OECD Workshop on Business and Consumer Tendency Surveys, Rome, 19 September 2006

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OECD Workshop on Business and Consumer Tendency Surveys, Rome, 19 September 2006

SESSION 1RECENTLY DEVELOPED INTERNATIONAL

GUIDELINES FOR OPINION SURVEYS

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International statistical guidelines

Wealth of existing standards – mainly on quantitative statistics

Developed jointly by I/Os (OECD, Eurostat, IMF, ILO, UN, etc) and NSIs over last 30 years

Aim to improve the quality and comparability of national and international statistics

Cover concepts / terminology, classifications, collection, transformation and presentation

Mainly domain focused – national accounts, prices, retail trade, international trade, BoP, industry, etc

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International statistical guidelines - Access

Available on UNSD website (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/progwork/)

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International statistical guidelines - Access

Available on UNSD website (http://unstats.un.org/unsd/progwork/)

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Relationship to BTS / COS guidelines

Existing

European Commission (1997, updated 2006)- Collection- Compilation- Presentation- Harmonised -Questionnaires

OECDBTS Handbook (2003)- Principles on different phases of survey cycle.-Collection (brief)- Questionnaires- Use of results

Existing



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International guidelines and recommendations for BTS / COS

Existing



Existing



Enhanced

Cover three broad sets ofissues:

- Improve survey response rates- Minimise respondent load- Harmonisation of surveyoperations and technical design – including use of Internet for collection

• Discussed at joint EC – OECD Workshop in Nov. 2005• Some recommendations require further work

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Enhanced BTS / COS guidelines - Response rates and respondent load

Achievement of a satisfactory response rate key factor in quality of output

Need for clear strategies to minimise non-response – relating to collection methods and communication with respondents

These also minimise respondent load

Strategies need to be carefully thought through and adequately resourced.

Embodied in 7 strategies in para. 6 of paper.

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Enhanced BTS / COS guidelines - Harmonisation of survey operations and

technical design Recommendations outline best practice for the development of

opinion surveys

Many are self evident. Provide a basis for benchmarking recommended practice and comparisons of data quality between countries.

Sample design and weighting methods – cover sample frame, sampling methods, treatment of missing data, weighting methods.

Design of internet surveys – detailed recommendations are intended as a starting point for further development of research-based principles – cover initial development, email invitation, questionnaire design, analysing results, giving feedback, security

Outlined in paras. 8-12 of paper.

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Enhanced BTS / COS guidelines - Dissemination

Will be given wider dissemination in future, for example, in:

OECD’s BTS / COS portal

Future editions of OECD’s BTS Handbook

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Enhanced BTS / COS guidelines - Further changes

Will be further supplemented by:

Inclusion of further examples of national recommended practice on specific aspects / issues covered in recommendations

Further development work and research by national agencies or new task forces

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Enhanced BTS / COS guidelines - Uses

Facilitate benchmarking and comparisons of current national practices.

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Discussion

Further comments on enhanced standards – their usefulness, application

Suggestions on areas where further enhancements / development are required – by national agency or new task forces to work over next 12 months.

Examples of recent national practice that could be submitted for inclusion in OECD portal, etc

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The End

Documents

OECD Workshop on Business and Consumer Tendency Surveys, Rome, 19 September 2006