User Satisfaction Surveys in Eurostat and in the European Statistical System 2008 Conference on Quality in Official Statistics Rome, 8-11 July 2008 Pierre Ecochard, Martina Hahn, Claudia Junker

Background The LEG on quality and the CoP 32 surveys in the framework of the ESS Peer Review exercise Commitment to a user orientation of European official statistics

Proposed methodology Basis: IMF’s Data Review of Standards and Codes Common questionnaire –Uses of official statistics –Assessment of the quality of the statistics Target population: known users High flexibility

Outcome of the surveys: stylized facts 17 NSIs used the proposed questionnaire 3 outsourced the survey Sample size varies from 61 to 8530 Users think statistics are presented in an easy-to-understand way It is easy for them to access the data on the website Users of NSIs tend to think that the statistics are of a similar quality to other European countries –With notable exceptions Low comparability

How to improve the methodology: Questionnaire design Question should: –be clear and unambiguous; –not make unreasonable assumptions about the respondent Improvement directions –More involvement of data collection experts –More customized questionnaires

How to improve the methodology: Data collection methodology Improving the representativity of the sample –Known users or website/library users? Increasing response rate –by proposing non-financial incentives –by improving questionnaires and their dissemination

How to improve the methodology: Harmonization of user satisfaction surveys Harmonize –questionnaires –data collection methodologies Benefits: –Obtain more comparable results –Share good practices and gain efficiency

Eurostat user satisfaction survey Content of the questionnaire –Based on proposed version but adapted to Eurostat –Three blocks of questions Implementation mode –Timing –Internet based survey for general users – based for known users –Comment boxes Dissemination –Different results for two groups of users –Report placed on web-site –Improvement actions to follow-up

Eurostat user satisfaction survey Interesting results –Most used: NA, employment statistics, demography statistics –Methodology and metadata in high demand for better understanding –Timeliness / Completeness assessments differ –General quality assessment –Main value added of Eurostat’s data –Main concerns Ways to improve Eurostat user survey –More questions on quality dimensions –More / different questions on user support –More answering options for some questions –Discuss the target of the survey –Timing of and resources for the survey