Department of Census and Statistics - Sri Lanka The Development of Central Survey Catalogue – Department of Census and Statistics [DCS] SRI LANKA Presented

Department of Census and Statistics - Sri Lanka

The Development of Central Survey The Development of Central Survey Catalogue – Catalogue –

Department of Census and Department of Census and Statistics Statistics [DCS] SRI LANKA[DCS] SRI LANKA

Presented by

S.A.S.Bandulasena, Deputy Director - Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka

at the

OECD/PARIS21 Steering committee meeting Nov 5-7,2008 Paris, France


ContentsContents

1. National Statistical System2. Classification of our Surveys3. Progress (in brief….)4. Some Issues Faced by DCS

1.Central Statistical Agency…………2.How the Centralization Helps3.Operating Costs4.Research Culture5.Demand for Data6.Dissemination

5. Conclusion


National Statistics System National Statistics System (NSS)(NSS)

Legislation

Census Ordinance Statistics Ordinance

DCS

DIV

ISIO

NS

Statistical branches in

Ministries/Depts.

Statistical branches in District Secretariats

Statistics officer in Div. Secretariats

Statistical Activities of DCS

Statistical Data

Other National &Internation

alAgencies

Statistical Activities/ Administrative

Record Keeping Statistical Activities

Statistical Data

Statistical Data

OtherGovt.

Institutions

Own Stat. branches of Ministries/

Depts.


Classification of Our SurveysClassification of Our Surveys

Census Survey Admin Records

Population & Housing

5

Industry 2 10

Agriculture 2 30

Demography & Health

9

Income & Exp

7

Labour Force

16

Vital Statistics

39

Other 7 90 33


Progress (in brief….)Progress (in brief….)

Started - January 2008 Microdata Lab – in operationTraining – MMT workshops (2) for 35 people.

NADA training for 5 peopleArchiving – 150 out of 350 datasets have been archived (the catalogue will be published this month on

the DCS website for internal users) -- The staff trained in MMT assist us on a part time basis to complete the whole thing next year.


Some Issues Faced by DCSSome Issues Faced by DCSCentral Statistical Agency – but not the coordinator for the other national/international agencies

• Operational Costs – ever increasing • Research Culture – staff needs more research experience • Demand for data – Demand and Investment to be justified

Dissemination – Staff occupied with tabulation work


Central Statistical Agency….Central Statistical Agency….but is not the coordinator for the other non Govt. agenciesPossible outcomes : duplication of surveys, contradicting figures, quality differences, non-standard practices and so forth.However coordination among the Govt. statistical units are satisfactory as most of their key positions are manned with DCS’ technical staff. Benefits to DCS from ADP By setting up the Central Survey Catalogue, DCS will win the credibility of the other statistics agencies of the country. This will enable DCS to initiate talks with other agencies on appointing a national statistical coordinator. How?


How the centralization helps How the centralization helps Thanks to NADA, meta data are Thanks to NADA, meta data are available for viewing by the available for viewing by the local and overseas agencies as local and overseas agencies as well as the researchers.well as the researchers. Expect an increase in the Expect an increase in the number of inquiries made on number of inquiries made on surveys.surveys. More frequent interaction of More frequent interaction of technical staff with the outside technical staff with the outside

How the Centralization helps How the Centralization helps Thanks to NADA, metadata are available for viewing by the local and overseas agencies as well as the researchers.

Expect an increase in the number of inquiries made on surveys with the implementation of centralization.

More frequent interactions of technical staff with the outside world (presently rare). Opportunity to display our professional strengths.


Operating Costs – ever Operating Costs – ever increasingincreasing

Documentation expenditure – less filing of stationery will be needed.

Record room costs – record room capacities could be reduced and cost will be saved.

Survey design costs in terms of time and effort – no need to start a survey from scratch.

Information localizing in different Divisions – All the details will be in a central repository.


Research CultureResearch CultureStaff needs more research experienceAn improved microdata archive will allow the researchers to get at survey data without much hassle. Availability of metadata will widen the knowledge of researchers and the interested students alike.

Thus DCS will encourage staff researchers to be involved in more and more analyses work and create a new research culture.


Demand for dataDemand for data

Making Microdata catalogues available on the web will expand the user community Nationally and Internationally and the role of DCS will be very much prominent.

This way, the credibility of DCS among the various Data users will be secured and the demand for data and the investment will be justified.


Dissemination Dissemination Staff occupied with tabulation work…More than presenting tables, DCS can allow the staff to devote more time in doing research using the microdata. This will be beneficial to the country. Also it will form a team of staff very strong in statistical analyses.

Recently DCS has done a very important research study on Poverty, the findings of which were extensively used by the Govt. policymakers to uplift the poor. This study was based on the microdata gathered from various recent surveys and censuses.


ConclusionConclusion

Challenges - Documenting balance datasets will be a challenge.

1. Few datasets are in EBCDIC, have to convert to ASCII format.

2. Metadata are not readily available for some past data sets.


Thank Thank youyou

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Department of Census and Statistics - Sri Lanka The Development of Central Survey Catalogue – Department of Census and Statistics [DCS] SRI LANKA Presented