In designing the 2002 NATSISS questionnaire, ABS was responding to user expectations that the survey achieve both of the following:

(1) Measure the social circumstances specific to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people throughout Australia.

(2) Provide valid measures of comparison with the circumstances of the non-Indigenous population. While there was generally a high degree of overlap between the topics covered in the 2002 NATSISS and those in the 1994 survey, there were some differences in question wording to align the 2002 survey more closely with the 2002 GSS and with other ABS surveys. As a result, some changes were made to the education and employment modules that were used in 1994.