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Improving Official Statistics
Improving Official Statistics
Improving Official Statistics
The challenge of the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data
The Statistical Journal of the IAOS can be read via the printed version and online via the official statistics website: www.officialstatistics.com. The website offers beyond the online versions of the articles also a discussion platform, news, and interviews.
The latest version of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS (SJIAOS)
March 2023, Volume 39, no. 1.
https://content.iospress.com/journals/statistical-journal-of-the-iaos/39/1
The content of the issue in more detail:
In the editorial, ‘Success, failures, challenges, and opportunities for official statistics in the development and implementation of the SDG Indicator framework’ the current state of progress with the Implementation of the indicator framework is reflected on. This reflection is also the bases for the 15th discussion on the SJIAOS Discussion Platform.
This issue of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS contains further 20 manuscripts over four specific themes. The first theme COVID Impact and Innovation during the COVID-19 Crisis contains one manuscript focusing on adaptations in Short term Statistics due to the economic downturn due to the lockdown. The second theme contains five manuscripts on Governance in Official statistics. These are the manuscript by Hans Viggo Szabo and Merit Hoel on the way ahead with official statistics. Further two manuscripts on trust in statistics. In the fourth one, Hernan Munoz and Julien Dupont describe in detail the recovery of the Argentinian statistical system. The final contribution in this section is a description of the French National Council for Statistical Information Lessons from a Formal Dialogue between Producers and Users on Sustainable Development.
The third theme has four domain-specific manuscripts, on respectively Environmental Statistics in Lao PDR, Imputation methods for sub-municipal data in the Italian Housing Census, time series of temporary employment in the Netherlands, and results for a new Tourism Sectoral Account for Greece. In the fourth theme, seven manuscripts focus more specifically on Data, Methodology and Techniques. It covers an overview of Big Data for Official Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean, combining data from multiple probability samples, web scraped data, the transition from telephone to online and mixed mode data collection for employee panel survey data, oversampling techniques for imbalanced data in poverty classifications and methodologies for variance estimation in labor force indicators.
The issue ends with a regular update on the open discussions on the SJIAOS discussion platform www.officialstatistics.com, and a brief look into the next two issues of the Journal.
| Vol 39/1 | |
| Special theme: | |
| The challenge of the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data | |
| Manuscript | Author(s) |
| Editorial | |
| Editorial: Success, failures, challenges, and opportunities for official statistics in the development and implementation of the SDG Indicator framework | P.C.J. Everaers |
| The impact of Covid-19 | |
| Identifying and evaluating COVID-19 effect on short-term statistics | Arnout van Delden,Martijn de Winter, Koert van Bemmel |
| Governance of Official Statistics | |
| Official statistics - quiz Vadis | Hans Vigo Szabo, Marit Hoel |
| Trusted Smart Statistics and the need for new ethical principles | Yolanda Gómez Menchon, Ana Cánovas Zapata,Ana Carmen Saura Vinuesa |
| Trust in Official Statistics across Europe: Evidence from two waves of Eurobarometer using Multilevel Models | Majlinda Joxhe, Serge Allegrezza, Wolfgang Langer |
| The French National Council for Statistical Information Lessons from a Formal Dialogue between Producers and Users on Sustainable Development | Isabelle Anxionnaz, Cristina D’Alessandro, Arnaud Montus, Stéphane Tagnani |
| Rebuilding the National Statistical System of Argentina. Some lessons Learned. | Hernan Daniel Munoz, Julien Dupont |
| Domain-specific Manuscripts | |
| Environment statistics in Lao PDR - Case study on multiple data sources integration for a new statistical domain | Perig Leost, M.D, Salika Chanthalavong |
| Enumeration area imputation methods for producing sub-municipal data in the Italian permanent population and housing census | Giancarlo Carbonetti, Marco Di Zit, Davide Frdelli, Raffaele Ferrara, Fabio Lipizzi |
| Estimating a time series of temporary employment using a combination of survey and register data | Nino Mushkudiani, Jeroen Pannekoek |
| Tourism GDP for 2010 to 2020: New TSA Results for Greece | Peter Hackl, Stavros Hatzimarinakis |
| Data, Methodology and Techniques | |
| Overview of the Use of Big Data for Official Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean | Andréa Diniz da Silva, Beatriz Menezes Maques de Oliviera, Isis Gonçalves Peixoto, Lidiane Braga Sales de Souza |
| Approaches for combining data from multiple probability sample | Marcel Vierra, Loveness N. Dzikiti, Brendan Girdler-Brown |
| Italian sentiment analysis on climate change: emerging patterns from 2016 to today | Elena Catanese, Mauro Bruno, Luca Valentino, Monica Scannapieco |
| Web scraped data in consumer price indexes | Peter Knízat |
| Transitioning an Employee Panel Survey from Telephone to Online and Mixed-Mode Data Collection | Jan Mackeben, Joseph W. Sakshaug |
| Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) for Handling Imbalanced Data in Poverty Classification | Siskarossa Ika Oktora, Firza Refo Adi Pratama |
| Adaptation of Statistics Canada and Eurostat methodologies for variance estimation of changes of the main labour force indicators in Iran | Lida Kalhori, Fahrad Meran,Mohammed Reza Reyhani, Roshanak Aliabari Saba |
| Discussion platform | |
| Launch of the 15th discussion | P.C.J. Everaers |
| Erratum Big Data and Environment statistics | Kim Willems |
Launch of the 15th discussion:
The 15th SJIAOS discussion ‘Success, failures, challenges and opportunities for official statistics in the development and implementation of the global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’ invites readers to react to the statement that official statistics, via endorsing the Cape Town Global Action Plan for Sustainable Development Data at the UNSC in 2017, on the one hand, have greatly benefited in strong support for developing new methodologies and indicators, but the other hand is confronted with unrealistic expectations concerning several other indicators, the required data, their implementation in general and regional coverage.
The leading question to the discussion is ‘did the challenge of developing the indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals give a boost to Official Statistics or was it a burden?’ Detailed questions will focus on the successes, failures and more specifically the challenges, obstacles and opportunities. The readers are invited to the 15th discussion, launched on the SJIAOS discussion platform (www.officialstatistics.com) either react with supporting or disagreeing arguments to this reflection, examples of successes, failures, and suggestions on how to tackle challenges.
The discussion will be opened around mid-March on the SJIAOS discussion platform (www.officialstatistics.com).
Several other discussions are still also online on the SJIAOS Discussion platform (www.officialstatistics.com). You are specifically invited to also look at the 13th discussion and the Extra discussion.
A special discussion on the challenges of “datafied” societies.
In parallel to the 13th discussion, a special discussion was launched on the .challenges that our “datafied” societies pose to Official Statistics. This discussion follows the establishment in April 2022, during the IAOS bi-annual Conference, of the “Krakow Working Group”. The main points arising from this discussion will constitute useful inputs to the deliberations of the Group. The Krakow Working Group will report on the advancement of its work at the IAOS Conference in Zambia in April 2023 and the ISI Congress in Ottawa in July 2023.
The statements for this discussion have come online on the SJIAOS discussion platform (www.officialstatistics.com) around mid-September 2022.
The 14th discussion: How can Official Statistics find a way out of the fog?
The discussion statements can be found at: https://officialstatistics.com/news-blog/14th-discussion-how-can-official-statistics-find-way-out-fog
With the release of the December 2022 issue, also the 14th discussion was opened. This discussion ‘How can Official Statistics find a way out of the fog?, builds on the Editorial in the December issue, inviting readers to react to the statement that the official statistics are currently confused, at a loss, regarding the strategies and direction. Readers are invited to either react with supporting or disagreeing arguments to this statement or to contribute with suggestions on how to solve this situation.
The discussion was opened around mid-December on the SJIAOS discussion platform (www.officialstatistics.com).
The 13th discussion: The roles and positions of International Statistical Organizations.
The discussion statements can be found at: https://officialstatistics.com/news-blog/13th-discussion-role-and-position-of-international-statistical-organizations
With the release of the September 2022 issue of the Journal, the 13th discussion was opened online mid-November 2022.
This discussion ‘The roles and position of International Statistical Organizations’ builds on the manuscripts in the September special issue with contributions from International Statistical Organizations.
The discussion focuses on the global governance of official statistics and the role and position of International Statistical Organisations. The statements invite the readers to reflect on the role and value of (statistical) data, their role as a public good and the role of the UN member states, the International Statistical Organizations and the UN Statistical Commission in the development and management of official statistics.
The 12th discussion: The positive and negative aspects of ‘standardization’ in official statistics.
With the release of the June 2022 issue of the Journal (Vol 38, (2022), Nr 2), the 12th discussion was opened. This discussion is triggered by the section on ‘Standards, guidelines and recommendations’ in this specific issue.
The statements in the discussion to be commented on, question if the frequent use of cross-national comparisons dismisses the cultural specificities of a country or region. It is also relevant to ask if the standards that are used to produce the indicators for cross-national comparisons are sufficiently implemented to allow for valid comparisons. And in general, one might question if there is a misfit between the emphasis on and practice of cross-national comparisons by international organizations and the attention to the level and awareness of the implementation of the standards used to produce the indicators on the country level.
The 11th discussion: Large international projects on the development of official statistics, the 50×2030 Initiative as an example.
With the release of the March 2022 issue of the Journal, the 11th discussion was opened. This discussion is triggered by the special section concerning the 50×2030 Initiative, as presented in this issue (Vol 38, (2022) Nr 1) via seven manuscripts and a guest editorial.
The 50×2030 Initiative to close the agricultural data gap is a multi-partner program that addresses current shortcomings in the quality and availability of agricultural data by transforming country data systems in 50 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America by 2030. The initiative is also one of the largest international projects on the development of statistics ever with planned costs of 500 million US dollars.
In the discussion, via a set of thought-provoking statements, the ambitions, structure, and content of the 50×2030 initiative will be proposed for reflection, as well as the role, structure, and governance aspects of such large international projects.
The 10th discussion: ‘Statistics on difficult to measure population groups: challenges to leave no-one not included is triggered by the manuscript ‘Improving official statistics on stateless people: challenges, solutions, and the road ahead, by Mary Strode (and Melanie Khanna in Volume 37 (2021) Nr 4).
https://officialstatistics.com/news-blog/launch-10th-discussion
The discussion statements will concentrate on the need for such statistical information, the challenges in collecting them as well as aspects of confidentiality and protection in data sharing and it will stress the importance of data being comparable over contexts and time and using the same definitions, concepts, questions, and methodologies. The discussion will also invite comments on the experiences gained and result achieved in developing guidelines for measuring and developing statistics for difficult-to-measure groups.
The ninth discussion on the SJIAOS discussion platform is based on seven statements on ‘New Developments in Training in Official Statistics.
https://officialstatistics.com/news-blog/demand-and-format-training-official-statistics
In the Statistical Journal of the IAOS, Volume 37 (2021) Nr. 3, on ‘New Developments in Training in Official Statistics’ the recent trends in training in official statistics are discussed in 22 manuscripts. The need and rationale for training in official statistics and the necessity to anticipate recent developments, the requirements needed for training in Data Science, a method for assessing the type and content of this demand for training, an overview of existing training in official statistics initiatives, general trends in learning and training, and a selection of examples of training in domains of official statistics or regions.
The eighth discussion on the SJIAOS discussion platform focuses on the UN Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics.
This discussion builds on one hand on the manuscript ‘Assessing compliance with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics: A Maturity Model for Continuous Improvement’ complementing the Fundamental Principles with the assessment of their compliance by countries and regions based on a Maturity Model for Continuous Improvement[1], illustrating the acceptance of this main framework for high-quality statistics as a still suitable instrument. On the other hand, during the last decennium, there were many events, where the principles were consciously or unconsciously ignored.
The objective of the discussion is twofold: first to generate knowledge and experience with the implementation, application, and effectiveness of the Fundamental Principles, and second to inquire especially about major improvements, both to the Fundamental Principles themselves as well as to the compliance and the enforcement of compliance.
You are invited to contribute to the discussions on: www.officialstatistics.com
[1] Milicich, R., T. Dickinson, G. Van Halderen, T.Labor, H. Neven: Assessing compliance with the United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics: A Maturity Model for Continuous Improvement. In SJIAOS Vol 37 (2021) Nr /2.
The flagship of the IAOS is the ‘Statistical Journal of the IAOS’. The Journal is expected to be widely circulated and subscribed to by individuals and institutions in all parts of the world. The journal has four regular issues per year, each within average around 25 articles focusing on current and emerging issues and challenges related to the management, production and use of official statistics and related public policy matters. The ‘Journal’ is available on-line and via a printed publication and is supported by a website www.officialstatistics.com.
Beyond the link to the on-line version of the Journal the website provides a permanent platform for news, information on events. A main feature of the website is the discussion platform. This discussion platform facilitates in parallel to and based on articles in the Journal discussions on important topics for official statistics.
The success of the Statistical Journal of the IAOS depends upon the contributions of IAOS members and authors. All papers are subject to anonymous review. For a full description of the publication’s editorial aims and scope, and how to submit manuscripts, go to www.officialstatistics.com or to IOSPress. For more information on the journal in general, submission, review and revision procedures or specific manuscripts, do not hesitate to contact the Editor in Chief, Pieter Everaers at pevssjiaos@gmail.com.
Papers are expected to be of wide interest to readers. Such papers may or may not contain strictly original material. All papers are refereed. The journal has an Editor-in-Chief who is responsible for ensuring its content and quality. For the review process he is supported by an editorial board of circa 30 eminent official statisticians and for the strategy of the Journal by a small Advisory Board The journal should publish papers of wide interest to both users and producers of official statistics. The journal should encourage papers with a focus on the basic principles for official statistics covering areas such as the importance of applying the best scientific methods, the need for statistical independence, balancing the needs of users with the burden on respondents, the continuing challenges around confidentiality, and the growing need for consistency and coherence across statistical domains and over time and for international comparability.
IAOS members have unlimited online access to all the articles in the SJIAOS, including previous issues. Staff from International Organizations that are institutional members of the ISI/IAOS can be a member of IAOS and have free access to the Journal for an annual fee of 10 euros.
Members are asked to register themselves at IOS Press (go to the register tab) and once done, to send an email to Ms. Kim Willems (k.willemsn@iospress.nl). She will activate your complimentary access upon receiving your email.
For more information contact Margaret de Ruiter-Molloy at the ISI membership office at m.deruitermolloy@cbs.nl.
Links to the earlier issue and still open discussions:
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