Call for Paper Announcement for Session 5
18th Roundtable on Business Survey Frames
Beijing, China, October 17-22 2004
Session 5 - Business Register Quality Indicators and Coverage
Call for Papers
Session Leader - Steve Vale, Office for National Statistics, UK
This session will consider the development and implementation of strategies and indicators to help users assess the quality and coverage of statistical business registers.
Quality is defined in the international standard ISO 9000:2000 as "the degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfils requirements". This means that the concept of quality is closely related to the perception of users as to how well their needs are met. This approach is considered in more detail in the Eurostat Manual of Recommendations for Business Registers (Chapter 10[1]).
To help take work on quality standards forwards, a questionnaire will shortly be circulated to Roundtable participants to seek their views on possible harmonised quality indicators, and the direction that future international work on business register quality should take. This will provide a useful input to discussions at the meeting in October.
The coverage of a statistical business register is an important element in determining overall register quality. Coverage can be measured in terms of economic activity classifications[2], institutional sectors[3], types of statistical unit present in the register, percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), or percentage of businesses covered. The measures used will depend on national user needs, though pressures to increase coverage come from both national demands and international requirements for harmonisation.
Papers considering the following topics will be particularly welcome for this session:
? Developing and implementing a quality strategy
? The development of quality indicators
? The quality of register inputs
? Enhancements to register coverage
? The relevance of including very small units in a statistical business register