Review of the UNECE Glossary of Terms on Statistical Data Editing Paper by Statistics New Zealand’s Editing and Imputation Methodology Network Presented by Felibel Zabala Sept 2012

UNECE Glossary of Terms on Statistical Data Editing (SDE) A product of collaborative work among participants of the Work Sessions on SDE Initiated in 1997 UNECE Work Session on SDE A repository of terms related to SDE  concepts, principles, methods, techniques, metadata, and a few computer systems  terms associated with collection, processing, and dissemination of data impacted on by editing 2

Main objective of the Glossary To standardise editing terms and concepts across national statistical organisations  Standardised terminology facilitates meaningful discussion and sharing of knowledge and experiences among different countries 3

History Packaged with other information in Knowledge Base (K-Base) Launched in 2000 UNECE Work Session on SDE Managed and improved on by the K-base steering committee Inactive for a few years then revived with a ‘wiki’ look in 2008 Statistics NZ offered to review when the need was raised in the 2009 UNECE Work Session on SDE 4

Current State Has about 200 terms Main elements of a term  the term itself in its regular form  a definition possibly with several contexts in which the term applies  the detailed source of information  an example in some instances  a list of related terms or synonyms 5

Objectives of the review To ensure editing terms and definitions are kept up-to-date To ensure Glossary covers all types of data encountered in national statistical offices: sample survey, census, and administrative data End result: Identification of new terms, obsolete terms and terms whose definitions have changed/evolved 6

Principles of the review A core principle for retaining or including a term and definition is robustness Terms and definitions should be relevant to current and future envisioned state of editing Terms and definitions should be universally accepted When a new term is to be added, suitable existing definitions should be used where possible 7

Review process Review was carried out by Statistics New Zealand’s Editing and Imputation Methodology Network Coordinated review with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) who were drafting a glossary of key editing concepts as a task for the Statistical Network’s project Opportunity: Industrialization of Editing 8

Results of review A list of terms recommended to be deleted and justification for deletion A list of terms that require changes in their definitions with the recommended definitions A list of terms recommended to be added with corresponding definitions 9

References Eurostat’s Recommended Practices for Editing and Imputation in Cross-Sectional Business Surveys Training materials from  Statistics New Zealand  Australian Bureau of Statistics  Statistics Canada 10

Input from participants Feedback on the recommended list of terms to be deleted and added Volunteers to resolve issues in differing definitions and/or opinions Volunteers to update the Glossary to include comments received from the work session The Glossary will never be complete. A regular review period and process should be adopted. 11