Research Tips

Statistics New Zealand

Statistics New Zealand collects an enormous volume of data that can be very useful to many businesses. Much of this is provided free on its Web site^Ext, and a lot of other information is available at nominal cost. Unfortunately, many businesses don’t know this, and they spend a lot to collect the same type of data. What’s worse is that the data they collect are virtually always of inferior quality.

Statistics New Zealand is responsible for the New Zealand census and has access to things like GST information. These are not estimates based on samples, but rather are an actual “count” with participation being mandatory, not voluntary. For these reasons, their data are of very high quality, so it always makes sense to check there before collecting your own data.