Transcript United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Statistical Division Dissemination of sensitive group-specific results Which fundamental principles of official statistics are applicable?

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Statistical Division
Dissemination of sensitive
group-specific results
Which fundamental principles of
official statistics are applicable?
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Statistical Division
Heinrich Brüngger
UNECE
Statistical Division
Outline of presentation
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4.
What is the problem with sensitive
group-specific results?
Crude methods for dealing with
(avoiding) the problem
Balanced approach: using selected
fundamental principles and ensuring
that such results receive a higher level
of professional scrutiny
The use of the 4th principle as safety
net
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 3
What is the problem?
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Sensitive group-specific results (SGSR)
from official statistics may reinforce or
help create negative perceptions against
certain groups
On the hand, official statistics should
disseminate « relevant « results
Should the impact of results (not only
SGSR) planned for dissemination have
an influence on the decision by the NSO
whether to disseminate them at all?
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 4
Crude methods
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Avoid collecting characteristics that can be
used for delimitating sensitive groups
If collected (also as part of administrative
sources), ban the use in official statistics
For exhaustive sources: define a very high
threshold in terms of minimum number of
persons/households for results to be released
(higher than what is required for protecting
confidentiality of single units)
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 5
Crude methods (ctd.)

For samples: define a very high quality
threshold for accuracy
All these methods make it impossible to
release some relevant aggregates,
including in the context of tailor-made
statistical services
Preventive methods have a high cost in
terms of restriction of access
If regulated by law, one of the crude
methods is likely to prevail
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 6
Balanced approach
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1st step: use the same confidentiality,
accuracy and quality standards as for all
results of official statistics; if an SGSR does
not pass one of these criteria, they should not
be released at all (but not because they are
sensitive)
2nd step: investigate from the professional
point of view whether certain influencing
factors that may not matter at the national
level or for larger groups start to matter for
small groups (whether sensitive or not)
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 7
Balanced approach (ctd.)
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If this is the case, fine-tune the indicator for
small groups to eliminate statistical artefacts or
structural effects before release as result of
official statistics, and add carefully drafted
comments (respecting the principle of
impartiality)
The unadjusted SGSR must remain available
on request, but should only be handed out with
a clear indication that a more relevant result
exists and that the NSO has the right to react
publicly against any misuse or erroneous
interpretation
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 8
Balanced approach (ctd.)
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Balanced approach is ex-post, i.e. checking
each small aggregate according to specified
criteria and thresholds, but the 1st step is good
practice of quality management anyway
More resource-intensive, but ensures that
most relevant results that pass the 1st step
can be released in a form that fully reflects
professional standards
Simple disaggregation of national indicators
may not be good enough for SGSR
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 9
Use of 4th principle: safety net
against misuse by third parties
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Possible impact of releasing new results
should never be a criterion for whether or
when to release (professional independence),
but it may influence the release product
(comments)
NSOs should have a defined policy when to
make use of the 4th principle, and a defined
mechanism for applying them
Such public comments are released under the
sole authority of the chief statistician
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 10
Use of 4th principle (ctd.)
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Occasional use of the 4th principle implies that
the use of statistics is regularly monitored and
checked for misuse/erroneous interpretation
Use is not only referring to media, but also to
government reports e.g.
Discussion about national experience and
policies in making use of the 4th principle, and
about monitoring use from this perspective,
might be a topic for further meetings
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 11
Questions for discussion
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Concerning the issue of release of small
aggregates, do you have special rules or a
special policy for SGSR? If yes, what are
they?
What type of comments did you add to the last
release of a SGSR?
What was the reaction by media and users?
Were some of these interpretations erroneous,
and if yes did the NSO react publicly?
- UNECE Statistical Division
Slide 12
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Statistical Division
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION