Summary of a Workshop on Information Technology Research for Federal Statistics (2000) / Chapter Skim
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1 Introduction and Context
1 Introduction and Context
Pages 1-16
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Federal statistical data also provide insight into the status, well-being, and activities of the U.S. population, including its health, the incidence of crime, unemployment and other dimensions of the labor force, and the nature of long-distance travel.
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. The budgets for all of these activities excluding the estimated $6.8 billion cost of the decennial census2 total more than $3 billion per year.3 These federal statistical agencies are characterized not only by their mission of collecting statistical information but also by their independence and commitment to a set of principles and practices aimed at ensuring the quality and credibility of the statistical information they provide (Box 1.1~.
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civilian noninstitutionalized population, in the case of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey)
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There are many challenges associated with the construction of a truly representative sample: a sample frame of all households may require the identification of all housing units that have been constructed since the last decennial census was
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Responses are checked for missing items and for internal consistency; cases that fail these checks can be referred back to the interviewer or field office for correction. The timely transmission of data to a location where such quality control measures can be performed allows rapid feedback to the field and increases the likelihood that corrected data can be obtained.
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A theme throughout the workshop was how to leverage IT to provide appropriate and useful access to a wide range of customers. A key consideration in disseminating statistical data, especially to the general public, is finding ways of improving its usability creating a system that allows people, whether high school students, journalists, or market analysts, to access the wealth of statistical information that the government creates in a way that is useful to them.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE FEDERAL STATISTICAL SYSTEM The decentralized nature of the federal statistical system, with its more than 70 constituent agencies, has implications for both the efficiency of statistical activities and the ease with which users can locate and use 6The issue of balancing the needs for confidentiality of individual respondents with the benefits of accessibility to statistical data has been explored at great length by researchers and the federal statistical agencies. For a comprehensive examination of these issues see National Research Council and Social Science Research Council.
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Several agencies, including the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the National Agriculture Statistical Service, have large field forces to collect data. Sometimes, other agencies leverage their field-based resources by contracting to use these resources; state and local governments also perform statistical services under contracts with the federal government.
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· Methodology. The statistical agencies have had a rich history of collaboration on methodology; the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology has regularly issued consensus documents on methodological issues.l° The ICSP identified the following as priorities for collaboration: measurement issues, questionnaire design, survey technology, and analytical issues.
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For the first time in two decades, the OMB director called for a statistical agency cross-cut as an integral part of the budget formulation process for FY98.12 In addition to the OMB cross-cut, the OMB director called for highlighting statistical activities in the Administration's budget documents and, thus, in the presentation of the budgets to the Congress. Underlying the presentations and discussions at the workshop was a desire to tap IT innovations in order to realize a vision for the federal statistical agencies.
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Reflecting a long history of IT use, the statistical agencies have a substantial base of legacy computer systems for carrying out surveys. The workshop case study on the IT infrastructure supporting the National Crime Victimization Survey illustrates the multiple cycles of modernization that have been undertaken by statistical agencies (Box 1.4~.
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The rapid growth of the Internet and the ease of use of the World Wide Web have offered an opportunity for extending electronic access to government resources, an opportunity that has been identified and exploited by the federal statistical agencies and others. Individual agency efforts have been complemented by cross-agency initiatives such as FedStats and Access America for Seniors.l4 While government agency Web pages have helped considerably in making information available, much more remains to be done to make it easy for citizens to locate and retrieve relevant, appropriate information.
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