Transcript Godi{en izve{taj 2000 - National Bank of the Republic of

Communication of
Statistics
Maja Andreevska
Director, Statistics Department
National bank of the Republic of Macedonia
E-mail: [email protected]
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Outline
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Why now?
What is in the theory?
Perceptions by the public
The impact of good
communication practices
How to measure whether
communication is adequate?
Current practices at the NBRM
Latest activities
Future plans
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Why now?
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“...the crisis has demonstrated a need to improve the
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20 Report on Financial Crisis and Information Gaps)
Recommendations G-20 Data Gaps Initiative (DGI): “There is also
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communication of official statistics and advance the interaction
among the academic, policy and statistical communities.” (The Ga need to improve the communication of official statistics, as in
some instances users were not fully aware of the available
data series to address critical policy issues.”
the Principal Global Indicators website
http://www.principalglobalindicators.org/default.aspx) to promote
comparable data sets for the real, financial, government and
external sectors of the G-20 economies, and economies with
systemically important financial sectors
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What is in the theory?
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Main components of the communication process1
The transmitter. – the statisticians
The receiver – the “audience.”, generally divided five categories,
(a) experts, (b) politicians and policy makers, (b) students, (c)
statistical data users, (d) not specialized.
The channel – auditory (“listening” explanation), visual
(“looking”), and kinetic “doing”, requiring practical exercises)
The message – the statistics – data, comments, methodologies
Code – the outline, the tools and the cloths
Context - situation or occasion
Feedback – possibility to adjust to receiver’s needs
Noise - elements disturbing the communication
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1For
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details, see Maggino, Prof. Filomena and Trapani, Dr. Marco (2009) Presenting and
communicating statistics: principles, components, and their quality assessment: a proposal. In
Proceedings NTTS, New Techniques and Technologies for Statistics, pages pp. 47-56, Brussels,
European Commission, EUROSTAT.
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Perception by the public - 1
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Statistics is a necessary evil and best left to
those bent that way – just give us the
numbers!
necessary analytical tool
bombarding with too many mind-numbing
numbers
expert users and occasional users struggle to
navigate their way through the multiple
places in which statistics are published
good statistics should underpin all public
policy
statistical writing can bring data to life,
making it real, relevant and meaningful to the
audience
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Perception by the public - 2
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Are we trustworthy? – Does the public believe the institution
DQAF – Data Quality Dimensions
 Integrity – Professionalism, Transparency
 Methodological Soundness
 Accuracy and reliability –Data Sources, Data Revisions
 Serviceability – Periodicity, Timeliness, Consistency
 Accessibility – of Data and Metadata, Assistance to Users
Basic principles in the Code of Practice of the European Statistics
 Principle 15: Accessibility and Clarity
We can succeed in convincing the public that we are trustworthy, only
if they believe that we are meeting all or most of the above criteria
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The Impact of Good Communication Practices
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Increase public awareness of economic developments and provide
relevant information for potential users
Transparent disclosure of statistical information used for monetary
policy decisions, available also to the general public, can increase the
recognition of sound economic policies and evidence-based decision
making by policy makers
Comprehensive and timely statistics can be basis of analysis for
scientific purposes, as well as for specific targeted analysis of
corporations, as well as for political debate
Regular and timely information from credible statistical producers can
affect markets and influence overall stability
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Measuring whether communication is adequate
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Self assessment activities
Analysis of communication practices of other statistical producers
Undertaking studies on particular aspects of communication (ex.
House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee
“Communicating statistics: Not just true but also fair
http://www.parliament.uk/pasc)
Organizing surveys on certain aspects of communicating statistics
– receiving feedback from the users
Receiving feedback on a daily basis - establishing channels for
regular communication with the users – 24h open telephone line
(ex. Statistics Hotline – OeNB), User Support e-mail address
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Current practices at the NBRM
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Advance Release Calendar
Immediate update of new data
releases on NBRM’s home page
All data series available in .xls
format
All data backed by
Methodological explanations
documents, regularly updated
User Support e-mail address
[email protected]
accessible through NBRM’s
website
Internal DMS application ST
service desk – for internal
users‘ ad hoc requests
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No availability of a Statistical
Data Warehouse or any search
engines for users
No possibility for users to use
or create graphical
presentations on the NBRM
website
No regular statistical press
releases on the areas of
statistics produced by the
NBRM
No possibility for interaction
with users such as subscription
of users
Latest activities - 1
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Strategic goals 2013-2015 – meeting users
requirements in the area of statistics
Initiating activities for improving the IT
infrastructure for statistics – establishing a
Statistical Data Warehouse
Organizing a survey to measure the
satisfaction of users and reporters –
preparations started late 2012, survey
conveyed June 2013
Preparing and presenting a special report for
the NBRM management on the feedback of
users and reporters
Setting up an Action plan for further steps to
be taken
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Latest activities -2 Survey on Data Users
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Population – 674 users from our list – response rate 35%
The survey was completely anonymous. Respondents
encouraged to provide honest replies
Questions segmented in five areas:
were
 accessibility of the web site of NBRM in the area of statistics;
 users’ habits in using data – purpose, frequency, computer literacy;
 data quality – scope, format, timeliness of data and metadata,
confidentiality, responsiveness of the NBRM to ad-hoc requests
 professionalism of staff within the Statistics Department
 demographics
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For most questions - answers with grading – degrees of satisfaction 1-5
Some of the questions, where applicable, provided space to leave a
comment, make suggestions for improvement, make remarks or
criticize
Results from the Survey on Data Users
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Respondents in general expressed satisfaction with statistics produced
by the NBRM, in all of the quality dimensions for which feedback was
required
Analysis of the replies to questions that had answers with grading,
shows the average ratings are from 3.9 to 4.4
 data quality – scope, format, timeliness of data and metadata –
grade 3.9, confidentiality – 4.4, overall data quality – 4.0
 professionalism of staff within the Statistics Department – 4.2
Respondents have widely used the possibility to leave comments, make
suggestions for improvement
Results from the Survey on Data Users
Share by the group of users
Individuals
12%
NFC's
26%
MFI's
15%
OFI's
5%
Administration
Students
1%
Scientists
Media
14%
2%
IO
1%
NGO
1%
Other
Identify areas that need most improvement (by group of
users)
12%
Access to data
Data quality
Data dissemination format
Staff professionalism
Individuals
8%
NFC's
MFI's
14%
Administration
27%
20%
20%
26%
16%
12%
20%
20%
26%
17%
25%
14%
17%
13%
40%
5%
4%
13%
9%
13%
40%
25%
10%
15%
25%
20%
6%
33%
38%
NGO
Other
16%
67%
Media
IO
5% 5% 7%
30%
10%
6%
17%
20%
12%
25%
17%
15%
13%
24%
Students
Scientists
10%
24%
15%
OFI's
Volume of the available assets
Timeframe for data dissemination
Staff attitude
Efficiency in responding to your data requests
75%
33%
10%
10%
23%
3%3% 7%
Results from the Survey on Data Users
Responce period of
NBRM staff to ad hoc
data requirements
During the day
The following day
From 2 to 5 days
More than a week
One month
5%4%
40%
How do you find the quality of statistical information and
data produced by NBRM? (by groups of users)
Very satisfactory
34%
17%
Individuals
19%
NFC's
17%
MFI's
OFI's
Satisfactory
22%
71%
12%
67%
8%
15%
75%
3%
17%
37%
63%
Students
100%
19%
Media
58%
40%
IO
23%
40%
50%
NGO
Other
Less satisfactory
59%
15%
Administration
Scientists
Partly satisfactory
20%
50%
100%
17%
72%
11%
Latest activities -3 Survey on Data Reporters
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Population – 2400 reporters from our registers – response rate 25%
The survey was completely anonymous. Respondents were
encouraged to provide honest replies
Questions segmented in four areas:
 accessibility of the NBRM website in the area of statistical reporting
requirements;
 manner of reporting– electronic reporting, paper forms, reporting
instructions, training of reporters, reporting deadlines, confidentiality
 professionalism of staff within the Statistics Department
 demographics
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For most questions - answers with grading – degrees of satisfaction 1-5
Some of the questions, where applicable, provided space to leave a
comment, make suggestions for improvement, make remarks or
criticize
Results from the Survey on Data Reporters
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Respondents in general expressed satisfaction with the process of
reporting statistical data to the NBRM, in all of the aspects of reporting
for which feedback was required
Analysis of the replies to questions that had answers with grading,
shows the average ratings are from 4.0 to 4.6
 manner of reporting– electronic reporting – 4.2, paper forms
reporting – 4.2, reporting instructions – 4.0, training of reporters –
4.5, reporting deadlines - 4.3, confidentiality – 4.6
 professionalism of staff within the Statistics Department – 4.4
Respondents have widely used the possibility to leave comments, make
suggestions for improvement
Results from the Survey on Data Reporters
What are the areas that need
improvement?
Conditions in the premises where the communication with the reporters is made
Staff professionalism
Staff attitude
Simplification of the format and the contents of the reporting forms
Simplification of the software solutions for electronic reporting
5%
34%
26%
28%
25%
48%
50%
29%
29%
5%
10%
43%
25%
32%
26%
26%
31%
Individuals
NFC's
45%
29%
50%
50%
26%
14%
MFI's
OFI's
Administration
NGO
Other
Results from the Survey on Data Reporters
Do you find the reporting instructions
in the area of statistics sufficient? (by
group of reporters)
Always
13%
66%
17%
14%
64%
21%
11%
75%
11%
Often
Sometimes
11%
8%
67%
25%
50%
100%
22%
33%
50%
33%
Did you face difficulties in communication with staff
from the Statistics Department at the NBRM? (by group
of reports)
Always
50%
53%
Often
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
50%
68%
67%
56%
100%
27%
18%
22%
34%
10%
17%
32%
17%
50%
22%
Conclusions
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The NBRM is constantly playing the role of an intermediary among users
requirements on one hand and reporters possibilities and willingness to
report data on the other hand. Some of the results and comments in
both surveys show that this can be a very challenging task
The results of the surveys, and in particular some of the comments have
been basis for the construction of an Action plan to be presented to the
management and implemented within our work program, such as:
Establishing a Statistical Data Warehouse and search engines for data
users
Improving methodological presentations
Adjustment in reporting deadlines, changes in reporting instructions –
where applicable
Improving applications for electronic reporting
Providing list of contact officers for data users and data reporters on the
website
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Thank you for your attention!