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3 Strategy for Modernizing Data Storage, Retrieval, and Dissemination
Pages 51-62

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From page 51...
... For NCSES, the key to being able to take advantage of these technologies is to begin with a sharp focus on modernizing procedures for collection and ingestion of raw data and information about the data (metadata) into the data system.
From page 52...
... In the panel's judgment, NCSES is not very well positioned to meet the above preconditions for taking advantage of emerging technologies. The survey data that are entered into the center's database are received from the survey contractors in tabular format mainly though machine-readable tabulations, rather than in a more easily accessible microdata format.
From page 53...
... metadata transfer standard. The selection and adoption of a metadata transfer standard would be more effective if NCSES accomplished it through participation in a government-wide initiative, such as the W3C contract template development or the SCOPE effort, which is more focused on the federal statistical agencies.
From page 54...
... By changing to a dissemination framework from a review framework, NCSES could free up some existing resources or be able to reduce contractor involvement, which would allow for the realignment of resources and funding to focus on making further process improvements. Recommendation 3-2.
From page 55...
... The shift to increased user capacity to produce customized output from the raw data is potentially a major and significant enhancement, which has the potential to offer great direct benefit, but such a change will also require consideration of second-order effects. Care will need to be taken to ensure that data confidentiality is ensured when providing users with cross-source microdata: consequently, rules about publishable cell size, for example, will have to be carefully considered.3 The greater transparency inherent in making more of the raw data available also increases the risk that users could juxtapose data in ways that lead to invalid interpretations, although this danger can certainly be reduced by the accessibility of robust metadata that explain the meaning (and limitations)
From page 56...
... Two of the larger statistical agencies -- the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Economic Analysis -- and other federal agencies maintain visualization sites that are suggestive of approaches that NCSES might profitably take.4 Indeed, assisted by NCSES, the National Science Board has provided visualized data in the form of charts and graphs, and it maps its printed and online digest published in support of the 2010 Science and Engineering Indicators volume (National Science Board, 2010b)
From page 57...
... confederate with other federal statistical agencies that are already moving forward with visualization programs under an umbrella such as SCOPE; (b) work with private-sector vendors, such as the Google Public Data Explorer, to expand the potential for visualization of the NCSES data sets (taking much the same approach as Eurostat)
From page 58...
... He warned that it could be dangerous to overrely on these private-sector dissemination tools, since the conditions of service or even the continued provision of service are corporate decisions that could significantly change or even end the dissemination mode. He also expressed a concern that distribution in a nongovernment-owned system could open the possibility of unauthorized changes in the data set unless there were strict controls in place within the dissemination tool and a policy that the data be anchored back to the originating federal agency source.
From page 59...
... that outlines the holdings and requests records disposition authority. Through a records scheduling and appraisal process, the archivist of the United States determines which federal records have temporary value and may be destroyed and which federal records have permanent value and must be preserved and transferred to the National Archives of the United States.
From page 60...
... Several types of records were then identified for permanent retention, including final published surveys and studies; electronic micro-level survey data, final edited versions of all electronic survey microdata, databases, spreadsheets, detailed tables, charts, statistical data, and other micro-level respondent information created prior to compiling, condensing, or summarizing the survey responses into the final summarized or published product; electronic text and detailed statistical tables, data analyses, and related records; electronic copies of survey reports, including the text of the final report and all other electronic records related to the report, such as detailed tables, charts, statistical data analyses, and spreadsheets; and technical information regarding data format and structure and other related computer program and system documentation, including codebooks, file layouts, data fields, data dictionaries, and other records that are necessary to understand the microdata. For most of these 5 See http://www.archives.gov/research/arc [November 2011]
From page 61...
... The National Center for Science and Engineer ing Statistics (NCSES) should work with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)


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