS output aligns to Statistics NZ’s classifications and standards.

Coercive control

For the NZCASS, this covers behaviours by a current partner that are intended to monitor, control, threaten or insult the victim.

Community violence

  1. ‘Community violence’ is a term used by the World Health Organization (WHO). Within the context of NZCASS, ‘Community violence’ means violent offences by people who are not family.
  2. Violent offences by people who are not family is a sub-set of the wider category ‘interpersonal violence’.

Comparable offences/subset

The group of offences for comparisons between the NZCASS estimates and Police official crime statistics. The subset comprises of thefts of vehicles, thefts from vehicles / vehicle interference, burglary, robbery / theft from the person and assaults.

Concentration of crime

This measure shows how many times a person or household has experienced an offence. It is used to show multiple and repeat victimisation.

Confidence intervals

  1. A statistical measure of an estimate’s reliability (that is a measure of sampling error).
  2. A confidence interval expresses the sampling error as a range of values in which the ‘real’ population value is estimated to lie.
  3. The 95% confidence interval (CI) is used in NZCASS reporting, and is calculated as the estimate plus or minus the margin of error (MoE). This means CI = estimate ± MoE of the estimate.

Confrontational crimes

  1. In the 2014 NZCASS, the term ‘confrontational crimes’ is replaced by ‘interpersonal violence’. Confrontational crime was used in the 2006 and 2009 NZCASS. It should be noted that confrontational and interpersonal violence groupings / categories are not directly comparable.
  2. Confrontational crimes include assaults, threats (to the person or property), abduction / kidnapping, robberies and sexual offences where the offence is committed by a partner or someone the victim knows well.
  3. It excludes personal property damage.

Crime(s)

  1. An action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punishable by law.
  2. The words ‘crime’ and ‘crimes’ in the NZCASS is a general term which is used to describe a type of offence or group of offences. For example, ‘vehicle crime’ refers to a set of vehicle offences.

Current partner (violent offences by current partner)

  1. ‘Violent offences by current partners’ (sometimes called ‘current partner violence’) refers to violence between individuals in a current intimate romantic relationship. They are a subset of ‘interpersonal violence’.
  2. A current partner can be a husband/wife, civil union partner, de facto partner, boyfriend girlfriend.
  3. In the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent offences by current partners’ covers a range of offences. See violent interpersonal offences.

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D

Damage (vandalism)

Wilful damage to personal or household property:

  1. includes (but is not limited to) damage, such as arson and graffiti
  2. excludes incidents where they are a nuisance only (like letting down car tyres).

Dark figure of crime

  1. Crime that happens in any year that is not reported in the NZCASS or to Police.
  2. This crime is not recorded in the official Police statistics.

Dwellings

  1. A ‘permanent, private dwelling’ can be:
    1. a separate house
    2. two or more separate houses
    3. flats joined together
    4. a flat or house joined to a business, shop, bach, crib or hut (as long as it’s not attached to a work camp).
  2. ‘Permanent, private dwellings’ include both occupied and unoccupied dwellings.
  3. Temporary private dwellings – such as, caravans, cabins, tents or boats – were excluded from the survey.
  4. All non-private dwellings – such as, hotels, motels, guest houses, boarding houses, hostels and motor camps – were excluded from the survey.

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E

Estimates

The statistics produced by the NZCASS are called estimates because they are derived from a sample survey rather than from the entire New Zealand population.

Ethnicity

  1. The ethnic group(s) the respondent said they identify with. People who identified with two or more ethnic groups were counted in each ethnic group they identified with.
  2. Ethnicity is classified according to the 2-digit Ethnicity New Zealand Standard Classification (2005).

European

  1. This ethnicity category includes: European (not further defined), NZ European, Other European and New Zealander/Kiwi.
  2. Also see ethnicity.

Ex-partner (violent offences by ex-partners)

  1. Violent offences by ex-partners (sometimes called ‘ex-partner violence’) refer to violence between people who are no longer in an intimate romantic relationship. This is a subset of ‘interpersonal violence’.
  2. Ex-partners can be ex-husbands, ex-wives, ex-civil union partners, ex-de facto partners, ex-boyfriends or ex girlfriends.
  3. Within the context of the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent offences by ex-partners’ include a range of offences. See violent interpersonal offences.

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F

Factors

  1. Information collected by the NZCASS about the respondent (like where they live and how old they are) that helps us understand the relationship between different subgroups of people and a data item of interest (such as victimisation).
  2. Factors are used to show if there are any differences between people in a particular group for a data item of interest, when compared to the New Zealand average (for example, whether the elderly are more or less likely to be victims of crime).
  3. Also see risk.

Family excluding intimate partners (violent offences by family excluding intimate partners)

  1. ‘Violent offences by family excluding intimate partners’ are violent offences committed by a family member who is not an intimate partner. They are a subset of ‘interpersonal violence’.
  2. These family members can be parents, step-parents, siblings, step-siblings, children, children-in-law, extended family or parents’ partners.
  3. In the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent offences by family excluding intimate partners’ covers a range of offences. See violent interpersonal offences.

Family violence/violent offences by family

  1. Violent offences by family (sometimes called ‘family violence’) refers to violence between people who are related. They are a subset of ‘interpersonal violence’. Family can be:
    1. intimate partners
    2. parents or step-parents
    3. siblings or step-siblings
    4. children or children-in-law
    5. extended family
    6. parents’ partners.
  2. In the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent offences by family’ cover a number of offences. See violent offences or the NZCASS data items list for more information.

NZCASS data items (variables) list [XLS, 373 KB]

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G

General theft of personal property

See theft of personal property (general).

Grey figure of crime

  1. Crime that is reported to the Police, but not counted in the official Police statistics.
  2. Crime may be reported to Police but not recorded for a number of reasons. See Comparing NZCASS to Police statistics

Groupings (offence groupings)

  1. A way to group related offences together for analysis and reporting.
  2. Different offence groupings were used for different reporting purposes. See classifications and groupings for further detail.

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H

Household(s)

One or more people who usually live at the same private dwelling, who share common facilities and who define themselves as a household.

Household composition

  1. A way to classify households based on the relationships of the people who usually live in the dwelling.
  2. Households are defined by the number of families, the type of families and whether other related or unrelated people live there.
  3. A family nucleus is a couple, with or without children, or one parent with their children, who all usually live together in the same household. The children do not have partners or children of their own living in the same household.
  4. The term ‘other person(s)’ refers to people who are living in a household where there is at least one family nucleus, but the ‘other person(s)’ are not part of the family nucleus. The other person(s) may or may not be related to the family nucleus. For example, a ‘couple with child(ren) and other person(s)’ household includes a family nucleus, consisting of a couple and their children, and at least one other person who is outside this family nucleus, such as a grandparent, uncle, aunt, flatmate, boarder, etc.
  5. ‘Other multi-person household’ is a household with two or more people with no family nucleus. This includes households of related people who are not a family nucleus (such as siblings), households of unrelated people (such as flatmates) or a combination of related and unrelated people where there is no family nucleus.
  6. For more information, see Statistics NZ’s standard classification of household composition(external link).

Household offences/crimes

  1. When the respondents’ household is the victim of crime rather than the respondent personally, this is a household offence. In the NZCASS, household offences are:
    1. burglary
    2. theft – household property
    3. damage – household property
    4. theft – vehicle
    5. damage – vehicle
    6. thefts – from vehicle/vehicle interference.
  2. See the NZCASS data items list for more information.

NZCASS data items (variables) list [XLS, 373 KB]

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I

Imputation

  1. A statistical process done to fill in missing information.
  2. Imputation is necessary because the NZCASS does not collect victim forms on all incidents reported in the NZCASS, but all the incidents still need to be counted in the overall incidence rates and prevalence rates.

Incidence rate

  1. The average number of offences that happened in the reference year for each 100 households or adults.
  2. It takes into account that some people and/or households are victimised more than once.
  3. It does not give a good measure of someone’s risk of victimisation because risk is not evenly distributed across the population – see prevalence rate.

Incident

  1. An incident is something that happened, an event, or occurrence.
  2. As part of the NZCASS, respondents are asked about different incidents that might have happened to them.
  3. An incident may include one or more offences.
  4. ‘Incident’ should not be confused with the ‘incidence rate’.

Institutions

  1. People living in institutions are not part of the NZCASS.
  2. Institutions include hospitals, psychiatric institutions, prisons, barracks for the New Zealand armed forces and homes for the elderly.
  3. Also see non-private dwellings.

Interpersonal violence/violent interpersonal offences

  1. Interpersonal violence refers to violence between people. It covers:
    1. intimate partner violence (current and ex-partners)
    2. family violence
    3. violence by other known people (people who are not intimate partners or family)
    4. violence by strangers.
  2. In the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent interpersonal offences’ include physical, sexual and threats and damage offences. See violent interpersonal offences.

Intimate partner violence/violent offences by intimate partners

  1. Intimate partner violence is a subset of ‘interpersonal violence’. It refers to violence between people in a current intimate romantic relationship or those who’ve been in an intimate relationship before. Intimate partners can be:
    1. current partners (husband, wife, civil union partner, de facto partner, boyfriend, or girlfriend)
    2. ex-partners (ex-husband, ex-wife, ex-civil union partner, ex-de facto partner, ex-boyfriend, or ex-girlfriend)
  2. In the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent offences by intimate partners’ includes a range of offences. See violent interpersonal offences.

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L

Lifetime experience

Whether the offence has ever happened at some stage in their life.

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M

Margin of error (MoE)

  1. A statistical measure of an estimate’s reliability (that is a measure of sampling error).
  2. The 95% margin of error indicates there are about 19 chances in 20 that the value for the ‘real’ population will fall within the margin of error of the survey’s estimate.
  3. The 95% margin of error is used in NZCASS reporting, and is calculated as the t-value (approximately 1.96) multiplied by the standard error (MoE = t-value × standard error of estimate).
  4. In the NZCASS, reporting estimates with an MoE between 10 and 20 percentage points are considered high and should be viewed with caution. Estimates with an MoE over 20 percentage points are suppressed as they are considered too unreliable for general use.
  5. The margin of error is used to calculate confidence intervals.
  6. The margin of error is used in NZCASS reporting as a sampling error measure for percentages.

Meshblock

  1. A defined geographical unit varying in size from part of a city block to large areas of rural land.
  2. Every part of New Zealand is classified to be within a certain meshblock.
  3. The median number of people in each meshblock is 81 people in 2013.
  4. Meshblocks are the smallest geographical unit defined by Statistics NZ to collect statistical data.
  5. Can be combined to form larger statistical units, such as area units, territorial local authorities and regions.

Missing information

Missing information in the NZCASS has been filled in using the imputation process.

Multiple victimisation

  1. When someone has experienced more than one offence of any type.
  2. See also repeat victimisation.

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N

Neighbourhood

  1. In the NZCASS, the respondent defined this term themselves, unless they asked what it meant.
  2. If the respondent asked what ‘neighbourhood’ meant, the interviewer said either:
    1. ‘The streets around you’ (NZCASS urban definition)
    2. ‘Your district’ (NZCASS rural definition).

Non-institutionalised

  1. Non-institutionalised means people who do not live in institutions such as hospitals, army barracks and prisons. People living in institutions are not part of the NZCASS.
  2. Also see institutions.

Non-private dwellings

  1. Those living in non-private dwellings are not part of the NZCASS.
  2. This includes hotels, motels, guest houses, boarding houses, hostels, motor camps, staff quarters, hospitals and institutional complexes.
  3. Also see institutions.

NZDep (NZ Index of Deprivation)

  1. Standard measure of relative socio-economic deprivation in New Zealand.
  2. It is derived from the Census using 9 variables to provide a deprivation score for each meshblock in New Zealand.
  3. For further information refer to the University of Otago’s NZDep information page(external link).
  4. In NZCASS, NZDep is converted into quintiles (5 evenly sized groups) where 1 represents the areas with the least deprived scores, and 5 the areas with the most deprived scores.

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O

Offences/offence codes

  1. An offence is a crime that meets a specific legal definition.
  2. Offence codes are a number assigned to offences to help analysis and reporting for the NZCASS.
  3. Where an offence is not measured by the NZCASS or the incident did not meet the legal definition of an offence, it was given the ‘out of scope’ code.

Offence type

An individual offence or group of similar offences used in reporting.

Other ethnic group

  1. This ethnicity category includes: Middle Eastern, Latin American, African and ‘other’.
  2. Also see ethnicity.

Out of scope

  1. The types of people or offences not included as part of NZCASS.
  2. The people excluded are children under 15 years and people who live in institutions or do not live in permanent private dwellings.
  3. The offences excluded are ‘victimless crimes’ (such as drug offences), manslaughter and homicide, commercial crime, white-collar crime, crimes against businesses or public sector agencies, e-crime.

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P

Pacific peoples

  1. This ethnicity category includes: Pacific peoples (not further defined), Samoan, Cook Islands Māori, Tongan, Niuean, Tokelauan, Fijian and other Pacific peoples.
  2. Also see ethnicity.

Partners

  1. Includes current partners and ex-partners.
  2. Used in regard to ‘interpersonal violence’.

Partnered – legally registered

  1. Where someone is legally married or is in a civil union at the time of interview.
  2. See partnered – not legally registered.

Partnered – not legally registered

  1. Where someone is in a relationship at the time of interview but not married or in a civil union.
  2. See partnered – legally registered.

People known (excluding family) / violent offences by people known (excluding family)

  1. Violent offences by people known (excluding family) are a sub-set of ‘interpersonal violence’. The term refers to violence committed by people known to the victim, but who are not family members.
  2. This includes friends, family friends, flatmates, colleagues, employers, neighbours, acquaintances and caregivers.
  3. In the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent offences by people known (excluding family)’ include a range of offences. See violent interpersonal offences.

People who are not family (violent offences by people who are not family)

  1. Violent offences by people who are not family are a subset of ‘interpersonal violence’. This is also called ‘community violence’. The term refers to violence by a non-family member, including people known to the victim (but who are not family) and strangers.
  2. In the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent offences by non-family members’ covers a range of offences. See violent interpersonal offences.

Permanent, private dwellings

One of the following:

  1. a separate house
  2. two or more houses or flats joined together
  3. a flat or house joined to a business or shop
  4. a bach, crib or hut that are used as private dwellings (as long as it is not attached to a work camp).

Personal offences/crimes

  1. When the respondent themselves was the victim of a crime (rather than their household), this is called a personal crime. In the NZCASS, personal offences are:
    1. sexual offences
    2. assault offences
    3. robbery
    4. threat – of force
    5. threat – to damage property
    6. damage – personal property
    7. theft – personal property
    8. theft – from the person.
  2. See the NZCASS data items list for more information.

NZCASS data items (variables) list [XLS, 373 KB]

Violent (physical) offences

  1. This category includes: assaults, abduction/kidnapping and robbery.
  2. Comprises interpersonal violence offences, along with sexual offences and threats and damage offences.
  3. See the NZCASS data items list for more information.

NZCASS data items (variables) list [XLS, 373 KB]

Prevalence rate

  1. The prevalence rate shows the percentage of households or adults who were the victim of one or more offences in a given year.
  2. Unlike incidence rates, prevalence rates do not take account of the number of times one person or household has been victimised.

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R

Recall period

  1. The time period that survey participants (respondents) are asked to take into account when they are answering a question.
  2. The most frequently used recall period in the 2014 NZCASS is: ‘Since the 1st of January 2013’.
  3. Also known as ‘reference period’.

Recording rate

  1. Offences that were counted by the Police in the official statistics, compared to the number of offences victims said were reported to the Police (as recorded in the NZCASS).
  2. Crime reported to the Police but not counted in the official statistics is known as ‘the grey figure of crime’.

Relative standard error (RSE)

  1. A statistical measure of an estimate’s reliability (that is a measure of sampling error).
  2. The RSE is obtained by expressing the standard error as a percentage of the estimate, that is RSE = (standard error of the estimate / estimate) × 100.
  3. NZCASS reporting uses RSE reporting as a sampling error measure for count estimates and means.
  4. In the NZCASS, reporting estimates with an RSE between 20% and 50% are considered high and should be viewed with caution. Estimates with an RSE over 50% are suppressed as they are considered too unreliable for general use.
  5. The RSE is similar to but not to be confused with the relative sampling error used by Statistics NZ.

Repeat victimisation

  1. When someone has experienced more than one offence of the same type.
  2. See also multiple victimisation.

Reporting rate

  1. The number of incidents that respondents say became known to the Police.
  2. Incidents may have become known to the Police either because the victim or someone else reported it to the Police or because the Police themselves discovered the incident.

Risk (rates/factors)

  1. The chances a person or household is likely to be a victim of crime.
  2. Based on prevalence counts.
  3. Many of the things that increase or decrease risk are interrelated and overlap.

Robbery

  1. Where someone stole (or tried to steal) property from a respondent by using force/violence or threatening them with force/violence either during or immediately before a theft or attempted theft.
  2. Violence may be used to extort the property stolen or to overcome resistance to it being stolen.
  3. Aggravated robbery involves grievous bodily harm (serious injury to someone), two or more people working together in a robbery, or a robbery where the offender had a weapon.

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S

Sampling error

  1. Sampling error comes about because the NZCASS surveyed a group of people, not the entire New Zealand population.
  2. As such, the results of the survey may differ from the results we would get if the entire New Zealand population had been included.
  3. The size of the sampling error depends on the sample size, the size and nature of the estimate, and the design of the survey. The sampling error can be worked out mathematically.
  4. There are a few related ways to express the difference between the survey estimate and the ‘real’ population:
    1. standard error
    2. margin of error (MoE)
    3. relative standard error (RSE)
    4. confidence intervals.
  5. Sampling error is also taken into account in tests of statistical significance.

Sexual offences

  1. Sexual offences include sexual violation, rape and indecent assault.
  2. Information about sexual offences is collected in the third self-completion section of the survey, asked respondents about forced sexual intercourse, attempted forced sexual intercourse, distressing sexual touching, and other offences of sexual violence.
  3. Forced sexual intercourse is defined as forced oral sex or forced anal or vaginal penetration.

Screening questions (‘screeners’)

Questions used to collect information:

  1. on whether a survey respondent has experienced an incident or incidents that come within the scope of the survey
  2. on how many times a particular incident has happened

Social renters

  1. Used in the 2006 and 2009 NZCASS to refer to people who rented from a local authority or Housing New Zealand, as well as people who rented but refused to say who they rented from, who gave an ‘other’ response, or who did not know their landlord.
  2. Called ‘rented – government (local and central)’ in the 2014 NZCASS (with slightly different definition).

Standard error (SE)

  1. A statistical measure of an estimate’s reliability (that is a measure of sampling error).
  2. In NZCASS, the standard error is calculate by the jack-knife replicate weights method. See the Technical Manual (PDF, 6MB) for further detail.

    NZCASS Technical manual [PDF, 5.3 MB]
  3. The standard error is used to calculate the margin of error (MoE), the relative standard error (RSE) and confidence intervals.
  4. The standard error is also used in tests of statistical significance.

Statistical significance

  1. Statistical tests that assess how reliable survey differences are.
  2. Because survey estimates are subject to sampling error, differences between years or groups can happen by chance.
  3. Statistical significance tests are used to identify whether any differences are ‘real’ differences between years or groups.
  4. Tests at the 95% confidence level are used for the 2014 NZCASS reporting.

Stranger (violent offences by strangers)

  1. Violent offences by strangers (sometimes called ‘stranger violence’) are a subset of ‘interpersonal violence’ and refer to violence by someone the victim does not know.
  2. Within the context of the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent offences by strangers’ include a range of offences. See violent interpersonal offences.

Survey (sample survey, victimisation survey)

  1. Sample surveys, such as the NZCASS, are a cost-effective alternative to conducting a census.
  2. In a survey, a portion of the population is sampled and interviewed to collect the information needed. This contrasts with a census where information is collected from the entire population.
  3. Because only a portion of the population is sampled in a survey, published results are considered estimates and there will always be some level of sampling error.

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T

Temporary private dwelling

  1. People living in temporary private dwellings are not included in the NZCASS.
  2. Temporary private dwellings include caravans, cabins or tents in a motor camp, or boats.

Theft of personal property (general)

  1. Property stolen that belongs to the person. This is considered a personal offence, as opposed to burglary, which affects the household.
  2. Property stolen when away from home (at the office, place of work, places of entertainment etc).
  3. Property stolen in the course of crimes against other people (for example, if property was stolen from a friend’s car or mother’s house).

Theft from inside home (right to be there)

  1. Theft from a building where the person has been invited into that building or has a right to be there.
  2. Distinct from ‘burglary’ as the person has authority to be inside the building.

Theft from motor vehicles

The theft of parts, accessories and other contents from a motor vehicle, such as car stereos, hubcaps and personal items inside the car (like clothing).

Theft from outside the home (over $10)

  1. Theft from the yard of a home where the person has been invited into that home or has a right to be there.
  2. Theft of household or personal property from the area immediately surrounding the dwelling (but not within an ‘enclosed yard’).

Theft from person

  1. Theft from a person’s body, such as pickpocketing.
  2. Minimal force was used and the offender did not threaten the respondent.

Thefts and damage offences

  1. Includes theft from the person, theft of personal property, theft of household property and damage to household or personal property. For the damage offences, offences are only included where the victim did not have contact with the offender or, if the victim was given information on who the offender was, did not know them well.
  2. See the NZCASS data items list for more information.

NZCASS data items (variables) list [XLS, 373 KB]

Threats

  1. Threats include: verbal or physical threats to kill, injure or assault the respondent and threats to damage personal or household property.
  2. Verbal abuse was not counted as a threat.

Threats and damage offences

  1. Includes threat of force, threat to damage property, or threat to damage household or personal property. For the damage offences, offences are only included where the victim had contact with the offender or, if the victim was given information on who the offender was, knew them well.
  2. Includes interpersonal violence offences, along with sexual offences and physical offences.
  3. See the NZCASS data items list for more information.

NZCASS data items (variables) list [XLS, 373 KB]

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U

Urbanisation

  1. A classification designed to identify concentrated urban or semi-urban settlements.
  2. The NZCASS uses Statistics NZ’s standard classification.
  3. See the NZCASS data items list for more information.

NZCASS data items (variables) list [XLS, 373 KB]

Usually resident

  1. Respondents defined ‘usually resident’ themselves.
  2. Exceptions to self-definition are explained in the Statistics NZ’s “Statistical standard for usual residence”. See the Statistics New Zealand definition for more information(external link)

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V

Vandalism/damage

  1. Wilful damage to personal or household property.
  2. Includes (but is not limited to) damage such as arson and graffiti.
  3. Excludes incidents that are only a nuisance (like letting down car tyres).

Vehicle

  1. Covers all motorised land transport and includes cars, vans, trucks, motorcycles, motor scooters.
  2. Can also include vehicles like quad bikes and tractors where they are not out of scope for the NZCASS.

Vehicle offences

  1. Includes the four offences related to vehicles: theft of vehicle, damage of vehicle, theft from vehicle, vehicle interference.
  2. See the NZCASS data items list for more information.

NZCASS data items (variables) list [XLS, 373 KB]

Vehicle interference

Where someone:

  1. tampers with parts of a vehicle
  2. tries to get inside a vehicle for an uncertain reason (not a clear attempted theft)
  3. successfully gets inside a vehicle but doesn’t damage vehicle or intend to do anything else.

Victims

  1. Survey respondents who reported experiencing at least one offence against themselves personally or against their household.
  2. Victims are counted once for each type of offence experienced, regardless of the number of offences of that type.

Victim forms

  1. The part of the survey used to collect detailed information about incidents reported in the survey’s screener questions.
  2. A respondent can complete a maximum of six victim forms. Respondents could complete three general victim forms at most for incidents reported in the CAPI screener questions and at most one specific victim form for each of the CASI sections.
  3. For more information about victim forms, see our What questions are asked webpage.

Violent interpersonal offences/violent offences

  1. Violent interpersonal offences include: assault offences, kidnapping, robbery, sexual offences, threats and some damage to personal or household property.
  2. In the 2014 NZCASS, ‘violent interpersonal offences’ are discussed as part of analysis and reporting on interpersonal violence. See Interpersonal violence defined for more information.

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W

Weighting/weighted data

  1. Weighting is a process of adjusting results from a sample survey to correct for imbalances caused by sampling and survey design.
  2. There are three types of weights applied in the NZCASS: household weights, personal weights and incident weights.
  3. A weight is allocated to each sample unit, which indicates how many population units are represented by the sample unit.
  4. See Weighting for more information.

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