Official statistics are produced using sound statistical methodology, relevant and reliable data sources, and are appropriate for the purpose.
A professional commitment to quality strengthens public confidence in official statistics. Official statistics need to reflect as faithfully as possible the reality that they are designed to represent. Quality is defined as “fitness for use” in terms of user perspectives and includes the dimensions of timeliness, accuracy and relevance, the priorities of which may vary across different groups of users.
Key elements of this principle
- Professional competence underpins all official statistics activity and is enhanced through training, research and reference to good international practice and professional expertise.
- A culture of continuous improvement, sharing statistical best practice and evaluation, is systematically fostered to manage and improve the quality of statistics.
- Processes and methods used to produce official statistics, including measures of quality such as estimated measurement errors, are fully documented and are available for users to understand the data and judge the quality of the fit.
- Reliable and relevant data is collected from the most appropriate source after due regard to respondent load.
- Data revisions to ongoing statistical series follow a regular, well-established and transparent schedule. If a significant error is found in the data, the corrected data is made publicly available as soon as possible after the identification of the error.
The Minister of Statistics will approve all new or substantially revised Tier 1 surveys. This assures the Minister that the survey meets Tier 1 principles and protocols. It is a self-assessment process that is completed by each agency and forwarded to Statistics New Zealand, which then forwards it to the Minister of Statistics.
Back to OSS principles for Tier 1 statistics producers.