|
Abstract:
|
A panel of the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academy of Sciences recently issued a report entitled "Transparency in Statistical Information for the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics and All Federal Statistical Agencies." Dan Kasprzyk, chair, and Michael Cohen, study director, will summarize the findings and recommendations and initiate a discussion of the implications of this report. Transparency can be divided up into documentation of input data, data treatments, methodology, and official estimates, along with archiving of these items in support of later reuse. There are very important differences as to what we believe should be available publicly and in secure environments and only within the agency itself. The panel produced a series of tables detailing what should be made publicly available and what should be retained within an agency. In addition, much of what should be made available are metadata and paradata. Metadata describes how an input data set or set of official statistics are structured for reuse. There are metadata standards that are widely used internationally that the panel recommended be examined for use in the U.S.
|
