Colectica&DDIintheCSO

CiaraCummins23rd September2020

BackgroundtoCSO• TheCentralStatisticsOffice(CSO)isIreland’sNationalStatisticalOffice

• Ourpurposeistocollect,analyseanddisseminateStatisticsaboutIreland’speople,societyandeconomy

• IamcurrentlyworkinginQualityManagement,Support&AssuranceDivision

• Currentlyresponsibleformanagingandgoverningtheroll-outofColecticaandtheClassifications&StandardsSectionintheCSO

2

Overview• Backgroundintohowourdatacollectionprocesswasbefore

• Ourtransitiontoamoresystematicapproach

• LivedemoofourColecticaPortal

• FutureaimsforMetadataManagement

3

DataCollection&SurveyDesignBefore• PreviouslysubjectmatterexpertsinourSocialStatisticssectionshadtheresponsibilityofdesigningandcreatingquestionnairesfortheirownstatisticalproducts

• StatisticiansappliedtheirownknowledgeintothesurveydesignandproducedquestionnairespecsfortheITBlaiseteamtodevelop

4

DataCollection&SurveyDesignBeforeCont’d

• Disadvantagesofdesigningsurveysinthisway;

• InconsistentSurveyDesign(nostandardblocksofquestionsacrossdifferentsurveysforthesamedata)

• PoordocumentationacrosstheStatisticalprocess• InconsistentsurveyspecificationsprovidedtoBlaise• Nofinalversionofwhatwentoutontothefield

5

DataCollection&SurveyDesignBeforeCont’d• HistoricquestionnaireswerestoredacrossmultipleWorddocuments&Blaisecodeformats.

• Implicationsarosesuchas;• Identifywhatquestionswe’reused&workedpreviously• HowtoidentifythelinkagebetweenquestionscrossmultipleSurveys• OutputtingSurveySpecificationstofieldstaff&datausers• Moretimeconsumingtodevelopasurvey• Errorpronewithnotraceability,revisionsorversionscontrol

6

OurMotivationbehindchangingourApproach

7

• OuraimsthroughutilisingtheDDIstandard&Colecticaproducts;

• Todevelopacentralrepositoryforstandard&reusablequestions• Allowaplatformforallinvolvedintheprocesstoreviewanddiscuss• StandardisecontentandimprovemetadataacrossallSocialSurveys• Improvesurveydocumentation&reporting• ReduceworkloadandburdenforIT,QDUandrelevantSME’s

OurColecticaInfrastructure

• PurchasedColecticain2017

8

Colectica Repository

• Centralised Storage System

Colectica Portal

• Web app for searching & browsing the repository

Colectica Designer

• Allows for advanced data mgmt. functionality

Colectica Questionnaires

• Questionnaire creator

StakeholdersInvolvedQuestionnaire

Design Unit

IT (Blaise)

Subject Matter

Quality Unit(Overseer)

9

10

QuestionnaireDevelopmentProcessNow

LiveDemoofColectica

11

ChallengesFaced• Changeinprocessresultsinachangeofmindset

• Statisticianshavetransitionedfromdesigning&giving

questionstonowprovidingvariables&concepts

• Enforcingandgoverningstandards

• Trainingrequirementsinternally

12

OurFutureAims

• Disseminateapublicfacingportalforresearchers&CSODatausers

• Advanceworkondatadiscoverabilityusingdatafilesandvariables

• UtilisetheabilityofproducingcodebooksandSIMSQualityReports

throughColectica

• Continuestandardisingquestions,variables&codelistsusedinallsurveys

13

Thankyouforlistening

AnyQuestions?

14