Enhancing Communication of Statistics for Professional Users

1. Communicating Statistics Professional users’ requirements for Statistics Knowing your users? What are the user patterns? What do users suggest? UNECE: Work session on Communication of statistics Per Nymand-Andersen Geneva, 27-29 June 2012

2. Creating a “culture of stability” Welfare enhancement Policy making Professional users and citizens Knowledge based society Policy validations Policy accountability Policy decisions Analysis & assessment Policy options Communication Communication Statistical and financial literacy Analysis & assessment Factual and independent statistics

3. Measuring the requirements of professional users An array of user surveys • Interviews with media/journalists • Survey on the ECB web-site • Survey of international statisticians • Survey of large data users/data vendors

4. Communication initiatives ► Recommendations from journalists 15 recommendations • Workshops & training with media, contacts • Overview of statistics & core statistics • Forecast statistics • Facilitate the re-distribution of statistics • Euro & national statistics in one source • Notification and alerts • Euro area with other geographic areas • Press releases together with statistics • Select, point, view and print series on screen • Statistics in context • (high/low) • Chart and facts of the week • User friendly and interactive web-sites • Select data and charts from ECB publications • Use common language • Search engine

5. ECB web-site user survey results 44.1 % 68.3% 19.3 % 6.9 % 2.8 % 49.0 % • Advising, accounting, daily business, Phd/reports, checking exchange rates/loan paybacks. 7.6%

6. ECB web-site user survey results The usefulness of selecting the underlying data from tables and charts used in the ECB’s Monthly Bulletin articles & other ECB publications directly ? 81.7 % 18.3 % 83.8 % 16.2 % The ability to select, combine and visualise data before downloading data

7. Survey of international Statisticians Main barriers for using and accessing E(S)CB statistics • 136 replies on barriers by 83 respondents Six broad categories; • Structure of the web-site • Searching for statistics • Description of statistics • Terminology • Language • Technical user friendliness

8. Users requirements for statistics 300 barriers / proposals

9. New initiatives to meet the challenges • Task Force on Accessibility of Statistics: An ESCB concept • Need for closer cooperation among ESCB and statistics organisations • Communication of statistics – a challenge for the statistics function • Work together with (sparring) partners from the private market • Propose ways for representing the methodologies applied Provide a set of best practice and recommendations of new ideas to make ESCB statistics more understood, reach larger audience and easier accessible

10. Conclusions • Communication of factual and independent statistics enriches the political debate and has a welfare enhancement effect in society Focus on professional communication amplifiers ► Policy makers ► Journalists ► data redistributors ► Research centers • Measuring professional users’ requirements for statistics! • ► Knowing users ► working patterns ► helping them - helping themselves • Significant call for facilitating: Understanding, use, re-use & analysis • ► Knowing users ► working patterns ► helping them - helping themselves • Statistics needs a two-way communication strategy • ► Building on synergies and sharing of functionalities ► building private partnerships ► pro-actively engage core use segments ► Task Force on Accessibility of Statistics: Recommendations, priorities, implementation strategy to make statistics more accessible

11. Effectiveness in communicating statistics Questions