Role of NSOs in Analysis
John Cornish
Analysis underpins effective
NSO operations
• Analysis is broad in extent, and it supports all
phases of the production of statistics
• It is needed to
– turn data into reliable & useful information &
– improve communication with users
Forms of Analysis done by NSOs
• Quality assessment and validation
• Descriptive analyses & presentation
– commentary, tables & graphs
• ‘routine’ adjustments
– seasonal adjustment
– standardisation eg age/sex adjusted death rates
Forms of analyses (Cont’d)
• Summarising to simplify eg Socio-economic index
• Measures of transitions and longitudinal analysis
• Creation of new statistical outputs (eg small area
statistics)
• User-oriented analyses - focus on shedding light on
possible links between outcomes and explanatory
factors for specific public policy issues
NSOs vs others doing analysis
• Not a black or white issue, and the balance will vary across
countries and over time
• Some analyses can be done only by NSO because of
confidentiality issues
• However, capability (skills and knowledge) will limit extent of
analysis done by NSO
• As will the need for timeliness and objectivity
• And , users will want to go beyond ‘describing’ to ‘explaining’
NB If data held by NSO is not analysed (either by NSO or
researchers), then get duplication of data collection
Supporting users to do analysis
• NSOs should support while ensuring they
maintain trust & confidence of respondents
• NSOs need to develop a range of methods for
providing user access to data
Ways of supporting users doing
analysis
• Detailed data - discussed in next section
• Good documentation and metadata
• Partnerships
• Staff who understand researcher needs
• Involvement with professional organisations (eg
population associations, economists)
What is needed to improve analytical
capacity of an NSO?
• staff with the right skills
• staff with sufficient knowledge of a subject area
to provide a context for analysis
• databases and software
• organisational arrangements
Good practices
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Ensure relevance & objectivity
Be open about methods
Consistency with data collection & use standards
Metadata is very important - for NSO & users
Peer reviews for ‘sensitive’ areas
Special consideration when designing surveys &
outputs
• Learn from partnerships, inpostings, fellowships, etc
Some pitfalls
• Analysis which is not public policy relevant
• Lack of Objectivity – topic selection, methods used,
not analysing all sides, presentation
• Commenting on or advocating policy
• Not understanding quality limitations of data
• Not understanding confidentiality risks
• Reporting findings which are not statistically
significant nor meaningful
• Taking too long & delaying release of data
• Forecasting - stick to projections
In summary, NSOs
role
• undertake analysis which quality assures
& explains the data
• avoid subjective analysis and
interpretation, and
• help others
Organising for analysis
• Statistics Norway - basically all public sector analysis
is centralised into a unit within the organisation
• Establish subject areas separate from collection
areas
– ABS Analysis Branch (within the Methodology Division)
– SNZ Analytical Support Branch (within Methodology
Division)
• Consultancy services for other departments