Improving Data Collection and Measurement of Complex Farms (2019) / Chapter Skim
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6 A Broader Data Infrastructure: Administrative and Other Nonsurvey Data Sources
6 A Broader Data Infrastructure: Administrative and Other Nonsurvey Data Sources
Pages 143-170
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From page 143... ...
There is significant untapped potential for the use of nonsurvey data -- from administrative, commercial, and nonstructured data sources -- in the production of agricultural statistics for the United States. This is an approach that statistical agencies across the globe are increasingly undertaking and one that is already being used for some purposes within USDA.
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From page 144... ...
While methods for exploring the use of alternative "big data"2 sources are being pursued by statistical agencies, the statistical validity of analyses based on them are not yet widely established. In contrast, survey methodology provides a known inferential framework for dealing with questions of data accuracy, representativeness, and confidentiality.
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From page 145... ...
The use of electronic records by farms is currently undergoing rapid change, so it would be difficult to pinpoint the future use of particular forms of electronic accounting data at this time. It is likely, however, that NASS would benefit from monitoring developments and experimenting with different, evolving forms of accounting and tax data that could potentially provide information that is similar to what is currently being collected using survey questionnaires.
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6.1. MOTIVATIONS FOR PURSUING ALTERNATIVE DATA SOURCES Federal statistical agencies face increasing demands to improve the accuracy, granularity, and timeliness of their statistical products while simultaneously reducing programmatic expenditures. Accomplishing these goals requires optimizing the use of data already collected across the fed 5 See http://www.aggateway.org.
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From page 147... ...
. Unlike survey data collected specifically for statistical purposes, administrative data are typically collected in support of an agency's or other organization's routine program operations.7 Examples of administrative data include federal tax information, vital records, criminal justice records, and information on participants in a wide range of programs, such as unemployment insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, the Children's Health Insurance Program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and federal student aid.
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From page 148... ...
See http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/12539-x/2009001/administrative-administratives-eng.htm. 10 From the report, Innovation in Federal Statistics: Combining Data Sources while Protecting Privacy: "OMB and the federal statistical agencies have engaged in a number of efforts in recent years to facilitate greater use of administrative records for statistical purposes, with the goal of improving federal statistics and facilitating program evaluation.
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From page 149... ...
The remainder of this chapter discusses the potential and limitations of administrative data, the current uses to which NASS and ERS put administrative data, and the importance of data linking for the use of these data. 6.2. BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF USING ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN STATISTICAL PROGRAMS The survey-centric statistical system created during the 20th century is at a crossroads.
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From page 150... ...
Among the advantages offered by administrative sources is that, since their data are already collected as part of program operations, using them creates no additional costs of collection or added burden to the public; using tax data to maintain business frames is one example. At the same time, accessing administrative data may be associated 15 For a discussion of declining response to social science surveys, see National Research Council (2013)
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From page 151... ...
Administrative data may also be used to improve upon the quality of survey data by reducing variance of and bias due to nonsampling errors, increasing the timeliness of data releases, and facilitating small-area estimates. In some cases -- such as when program participation is involved, where respondent recall is a problem, or where quantitative estimates are difficult to calculate -- administrative records may be more accurate than survey responses.
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As discussed in Chapter 5, the Census Bureau maintains the Business Register, which serves as the sample frame for its various survey instruments and is constructed from administrative tax records provided to it by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
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. Challenges to Using Administrative Data for Official Statistical Reporting There are significant startup costs for the statistical agencies' use of administrative data.
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• Acquiring and documenting administrative data are often problem atic. This is often due to legal constraints concerning confidentiality and privacy.
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recommends the creation of a federal agency responsible for overseeing the use of administrative records across federal agencies.23 This recommendation has not yet been implemented, and if it is it still may not have an impact on practice for several years to come. 6.3. CURRENT AND POTENTIAL FUTURE USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE DATA BY USDA Administrative data are used by USDA for a range of purposes, including survey planning and design, frame construction and stratification, and assessing selection probabilities.24 This section reviews current sources of administrative data and suggests how usage could be expanded in the future.
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From page 156... ...
The use of federal tax information to conduct surveys of the farm economy has changed markedly over time. The Census of Agriculture adopted a mail-out/mail-back design beginning in 1959 and, prior to its transfer from the Census Bureau to NASS, the construction of the mailing list began with extensive use of IRS administrative records.
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such returns, or return information reflected thereon, to officers and employees of the Bureau of the Census, and (B) such return information reflected on returns of corporations to officers and employees of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, as the Secretary may prescribe by regulation for the purpose of, but only to the extent necessary in, the structuring of censuses and national economic accounts and conducting related statistical activities authorized by law.
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From page 158... ...
Summary USDA currently uses administrative data for statistical and other purposes. However, there is even greater scope for their use within USDA's statistical reporting programs -- to facilitate the construction of sample frames, validate data collected from survey instruments, augment existing collection efforts to handle nonresponse or missing information, and contribute to data processing through model-assisted calibration, model-based estimation, and imputation of survey responses.
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From page 159... ...
6.4. THE ESSENTIAL ROLE OF DATA LINKING When adopted for research or statistical purposes, the value added from administrative and other nonsurvey data is often realized when they can be combined with survey data. Record-level survey data may be augmented with information -- on income, demographics, geolocation of residence or business, program participation, employment, and potentially many other variables -- from administrative records or other sources.
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From page 160... ...
report on the use in federal statistics of multiple data sources provides a full discussion of linking methods and of the potential benefits of using administrative data for statistical purposes: as a complete frame or supplement to an existing frame for individuals, households, or businesses; to replace surveys when the administrative data contains all needed information; for editing survey responses or making imputations for missing responses; as a source of auxiliary information that can be used to improve survey-based estimates; and for survey evaluation (e.g., to compare the number of program beneficiaries in program records with estimates based on a survey)
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From page 161... ...
Some efforts take advantage of geo-referenced common land units that, by serving as a basic unit for geographically based list frames, allow linkage to FSA and Risk Management Agency administrative records and also to GIS data generated by remote sensing and precision agriculture. A recent expert panel on Methods for Integrating Multiple Data Sources to Improve Crop Estimates recommended in its report that NASS adopt FSA's "common land unit" as its basic spatial unit (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 2017c, Recommendation 2-8)
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From page 162... ...
system, each statistical agency has its own set of approval, confidentiality, and clearance procedures.31 No doubt related to these systemic contrasts, along with the differing laws that govern interaction and collaboration between agencies, national statistical offices in Europe report that of all the information they collect, the 31 Prior to 2002, the legislative authority for maintaining the confidentiality of identifiable information collected for statistical purposes was not uniform across statistical agencies. In 2002, the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA)
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From page 163... ...
Research based on confidential data, whether using administrative or survey data, is only approvable if it supports the mission of the Census Bureau by contributing to improved data quality or the estimation of population characteristics.33 But the interpretation of mission, and in turn the approvable scope of research, have each been broadened under the FSRDC program, which has established partnerships between federal statistical agencies and leading research institutions; it now serves as a data host in enclaves for other agencies as well. Through its Center for Administrative Records Research and Applications (CARRA)
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A It 2008 CNSTAT report (National Research Council, 2008) recommends that "USDA should consider extending the availability of ARMS microdata through the Census Bureau research data centers to increase access opportunities for using additional data sets and enabling researchers to match ARMS files with other data sets" (p.
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From page 165... ...
These opportunities can be explored through participation in the Federal Statistical Research Data Centers program, a partnership between federal statistical agencies and leading research institutions that provides secure access to restricted-use microdata for statistical purposes. NASS and ERS have already developed a data access mechanism in which ARMS data are accessible for statistical purposes through a cooperative agreement with NORC at the University of Chicago.
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From page 166... ...
. CONCLUSION 6.3: Given the work of the Commission on Evidence Based Policymaking to improve the climate for legislative changes that would make data linking more routine across the statistical agencies, now is the time for the National Agricultural Statistics Service and Eco nomic Research Service to begin mapping out a strategy to coordinate their survey and administrative data programs within the U.S.
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From page 167... ...
Codes BEA Code Title 6-digit NAICS Codes 11 Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting 111CA Farms 11 113FF Forestry, fishing, and related activities 3 31G Manufacturing 333 Machinery 1 325 Chemical products 2 311FT Food/beverage/tobacco products 28 44RT Retail 445 Food and beverage stores 1 7 Service 722 Food services and drinking places 3 SOURCE: See https://www.bea.gov/industry/io_annual.htm. economic activity across North American Industry Classification System (NAICS)
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From page 168... ...
services 811310 Farm machinery and equipment repair and maintenance services 811310 Tractor, farm or construction equipment repair and maintenance services Summary In summary, administrative data have the potential to improve the efficiency of survey programs and the accuracy of statistical estimates derived from them. Challenges in the use of administrative data arise for several reasons.
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From page 169... ...
, have greatly increased the chance of overcoming these hurdles. The latter recommendations, especially, hold the promise of motivating legislation to push mechanisms forward for broader data sharing and linkage across the nation's statistical agencies.
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