1. Third meeting of the Technical Coordination Group for the next Census round in South East Europe
Ljubljana February 2019
Communication strategy for register-based census – explaining the switch to users
DR. JANUSZ DYGASZEWICZ
Statistics Poland
Director of the Departament of ICT Systems, Geostatistics and Census
Member of Executive Committee of the UN-GGIM: Europe
President of European Forum for Geography and Statistics EFGS

2. Mixed Model for Population and Housing Census 2011 in Poland
Combining Census
– linking data from administrative sources
(full survey covering base demographic variables – short form)
with data acquired from 20% sample survey
(long form) 2

3. CAxI CAxI channels CAWI - Computer Assisted Internet Interview,
CAPI - Computer Assisted Personal Interview,
CATI - Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing.
CAxI
All three channels were based exclusively on an adaptive electronic questionnaire, ensuring high quality of data at the collection stage. The electronic questionnaire was adjusted and implemented in accordance with the technology assisting particular modes of obtaining data based on CAxI. An appropriate questionnaire application (available at a mobile terminal or Internet browser) verified if the questionnaire had been filled in accurately, among other things, through logical and accounting control. 3

4. Data collection channels in 2011 Census
Including spatial data from reference admin. registers
Administrative Sources
CAWI – Computer Asisted Web Interview
Self-enumeration by Internet
CATI - Computer Asisted Telephone Interview
Telephone Interview
Registered on hand-held terminals with usage GPS and GIS service CAPI - Computer Assisted Personal Interview
Interview with respondents realized by the census enumerator
During the census in Poland data were collected from 4 channels:
Administrative registers
CAII
CATI
CAPI 4

5. Administrative source utilisation

6. Administrative sources
Data from administrative systems was used in the census:
as a direct source of census data and personalisation of questionnaires
to create:
compilations of buildings, dwellings and persons lists,
an address-residence register,
a sampling frame.
to improve the quality of census data
to support the imputation and calibration of data

7. Data acquisition from 29 Registers
Data Owners:
Ministry of Finance,
Ministry of Interior and Administration,
Ministry of Justice,
Agricultural Social Insurance Fund,
National Health Fund,
Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture,
Agricultural and Food Quality Inspection,
Agency for Geodesy and Cartography,
State Fund for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons,
County Offices,
Commune Offices,
Regional Offices,
Telcoms,
Energy Suppliers,
Office For Foreigners,
Social Insurance Institution,
Housing Managers, 7

8. CAxI on-line channels for data collection
Operational Microdata Base
Census
Completeness
Management
List of census Questionaries' The control data History of contacts with the respondent
Due to the simultaneous collection of data in the census, the special status were assigned in OMB and consequently to the Completeness Management System .
After opening the questionnaire in the channel CAII, the system was setting the appropriate status. Then the unit census was blocked for other channels (CAPI, CATI). Respondent had 14 days to fully fill in the questionnaire in the channel. After this time the questionnaire was unlocked and the unit was directed to the channel CAPI / CATI.
CAII
CATI
CAPI

9. Architecture solution for 2011
XML
Registry 1
Stage I – Preparatory works
Stage III – Results compilation
CAXI
Stage II – Data acquisition
TXT
Questionaries
Registry 2
ETL Tools
Operational Microdata Base
Analitycal Microdata Base
Statistical Files
Golden Record
Files
SDMX
Registry n
EtL tools – there are software which was used to verification, cleaning, and control date from administrative registers.
Metadata
Metadata
Metadata
XML
Metadata server
Portal 9

10. Operational Microdata Base
OMB was realized processes of :
cleaning,
integration and verification of data,
correcting data,
data processing,
generating operational reports,
depersonalizing data and export of data (as Golden Record) to Analytical Base.

11. Golden Record generation
Integration with Census Frame and CAxI data,
Validation,
Correction,
Operational Imputation,
Transfer proper values to Golden Record,
OMB Layers
Registers 1..n
CAxI
Golden Record
AMB

12. Traditional Cebsus v. Combine Census
Census in 2002
Census 2011
180 thousands of census enumerators
120 mln of questionnaires
1 000 tons of papers
At the end shredding
census questionnaires
18 thousands of census enumerators
0 questionnaires
0 tons of papers
ca. 50 mln € less
better data
the more reliable results
statistical surveys in the future

13. Lesson learned from last census
Creating a reference architecture framework (RAF) based on a process-oriented model of a statistical production
To enable departure from a stove-pipe production, based on data silos
Pointing out how iterative loops with and between the GSBPM phases, various data flows should be supported by IT
Defining the framework for secure data flows, according to the GSBPM
Assurance of process and data quality management

14. Architecture solution for 2021
statistical units repository (SJS), raw data repository (SDS), operational data repository (SDO),
analysis data repository (SDA), geospatial data repository (SDG), publication data repository (SDP)

15. Architecture solution for 2021
An architectural framework of IT solutions for census and statistical production
A framework for the description of data management and data flows including data repositories:
a statistical units repository (SJS)
a raw data repository (SDS)
an operational data repository (SDO)
an analysis data repository (SDA)
a geospatial data repository (SDG)
a publication data repository (SDP)
a metadata repository
Essential components are data repositories specific for each phase
The leading role of a metadata repository

16. Universal architecture solution

17. Communication areas for 2021
Communication to data providers
GDPR service
Communication to data users and other Stakeholders

18. The use of administrative registers requires fulfilling some preconditions 1
Most crucial is establishing an efficient identification system for all statistical units to facilitate proper linking of data.
Communication with agencies to consistently use common identifiers is necessary
A guaranteed free access to data in various registers is most important.
The national legislation system is a basis for the creation of population and housing registers. Because of that, it is necessary to review the statistics law, laws for administrative data providers and, if needed, to prepare amendments.
It is recommended to communicate and work with key government stakeholders to change law (if needed).

19. The use of administrative registers requires fulfilling some preconditions 2
Keeping transparent partnership with administrative agencies, ministers, senior government officials and the public is crucial for developing long term relationships with other agencies and achieving public trust and support.
Almost all countries conducting register based census establish relevant census councils or steering committees, involving admin agencies and develop High Level Plan – concerning key suppliers
Establishing Quality frameworks and assessing processes set up before register introduction to census is vital.

20. Quality of registers based census 1
The quality of registers and quality of metadata and data from registers are the most important elements that should be considered when taking decision regarding the use of administrative registers in the production of statistics.
It is essential that the quality of the data sources and their impact on the related output can be assessed. Therefore, NSOs have to develope methods for assessing the quality of administrative data and register-based statistics and communicate that to public .
The starting point for the quality assessment is the common statistical quality framework. It consists of such product indicators as Relevance, Accuracy, Timeliness, Punctuality, Comparability, Coherence, Accessibility and Clarity. From the perspective of the process quality some other indicators like best methods, cost efficiency and low response burden have to be considered.
Regarding administrative register sources, it is worth distinguishing the indicators describing quality of sources, quality of metadata and quality of data.

21. Quality of registers based census 2
It is necessary communicate all stakeholders in advance the decision of introducing administrative registers into census, and it is suggested to describe:
The title of the study, which is planned to use the assessed administrative register;
Planned form of the use of data from the registry;
Evaluation of the usefulness of the registry in the statistical survey of the identified problems;
Proposals to introduce changes to the registry – the way to solve the identified problems.
Finally, it should be mentioned that above presented approach to the quality of registers based census should be developed by further researches whose will include the production of quality guidelines how administrative sources have to be integrated in statistical production, including census.

22. Requirements for Identifiers
Identifiers have to be unique, universal and stable. There are some rules, e.g.:
Only one ID per object;
Not two objects may have the same ID;
The same ID in many (all) systems;
Should stay with the object forever (even after death);
Should not contain information (except for completely stable information);
Should be certifiable by:
check digit;
or check against base registers.
Identifiers have to support necessary linking. If identifiers work properly there is no problem of linking. But sometimes identifiers are missing or imprecise. In such case it is possible to make exact or almost exact matching by other variables, e.g.:
deaths by birth date + death date + sex;
or name + birthday + place of birth + mother family name + +
or else add a probabilistic element, statistical matching of records that are somehow similar.

23. Requirements for admin. variables
All admin variables have to be understandable, properly described and published. There are some requirements for communication like:
Concepts have to be well defined;
Clarity and comprehensibility of definitions (mutually exclusive classes);
Classifications according to the existing taxonomy;
Congruence with the Law (therefore laws should be simple and logical);
True and verified;
Known (published) quality.

24. Requirements for communication 1
There are several meanings of communication and interactions. It could be strictly technical between all kinds of registers but also organizational between main stakeholders. As a minimum, the following possibilities have to be taken into consideration:
Technical:
Between base registers and other registers;
Between specialised registers;
Between admin and statistical registers;
Organizational:
Special agreement or legislation must support this;
A formal structure is needed like cooperation committee, steering committee;
Personal relations between statisticians and gestors of administrative registers.

25. Recommendations for communications 2
Try to establish common cooperation with key users and providers to execute the main preparation work before census which will be focused on following tasks:
Study legal framework;
Define variables needed for Census;
Define Census variables ownership;
Define Census Data definitions, codes;
Study availability of administrative Census variables;
Study Census variables update mechanism;
Ensure Census administrative variables quality;
Study Infrastructure readiness;
Study Marketing, Feedback and Trust.

26. Recommendations for communications 3
Explain why we need personal data from registers and how wee fulfill obligation pointed in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
Ensure that all unit data collected by the statistics is secure and subject to special protection (statistical confidentiality).
Inform partners (provides of admin data) that for statistical purposes we can point the three base registers that can be subject to National laws, e.g.:
The whole resident population
All houses and dwellings in the country
All businesses active in the country
Additionally, for geocoding and localization purposes some countries establish fourth base register (spatial register) consisting of all territory division units with geometric boundaries of administrative and statistics units and x,y coordinates of each address points. Thanks of that the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be fully introduced to register based census.
Other registers called “specialised registers” cover the thematic part of population under specific law and can be used for evaluation of specific statistical phenomena.

27. Recommendations for communications 4
It is very important to communicate to all stakeholders that statistics act as a one-way road. Then data comes in must never come out identifiably. Sometimes gestors of an administrative register may think that it is unreasonable, but they must not rely on checking the data by statistics.
They have to improve the quality of administrative data in their databases. Because individual errors may not be returned so statistics can communicate to administrative register owners only about types of systematic errors.
Also talking to the admin agency can support them in changing their validation and checking procedures. The good practice could be online checks in data entry before sending admin data to statistics. In such way statistics, as the part of administration, would become responsible for quality of administrative data of the whole country.

28. Recommendations for communications 5
Communicate to all stake holders that census based on administrative and non-administrative systems has brought numerous benefits, including:
reduced census costs,
reduced social burden connected with data transfer,
an improvement in data safety (especially during data collection),
a guarantee of surveys’ harmonization,
the availability of information from future annual census based on registers,
the availability of data from administrative registers for any level of territorial disaggregation,
the possibility to identify double entry errors (over-counting),
the creation of a micro-database supporting indirect estimation – modelling at the unit level,
an improvement in estimation for small areas,
an improvement in the coherence and reliability of statistical data.

29. Recommendations for communications 6
Target groups
Residents of country obliged by law on census
Institutional environment
ministries, public administration offices,
local government offices,
NGOs
educational institutions and institutions, public libraries,
banks,
national minority organizations, churches and religious associations,
large and medium-sized enterprises company
Public statistics employees (interior communication).
Public administration employees
Students under 18 years old

30. Recommendations for communications 7
Communication and popularization channels
The basic channels of communication and popularization of censuses will be:
Internet (social media, communicators / applications, search engines, NSO reporting portal, NSO educational portal, mailing, newsletter),
media (traditional and on-line, i.e.: journals, magazines, e-editions, radio, television),
post office,
educational meetings,
events (i.e. seminars, conferences, congresses, outdoor events),
Intranets (for interior communication),
telecommunications operators.

31. Recommendations for communications 8
Catalog of information activities promoting the census:
sending of text information (letter from the Genral Disrector of NSO, short text messages from mobile operators),
activities in traditional and on-line media (broadcasting of news, articles, interviews, participation of debates, participation of programs / information services in the so-called prime time , appearances in breakfast programs, episodes in series),
Internet (website adapted to the requirements of WCAG, functional and intuitive census form, content with appropriate indexing and content of keywords without a statistical jargon, social media with an obligatory form promotion of census content, action # counts in social media, promotional campaigns in messengers such as Messenger, graphics promoting NSP in Google browser).

32. Recommendations for communications 9
Catalog of educational activities promoting the census:
Educational activities should be successively implemented among selected target groups, in particular through educational meetings in schools, statistical competitions, the statistical Olympics, the European Statistical Competition, hackathons, etc.
In this type of activities should be found issues referring to the census, including talks about the census, and in the case of different competition forms - questions and answers.
In addition, educational activities will be directed to persons directly involved in census work at owners of administrate registers.
A light and affordable form of educational activities should also be directed to employees of public statistics, public administration and media (i.e. quizzes, interactive applications).

33. Communication plan 1 Activities planned for 2019
Conducting campaigns promoting pre-censuses test (Statistical information portal, traditional media, electronic media).
Presenting the idea of a pilot census, census and key census effects and also control census if applicable.
Preparation and publication of articles / contents about census.
Presentation of the history of censuses, results, interest in censuses in previous years / epochs.
The conference inaugurating the census promotion.

34. Communication plan 2 Activities planned for 2020
Selection of an advertising agency for the promotion of the census (possibly also cooperation with the media house at the same time).
The development of a coherent and professional campaign popularizing the National Census requires the involvement of an external entity.
A paid promotion of the Trial Census in social media (purchase of profiled advertisements in social media, dedicated to municipalities in which test censuses will be implemented).

35. Communication plan 3 Activities planned for 2021:
Preparation and publication of spots presenting the idea of censuses and the role and assumptions of register base census (Statistics information portal, traditional media - including public and private television, electronic media, including social media).
Preparing quizzes and competitions that will be of interest to the public with the idea of a census.
Elaboration and publication of a census articles/content (Statistics information portal, traditional media - including public and private television, electronic media, including social media).
Activities planned for 2022.
Promoting census results, with particular emphasis on the added value of these results for the information policy of the state, society, local authorities and business.
The dissemination of results will be carried out through traditional and electronic media, social media and on dedicated seminars / conferences.

36. Evaluation Media monitoring
Monitoring traditional and on-line media will allow us to respond to census articles and materials that have not been created with the participation of official statistics services. The tone of comments in the media will allow us to get to know the social reception of census (whether it has a positive, neutral or negative effect), and thus we will be able to react and properly manage further communication and dissemination activities.
Monitoring the census page
Observations and measurements should be subject to the following variables, using the free Google Analytics functions:
traffic on the census page
the most frequently visited information on the census page is the most visited;
the average time spent by the user on the site and in the census form;
number of connections broken by the user from the generated traffic on the site.
Social listening
It will allow us to get to know key words that are most often typed by internet users when searching for phrases related to the census (eg. „census", „registers"). This information will be used by the communication team to prepare highly positioned information materials on the census and react immediately if necessary.

37. Thank you for your attention
Dr. Janusz Dygaszewicz
ICT Systems, Geostatistics and Census Department