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Addressing User Needs

Addressing User Needs. Lena Åström Statistics Sweden International Consulting Office Bishkek May 2006. Introduction. Statistics Swedens’ mission: Develop, produce and DISSEMINATE statistics Actively participate in statistical cooperation at international level

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Addressing User Needs

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  1. Addressing User Needs Lena Åström Statistics Sweden International Consulting Office Bishkek May 2006

  2. Introduction Statistics Swedens’ mission: • Develop, produce and DISSEMINATE statistics • Actively participate in statistical cooperation at international level • Coordinate and support the Swedish system for official statistics Dissemination is a wide concept: It is not only how we distribute statistics It has to include also how statistics is used, understood and interpreted and how relevant it is to the users

  3. Introduction Production perspective and user perspective are different; we have to learn from each other As producers we have responsibilities not only to produce good quality statistics, but also to -make statistics known -make statistics available -make statistics understandable -make statistics useful in society

  4. Some experiences from Statistics Sweden • User councils • Training and other activities for users • Role of internet

  5. User Councils Currently 13 User Councils covering specific subject matter areas like: • Population statistics and demographics • Social welfare statistics • Employment statistics • Housing, construction and buildings statistics • Economic statistics • Statistics on land and water use • Etc….

  6. User councils, cont. Objectives: To provide a system for organised contacts with main users To currently get information on users’ needs and their use of statistics To discuss and secure support for development and new ideas

  7. User Councils, cont. A typical User Council: Chair person representing a main user 6-12 members representing various types of main users Appointed for two years Responsible staff members from Statistics Sweden 2-4 meetings/year Annual report on activities and findings

  8. User Councils, cont. Some experiences: Better understanding of producer and user perspectives Capacity building for users and producers Improved and more relevant and user-friendly statistics More satisfied users

  9. Training and other activities for users More than 100 activities per year addressing various type of users • Seminars • Conferences • Training courses

  10. Seminars Seminars on new methods, new statistical products etc., 1-3 hours Invitations through mail to subscribers and stakeholders and through the website Examples: Estimation in surveys The new Labour Force Survey Swedish economy in figures Changes in Business structure Sweden compared with other EU countries

  11. Conferences 1-2 days with a special theme Invited professional speakers Ambitious program Often arranged in co-operation with other public agencies, organisations, etc. Examples: Welfare Statistics Economic statistics Statistical forecasting Statistics Sweden is often also participating with presentations in conferences arranged by others

  12. Training courses Many different types of training for various target groups Some examples: How to find and interpret statistics (for journalists) How to retreive statistics from databases How to interpret and avoid mistakes in using statistics How to use statistics for Business Intelligence purposes Analysis of Survey data Basic statistics for the layman

  13. Training courses The training courses are normally charged Some experiences: -better understanding of users needs and problems -increased interest in statistics among users -more skilled users

  14. Internet and the Website We are reaching new users through the website The new users are often non-professionals and they have other needs and requirements than our ordinary users The new users need more explanations and they expect statistics to be presented with modern techniques Internet is an interesting challenge and a good opportunity to increase the use of statistics

  15. Some final remarks As producers we need to listen to our users, and customers and learn more on how they are using statistics Dialogue with users is important to improve statistics and to make it used efficiently in society Statistics is worthless if it is not used

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