Data should be used for policy making, says Gowda

Collection of huge data does not serve any purpose unless it is used for policy decisions and academic research which benefits the common man, Statistics Minister D V Sadananda Gowda said today.
For this, it is important to process, document and store the data to build a robust catalogue of international standards, Gowda said at the first workshop on the use of IHSN Toolkit.
The Microdata Management Toolkit developed by the World Bank Data, Asian Development Bank, ADP (Accelerated Data Program), OECD (Organisation of Economic Corporation and Development) and PARIS21 for the International Household Survey Network (IHSN) is an open source, DDI (Data Documentation Initiative) compliant application for cataloguing and dissemination of metadata and microdata.

IHSN is designed to address the technical issues facing data producers.
Gowda also launched the new website of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
In his keynote address, Chief Statistician T C A Anant said that using good standardised methods is important, as is making the data available to users.

IHSN is a standard benchmark which can be used as an active management tool for better integration of administrative structures and statistical access for policy making, he said.
According to a statement issued by the ministry, survey
and census microdata are valuable resources for government departments and academic researchers.

They constitute valuable and irreplaceable assets and should be managed in a way that encourages their widest possible use and re-use.
At the same time, protecting the privacy of survey respondents is of paramount concern to data collectors. Robust procedures are necessary to reassure stakeholders that microdata will be disseminated and used in an optimum manner for the benefit of users and everyone in society, now and in the future, it added.
It has been experienced that IHSN tool is quite useful for creation of documentation, dissemination and archive as well as survey data can be transformed into an international format. It would attract more users, researchers, increase the revenue towards data dissemination and reduce the data duplication and increasing return on investment.

After conducting a survey, the agencies that collect data normally produce a wide range of tabular output to give users the highlights and a broad overview of the results would be available at one source.
In order to strengthen the statistical system of the country, the ministry has created complete metadata of 140 surveys and censuses conducted under the National Sample Survey (NSS) programme, Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) and Economic Census currently available with the ministry. It has decided to transfer the technology to all states/UTs to create unique statistical system to facilitate the users.
The metadata now provided in the archive includes survey methodology, sampling procedures, questionnaires, instructions, survey reports, classifications and code directories. Importantly, the archive provides all details of the data files that are disseminated to users along with case summaries at one source.