ESSnet on Small Area Estimation

ESSnet on Small Area Estimation

Stefano Falorsi

[email protected]

International conference on Indicators and Survey Methodology, 2010, Wien 25-26 February 2010

Motivation for the project

There is an increasing need for estimates at local and detailed geographic level and socio-demographic information where direct estimation (based on survey samples) cannot ensure sufficient precision

nevertheless

strategies in official statistics with regard to implementation and quality of SAE should be defined.

Applications of SAE in statistical institutes overlap while collaboration action creates synergies and allows everyone to benefit from the exchange of practices and know-how.


Motivation for the project

The project will draw heavily on the results (methodology, programs) of the EURAREA project, on 'robust' methodology thoroughly discussed in the literature and on the experience already available in the ESS with respect to small area estimation.

The project should aim to build a common and reference framework for the development of SAE in the ESS by NSIs and possibly Eurostat.

The project will be limited to social statistics applications


Description of the Project

The main purposes of the ESSnet on Small Area Estimation (SAE) project are: reassess SAE methods and experiences;

follow up existing academic projects, with particular focus on

assimilating and applying SAE methods to survey data;

disseminate knowledge among NSIs;

provide tools and recommendations useful to allow the

production of small area estimates.

The different phases of the project are a series of theoretical and applicative activities in order to facilitate and promote the use of small area techniques in the production of statistical information.


The results of the ESSnet project will be helpful to detect the best practises

to define the guidelines to be followed for the applications of SAE

to give some advices for software tools users.Dissemination of results is another important step of the ESSnet project, therefore a web-site will be available in order to share information and the results among the

partners

be a forum platform in order to boost the communication among

NSIs willing to apply SAE methods.



WP1 - Project management

WP2 - State of the art The WP2 is aimed to provide a comprehensive

overview of small area estimation in the ESS social surveys with respect to implementation, needs and expectations, in particular

the starting point will be represented by documents available on small area estimation, BUT the perspective of NSI will be highligthed; then

the current application in UE NSIs and non-UE NSIs will be a central issue of the review.

This WP aims to create a common knowledge on application of small area estimation methods.

The project is composed by 7 work-packages:



WP3 - Quality assessment In order to support the choice and the use of SAE

methods, this work-package is aimed to review and develop suitable criteria to assess the quality of SAE methods, in particular the study on methodologies for top down assessment (from larger to smaller domains) and determination of accuracy thresholds;

the review of methods for comparative assessment for the choice among different set of auxiliary information; review on relevant methods for quality assessment (external validation using available information, MSE) and model diagnostic (model fitting, error analysis)

As for WP2 the actual experience of countries on use of quality assessment would be central for the dissemination of practices



WP4 - Software tools this work-package aims in helping real application of

SAE methods in NSIs, starting with a review of the available SAE routines and software on small area estimation, focusing on open source software.

Special attention to examine the software in use in the ESS ; the WP will provide recommendations for standardization and certification of ESS tools for SAE including a list of desirable aspects of the software tools.

The study will be devoted to analyze the real capacity of routines to be applied to large scale surveys, i.e. characterized by a large number of individual records.

A product/deliverable of the WP will be the collection of existing routines and/or development of new routines where necessary .



WP5 - Case studies The activities of this WP will be focused on specifying for each of the main survey framework a sub-set of the SAE methods. Relevant tools for diagnostics, identified in WP3, will be applied and case studies will be the ground for training the software or routines identified in WP4.

Participating countries are mostly interested in LFS, but also victimization and health statistics will be considered in the applications

WP6 - Guidelines and recommendations The WP6 is aimed to summarise the activities and

the results produced in the previous WPs so to provide practical guidelines in ESS social surveys context.



WP7 - Transfer of knowledge and knowhow

The WP7 is aimed to transfer knowledge and know how to non participating NSIs and dissemination of results through a course and coaching.

A web-site to update the information on the progress of the ESSnet to non participating countries; (unfortunately not yet available)



Partners

Istituto Nazionale di Statistica (ISTAT) Italy

Institut National de la Statistique France et des Etudes Economiques (INSEE) France

Statistisches Bundesamt (DESTATIS) Germany

Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (CBS) Netherlands

Statistisk Sentralbyrå (SSB) Norway

Główny Urząd Statystyczny (GUS) Poland

Instituto Nacional de Estadística de España (INE) Spain

Office for National Statistics (ONS) United Kingdom

Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) will soon join the project


Partners

IT DE FR NL NO PL ES UK

Wp1 C P P P P P P P

Wp2 P P C P P

Wp3 P P P C P

Wp4 C P P

Wp5 P P P C P P P

Wp6 C P P P P

Wp7 C P P P P P P P


Starting date: 22/12/2009- Duration in months: 24 months


Documents

ESSnet on Small Area Estimation