Bermuda is expected to receive the results of the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey by the end of the year, according to Statistics Canada.

The literacy survey, testing the reading, comprehension and numeracy skills of Bermuda adult population aged 16-65, is expected to give Bermuda a basis for comparison of literacy on an international level.

?A total of 4,040 survey questionnaires were administered to households of which there were 2,680 completed responses,? said Chief Statistician Valerie Robinson-James.

?Statistics Canada had requested that Bermuda complete 3,000 questionnaires. Thus we successfully achieved a response rate of 82 percent ? very much pleasing for a first-time literacy survey for Bermuda of such a sensitive nature.?

Fieldwork for the questionnaires began on March 17, 2003 and finished August 31, 2003. In-house interviewing continued during the month of September for households with pre-arranged interviews with the Statistics Department.

The exercise is being led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Statistics Canada, and is being done all over the world.

Before the questionnaires were sent to Canada, the Statistics Department edited, coded and scored them in preparation for data entry.

?Once we had completed this process the data file was cleaned and sent to Statistics Canada in November, 2003,? said Mrs. James.

?The data collection phase has been virtually completed for all countries and most are currently in the final phase of cleaning their data file in preparation to send to Statistics Canada.

?The deadline for sending files is the end of February, with the exception of Italy and Switzerland who have up to March, 2004 to do so.?

Statistics Canada has begun the evaluation process, she said.

?A sample of cognitive data from all countries has been examined, and Statistics Canada is now requiring all countries to re-score a set number of cognitive booklets to ensure consistency in the scoring process.

?Bermuda has been asked to re-score a sample of 36 questions,? she said. ?Any changes will be appended to the data file and re-submitted to Statistics Canada in about two weeks. The evaluation process is ongoing.

?Statistics Canada has indicated that their calendar of activities still aims to release the survey results by the end of the year. At this time an International Survey Comparative Report will be available for dissemination to participating countries.?

The survey should give an accurate reading of Bermuda?s literacy levels in comparison to other countries.

As for what Government hopes to do with the results, Mrs. James said: ?The Department assessed the data that was collected with the 2,680 responses.

?We compared it with the Census data using specific variables such as age, sex and education. The results from the literacy survey show a level of consistency with the data collected from the 2000 Census.

?Hence, Bermuda will have invaluable information about the literacy level of its adult population, aged 16 to 65 years, upon which sound, informed decisions can be made to improve literacy levels.?