Sander Scholtus and Leon Willenborg Editing and Imputation in the Memobust Handbook

Outline – The Memobust project – The Memobust handbook – Editing and Imputation in the handbook – Concluding remarks 2

The Memobust project – Memobust = Methodology of Modern Business Statistics – ESSnet project, ran from January 2011 to March 2014 – Project team: NSIs of Netherlands (project co-ordinator) Hungary Italy Norway Poland Sweden Switzerland Greece (first half only) 3

The Memobust project – Motivation: ‐ European Statistical System (ESS) ‐ Identification of best practices ‐ Development of common methodology and guidelines supporting the production of business statistics ‐ Integration of existing data sources 4

The Memobust project – Operational objective: produce a handbook on methodology for the production of business statistics ‐ Intended as an update of an existing handbook (1998) ‐ Special focus on ‘new’ developments: design of statistical processes data collection estimation data integration ‐ Comply with GSBPM ‐ Sustainable → not a traditional handbook 5

The handbook – scope – The handbook is about ‐ methods that are currently used (or could be used) to produce business statistics within the ESS ‐ some related aspects (e.g., process design, quality) – The handbook is not about ‐ laws, regulations, etc. ‐ official definitions of concepts → for this, see the Manual on European Business Statistics produced by FRIBS 6

The handbook – intended readership – Persons working in the area of business statistics ‐ survey managers ‐ process designers ‐ statisticians ‐ methodologists ‐ (users) 7

The handbook – form and appearance – Appearance: ‐ interconnected set of separate documents: modules ‐ available as PDF files on the internet: – Modules arranged into topics ‐ 104 modules (+ introduction), 22 topics ‐ Examples of topics: Statistical Data Editing Imputation – Glossary ‐ 695 terms with 764 definitions 8

The handbook – form and appearance – Two types of modules in the handbook: ‐ Themes general, broad readership ‐ Methods specific, more technical – Both types of modules have a fixed format (template) 9

The handbook – possible uses – Source of knowledge / aid in designing and running business statistics – Information for users of business statistics – Material for courses on methodology – Starting point for tool development – Facilitate the discourse on statistical methods and harmonisation at the European level 10

Editing and Imputation – Modules in the topic “Statistical Data Editing”: 1.Main Module (theme) 2.Deductive Editing (method) 3.Selective Editing (theme) 4.Automatic Editing (method) 5.Manual Editing (method) 6.Macro-Editing (theme) 7.Editing Administrative Data (theme) 8.Editing for Longitudinal Data (theme) – Total number of pages:

Editing and Imputation – Modules in the topic “Imputation”: 1.Main Module (theme) 2.Deductive Imputation (method) 3.Model-Based Imputation (theme) 4.Donor Imputation (theme) 5.Imputation for Longitudinal Data (theme) 6.Little and Su Method (method) 7.Imputation under Edit Constraints (theme) – Total number of pages: 84 12

Editing and Imputation 13 Contributors to these topics EditingImputation WritingReviewingWritingReviewing M. Di ZioXX M. L. FerraroXX A. R. GiorgiXX R. GismondiXX U. GuarneraX O. LuziX F. RocciXX S. ScholtusXX S. BergX E. ElversX A. NorbergX J. SvenssonX Z. CserehatiX G. HorvathX Ø. LangsrudX

Editing and Imputation – In addition: module “Editing During Data Collection” in the topic “Questionnaire Design” ‐ Author: P. Lańduch ‐ Reviewers: D. Beukenhorst, D. Giesen A. Norberg 14

Editing and Imputation – Aim of the handbook: summarise existing knowledge, provide references for more details – Key references for Editing and Imputation: ‐ EDIMBUS Manual (2007) ‐ Handbook by De Waal, Pannekoek & Scholtus (2011) ‐ UNECE Glossary of Terms on SDE (2000) ‐ UNECE Work Sessions on SDE 15

Concluding remarks – Project finished, handbook supposed to live on – Possible future developments: ‐ Update existing topics/modules ‐ Add new topics/modules ‐ Transform to a different environment (e.g., wiki) – Required: ‐ Active group of moderators and contributors Perhaps UNECE Work Sessions could contribute? ‐ Some form of financial support “Centre of competence”? Series of small dedicated projects? 16

Concluding remarks Thank you for your attention! 17