The%2057th%20Seminar%20of%20the%20International%20Statistical%20Institute%20%20How%20to%20give%20value%20added%20to%20official%20statistics%20

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The 57th Seminar of the International
Statistical Institute How to give value added
to official statistics specific experiences of
a developing country Blagica Novkovska. MSc
Director General. State Statistical
Office16-22 August 2009. Durban,South Africa
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE
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Value added in official statistics (VAS) can be
quantified by use of the following expression
VAS  NQS (1)Where N is the size of the
audience (number of who know official statistics)
and QS is the quantity of official statistics
relevant for the users 1. The quantity of
official statistics (QS) produced by the SSO
increased substantially by introducing many new
surveys essential for balanced policy making.
Simultaneously with the increase of QS, the size
of the audience (N) markedly increased.
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE

Basic results
1. Enricco Giovaninni, Measuring Societys
Progress A key issue for policy making and
democratic governance, Statistics User Forum
Transforming Official Statistics to Serve
Society, 12 November 2008 at The Royal Society,
http//www.rss.org.uk/docs/Giovannini20paper.doc

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Quantity of official statistics Number of
statistical surveys for three consecutive periods
Period 1998-2002 2003-2007 2008-2012
New surveys 416 353 476

• Number of statistical surveys is increasing
• As a result much more various data are produced
  nowadays compared to the period before transition
  

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Size of the audience Number of requests for
specific data by year for the last 6 years
Year 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Number of requests for data 738 777 848 824 788 927

• It is seen that this increases substantially with
  small oscillations

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Size of the audience Number of visitors to the
website of the Statistical Office for the last 6
years
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Following expression for VAS can be used in this
case 1 VAS  N(QSAMF)RSTSNL (2)The
total amount of official statistics that reaches
the generic user is QSR  QSAMF, where QSA
represents the total statistical information
produced by the official source and MF the role
played by the media. RS is the relevance of the
official statistics communicated to the user, TS
is the trust that individuals have in official
statistics and NL is the individuals numeracy,
i.e. the ability to reason with the numbers and
other mathematical concepts. Users Satisfaction
Survey shows that they perceive the statistics
produced by the SSO as highly relevant (RS).
REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA STATE STATISTICAL OFFICE

Factors influencing QS
1. Enricco Giovaninni, Measuring Societys
Progress A key issue for policy making and
democratic governance, Statistics User Forum
Transforming Official Statistics to Serve
Society, 12 November 2008 at The Royal Society,
http//www.rss.org.uk/docs/Giovannini20paper.doc

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The role played by the media Satisfaction with
the quality of the website of the State
Statistical Office
  Excellent Good Fair Fail Dont know Non response
Access 34.4 31.2 17.6 5.0 1.6 11.2
Content 17.6 28.8 27.2 15.2 1.6 9.6
Presentation 19.2 26.4 29.6 12.0 2.4 10.4
Structure 18.4 28.0 22.4 16.0 2.4 12.8
Navigation 18.4 24.0 18.4 23.2 2.4 13.6
Source of data Users Satisfaction Survey, May
2009

• Very big increase is observed in the number of
  visitors to the website of the Statistical Office
• Website of the Statistical Office becomes the
  most important medium for data users
• Users are highly satisfied with the quality of
  the website

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Relevance of the official statistics communicated
to the user Opinion on the quality of
statistics by occupation (in )
    Entirely agree Agree Nor agree neither disagree Disagree Strongly disagree Without response Total
Relevance   22.1 49.7 16.0 6.1 3.1 3.1 100.0
Relevance Employed in public administration 21.9 51.4 15.2 5.7 1.0 4.8 100.0
Relevance Employed in education and research 22.2 66.7 2.6 5.6 9.0 0.0 100.0
Relevance Employed in private sector 18.2 31.8 27.3 13.6 1.1 0.0 100.0
Relevance Employed in international organization 60.0 40.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0
Relevance Journalist 0 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 100.0
Relevance Other 18.2 36.4 27.3 0.0 18.2 0.0 100.0

Source of data Users satisfaction survey, May
2009
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The trust that individuals have in official
statistics slowly progresses.

• The individuals numeracy, i.e. the ability to
  reason with the numbers and other mathematical
  concepts
• Users Satisfaction Survey shows that 50.3  of
  the users with high education or higher were very
  satisfied, giving notes from 8 to 10. The
  percentage of those with secondary education that
  expressed the same level of satisfaction was
  rather low.

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Conclusions

• The value added of official statistics
  substantially increased during the transition
  period. Both the quantity of official statistics
  (QS) and the size of the audience (N) markedly
  increased
• The main limiting factor for the increase of the
  value added of statistics is the individuals
  numeracy. Namely, the portion of those who
  correctly interpret data and use them in their
  practical activities seems to be rather limited.
  
• This is a factor that cannot be directly improved
  by the statistical system and requires
  contribution of other actors like the education
  system or specific government activities, such as
  publicity campaigns, aiming at improving the
  awareness of the use of statistical data.

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Thank you for your attention

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