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Part I: Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency
Pages 1-13

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From page 1...
... Part I: Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency Definition of a Federal Statistical Agency Establishment of a Federal Statistical Agency Principles for a Federal Statistical Agency • Relevance to Policy Issues • Credibility Among Data Users • Trust Among Data Providers • A Strong Position of Independence Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency • A Clearly Defined and Well-Accepted Mission • Continual Development of More Useful Data •  Openness About Sources and Limitations of the Data Provided • Wide Dissemination of Data • Cooperation with Data Users • Fair Treatment of Data Providers •  Commitment to Quality and Professional Standards of Practice • An Active Research Program • Professional Advancement of Staff • A Strong Internal and External Evaluation Program •  Coordination and Cooperation with Other Statistical Agencies NOTE: Part I is a summary statement of principles and practices for an effective statistical agency. Part II, Commentary, further explains, defines, and illustrates the topics in Part I
From page 2...
... • Statistical purposes include description, evaluation, analysis, inference, and research. For these purposes, a statistical agency may collect data from individuals, establishments, or other organizations directly, or it may obtain data from administrative records, but it does not use these data for administrative, regulatory, or law enforcement purposes.
From page 3...
... Even more, the operation of a democratic system of government depends on the unhindered flow of statistical information that citizens can use to assess government actions and for other purposes. Federal statistical agencies are established to be a credible source of relevant, accurate, and timely statistics in one or more subject areas that are available to the public and policy makers.
From page 4...
... PRINCIPLES FOR A FEDERAL STATISTICAL AGENCY Principle 1: Relevance to Policy Issues A federal statistical agency must be in a position to provide objec tive information that is relevant to issues of public policy. A statistical agency must be knowledgeable about the issues and requirements of public policy and federal programs and able to provide objective information that is relevant to policy and program needs.
From page 5...
... Also important for credibility is for an agency to follow such practices as wide dissemination of data on an equal basis to all users, openness about the data provided, and commitment to quality and professional practice, as well as a strong internal and external evaluation program to assess and improve its data systems. Principle 3: Trust Among Data Providers A federal statistical agency must have the trust of those whose in formation it obtains.
From page 6...
... A strong degree of independence is reflected in such practices as adherence to predetermined schedules in the public release of important statistical indicators; control over statistical press releases; control over processing of the data that an agency collects; authority for professional decisions over the scope, content, and frequency of data compiled, analyzed, and disseminated; and maintaining a clear distinction between statistical information and policy interpretation. Without the credibility that comes from a strong degree of independence, users may lose confidence in the accuracy and objectivity of a statistical agency's data, and data providers may become less willing to cooperate with agency requests.
From page 7...
... Practice 1: A Clearly Defined and Well-Accepted Mission An agency's mission should include responsibility for all elements of its programs for providing statistical information -- determining sources of data, measurement methods, efficient methods of data collection and processing, and appropriate methods of analysis -- and ensuring the public availability not only of the data, but also of documentation of the methods used to obtain the data and their quality. The mission should include the responsibility for assessing information needs and priorities and ways to meet those needs, such as by the establishment, modification, or discontinuance of a survey, census, or other method of data collection, such as extracting information from administrative records.
From page 8...
... Practice 3: Openness About Sources and Limitations of the Data Provided A statistical agency should be open about its data and their strengths and limitations, taking as much care to understand and explain how its statistics may fall short of accuracy as it does to produce accurate data in the first place. Data releases from a statistical program should be accompanied by a full description of the purpose of the program; the methods and assumptions used for data collection, processing, and reporting; what is known and not known about the quality and relevance of the data; sufficient information for estimating variability in the data; appropriate methods for analysis that take account of variability and other sources of error; and the results of research on the methods and data.
From page 9...
... • For research and other statistical purposes, access to relevant information that is not publicly available through restricted access modes that protect confidentiality. Such modes include protected research data centers, remote monitored online access for special tabulations and analyses, and licensing of individual researchers to allow them to use confidential data on their desktop computers under stringent arrangements to ensure that no one else can access the information.
From page 10...
... Such practices include the following: • Policies and procedures to maintain the confidentiality of data, whether collected directly or obtained from administrative record sources, and to inform data providers of the manner and level of protection. • Policies and procedures to inform data providers of the purposes of data collection and the anticipated uses of the information, whether their participation is mandatory or voluntary, and, if voluntary, using appropriate informed consent procedures to obtain their information.
From page 11...
... The research program of a statistical agency should include the following: • Research on the substantive issues for which the data were compiled. Such research should be conducted not only to provide useful objective analytical results, but also as a means to identify potential improvements to the content of the data, suggest improvements in the design and operation of the data collection, and provide fuller understanding of the limitations of the data.
From page 12...
... Practice 10: A Strong Internal and External Evaluation Program Statistical agencies should have regular, ongoing programs of evaluation for major statistical programs and program components and for the agency's portfolio of programs as a whole. Regular formal reviews of major data
From page 13...
... Federal statistical agencies should also cooperate with foreign and international statistical agencies to exchange information on both data and methods and to develop appropriate common classifications and procedures to promote international comparability of information. Such cooperative activities as integrating data compiled by different statistical agencies invariably require effort to overcome differences in agency missions and operations.


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