1. Evaluation of Society’s Interest in the Official Statistics and Calculation of the Society’s Interest Index
Laima
Grižaitė
Deputy head,
Public Relations division
Measurement of the value and usefulness of statistics as well as visibility of official statistics is now on the agenda almost in every event which is related to the dissemination and communication. We all know a lot of ways how to do that, but also we can state that there is no one universal method or formula for it.

2. Methods to find out user needs
Objective (number of requests, number of visits on the site, quotation, etc.)
Subjective (opinion surveys, focus groups, etc.)
Combination
Mainly we use 2 methods – objective, such as numbers gained from monitoring and subjective, such as opinion polls, focus groups and etc. and combine information from both.
Usage of one method can give us wrong findings.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

3. Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve
Where is the Truth?
Societys opinion:
91 % of respondents said that prices increased over 6 months considerably
Fact:
According to official statistics (CPI) price level went down by 0,3 %
over 6 months
Opinion surveys one of the most popular ways to measure and to find out user needs. But…
2 years ago we had a very good example in Lithuania. In 2015 we had an euro introduction, and of course people were concerned about the impact of the process on prices. Majority of people according to the opinion survey said, that prices went up considerably, while official statistics recorded 0,3 per cent inflation. Opinion can be influenced by side factors – politicians, fake news and etc.
So, opinion polls can’t be the only way to evaluate situation. We can’t implicitly trust in public opinion.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

4. Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve
Main problems
compare with other countries/regions
2. compare with previous years/ time periods
If we measure something, we only can get meaning of the phenomenon by comparing. And I see here 2 main problems. The first – it can be hard to compare with other countries or regions because of different aspects: cultural, political, linguistic, demographical, geographical and etc.
The second – if even we can find one appropriate method for our circumstances, there is no guarantee, that this method can be stable forever. Because the World changes.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

5. Value of statistics in a changing world
2017
2005
13-11 century B.C.
Value of statistics in a changing world
Sometimes it changes in a very interesting way. 15 years ago would be hard to predict.
For example, it’s a paradox that now , then people are so literate like never before, we return to ancient form of communication. Of course, reasons are different. We are able to write and read, but don’t want to or have no time. In our days pictures are interactive. Easy to share them in social media. Everybody can comment and express their opinion.
We don’t know what tendencies will appear in 5 or 10 years.
I will present our current method, how we in Lithuania measure value or to be more accurate interest of the society in official statistics and our services.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

6. Efficiency of the institution
3 criteria:
1. User satisfaction level (based on opinion polls);
2. Society’s interest in official statistics and SL’s (Statistics Lithuania’s) Services Index;
3. Statistical burden for respondents.
How to evaluate necessity of statistics in the society?
There is Governmental requirement to measure the efficiency of all institutions. Following these requirements Statistics Lithuania set 21 criteria, 3 of which are related to the importance of institution in the society.
Until instead of Society’s interest in official statistics and SL’s (Statistics Lithuania’s) Services Index was used number of unique visits (later we changed it to visits) in the statistical webpage.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

7. Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve
User analysis
Number of unique visits to the website;
Number of requests;
Number of quotations in the main newspapers;
Number of publications downloaded;
Number of registered users in the database;
Number of users subscribed to the alert-me service;
Downloads of mob app;
Followers in social media
Etc.
For the marketing purposes we collect dozens of pieces of information about the users. We can evaluate and analyse separately every of these numbers, but if we want to have one trend line, we need to have a complex indicator.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

8. Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve
Public interest in official statistics and services provided by Statistics Lithuania
Number of visits on:
Official Statistics Portal
E.statistics
Statistics Lithuania website
Social media (facebook, twitter, infogram, etc.)
Number of newly registered users of Official Statistics Portal
Number of individual inquiries
Number of quotations in media
In order to cover the different aspects of the public interest Statistics Lithuania starts to measure index of public interest in official statistics. The index is calculated from 2013 (2012 is equated to 100).
It consists of several subindices:
Number of visits of Official Statistics Portal, and subsites,
Number of newly registered users of Official Statistics Portal,
Number of individual inquiries,
Number of quotations in media.
Taking into consideration their significance, the subindices are attributed with different weights. The results of public interest monitoring are recorded quarterly. At the end of the year, they are aggregated and the annual index is calculated.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

9. Calculation The Society’s Interest Index (SII) is an annual indicator
which is calculated from quarterly subindexes:  
The base period is 2013 and it equals 100.
Weights:
According to importance, every subindex has a different weight:
Number of visits to the website and sub-sites – 30 per cent;
New registered users of the OSP – 30 per cent;
Number of inquiries – 20 per cent;
Number of quotations in the national media – 20 per cent.
The annual SII is calculated as a weighted average of subindexes on the basis of quarterly data.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

10. Index of public interest in official Statistics and subindices
Here we can see a trend line and changes of sub-indices. Number of requests is decreasing while number of registered users is growing.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

11. How to keep hand on pulse?
Role of social media
Changes of traditional media
Fake news
New platforms (mobile apps)
Re-using
Open data
Big data
Society’s sentiments (correlation)
Here I have some factors that can or already influences our index.
Due to various reasons, such as reduction of population, re-use of data and other new technological solutions, the number of visits in the portal is not growing or even going down, but the number of followers in the social media and other media platforms is increasing.
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

12. Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve
The modern media
media
user
media
user
user
media
media
user
media
user
media
user
media
Change of media shows the change in the society.
Now user is in the center, he or she decides what media to use. Statistical institution is not the only source for statistics. How to remain the most trusted in the eyes of the society?
Maybe you have the answer?
user
media
user
media
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve

13. Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve
Further information:
Laima Grižaitė
Public Relations division
Statistics Lithuania
Tel
28-29/06/2017
Workshop on Statistical Data Dissemination and Communication, Geneve