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Ian Castles Memorial Seminar New York 23 February 2011. Addressing Data Discrepancies - What we found and how we dealt with them. Francesca Grum grum@un.org United Nations Statistics Division. The issue of Data Discrepancies between national and international data sets.
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Ian Castles Memorial Seminar New York 23 February 2011 Addressing Data Discrepancies - What we found and how we dealt with them Francesca Grum grum@un.org United Nations Statistics Division
The issue of Data Discrepanciesbetween national and international data sets Role of Ian Castles in drawing attention to data quality issues Discussed in several sessions of the UN Statistical Commission (2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, yearly since 2008) Resulted in a ECOSOC resolution to Strengthening Statistical Capacity in 2006
The issue of Data Discrepanciesbetween national and international data sets • Countries’ concerns focused on the lack of : • Consultation with national statistical offices • Transparency of data sources and methodologies used • Use of existing official statistics
UNSD assessment – Investigating Data Discrepancies • Assessing data discrepancies via country missions and workshops : • Since 2008 inventorying differences • 20 MDG indicators/20 years (‘90-’09) • 40 countries • Documenting/explaining reasons for differences • In consultation with concerned NSOs and international agencies • For matching years/indicators, we found discrepancies for around 50% of these instances
UNSD assessment – Understanding Data Discrepancies Based on 5 project countries International comparability
Country data International data Country and international data Features Data sources • MDG indicators • Charts and tables • Discrepancies with explanations • Summary table • Download 40 countries
UNSD approach to address data discrepancies • Consultation with national statistical offices • Workshops with national and international statisticians to review data gaps, identify causes and reconcile inconsistencies • Since 2008 • Covered more than 60 countries • Transparency of data sources and methodologies used • MDG Global database and website completely redesigned to include metadata specifying sources and methodologies for all data
UNSD approach to address data discrepancies • Use of existing official statistics • Initiatives focusing on data transfer mechanisms to improve data compilation at the country level and data transferring to the international community • Adoption of SDMX for MDGs indicators within IAEG members • Ongoing projects to “Improve the Compilation and Dissemination of National Development Indicators, including MDGs”
UNSD Long term approach to address data discrepancies • Promoting use of national official statistics by improving: • Accessibility/searchability of data to facilitate easy access to statistical information • Dissemination/communication (reporting) of data to increase the use/understanding of national statistics among the widest audience possible
How • Implementing a countrydata platform, on the basis of existing software, that centralizes country indicators agreed by national data stakeholders • Linking country platforms to UNdata via SDMX protocol, when possible • Improving metadata information provided to users (in electronic + printed publications) - preparing metadata handbooks for development indicators
Different data sources More data at country level Workshops Projects Improving data Transfer nat/int Different methodologies Extensive metadata Different definitions Improving transparency • Data not collected or compiled by NSO Projects Improving Coordination within NSS Different population estimates For international comparisons In summary what UNSD is doing to address data discrepancies