Good morning, good afternoon, good

evening. Um, colleagues and partners

from all over the world. Um, serving as

co-chair on behalf of UNESCO of the

inter secretariat working group on

household surveys. I'm delighted to

welcome you to this event marking the

launch of uh the

UN handbook on household surveys. an

initiative that has been led by uh the

UN statistics division with guidance

from the inter secretariat working group

on household survey is a group that was

established in 2015 by the UN

statistical commission to enhance survey

coordination to promote innovative

approaches and to advocate for the

critical role of household surveys. The

group is composed of 11 international

agencies and 10 member states and is

currently co-chared by UNESCO and the

world bank and its secretary is at the

UN statistics division.

Since its establishment, the working

group has undertaken many initiatives to

advance survey methodologies.

Um, but uh perhaps now the most

important is the one that we're marking

today u the guidance uh to countries uh

moving ahead which builds on a paper

that was endorsed by the US statistical

commission in 2022. The paper entitled

positioning household surveys for the

next decade.

the the revision of the UN handbook um

which as you may know uh replaces the

one that was uh

completed uh more than 40 years ago was

of course necessary um because of so

many things that have happened. uh the

process uh was basically completed over

um

period of two years and um I think it is

really very important to acknowledge all

those people who have uh really played a

very important role. Um I should start

with uh Charles our lead technical

editor perhaps also not least because

myself I was an author of one of the

chapters and benefited and saw from

closeup

uh the care and attention that went into

the preparation. the steering committee

members, many of whom are here with us

today. Um, all the members of the

technical and dissemination committees,

almost 100 drafters and reviewers from

national statistical offices, academics,

consulting firms specialize on surveys,

regional and international organizations

and the any source. We really need to

emphasize your role uh for all the

inputs and the case studies and examples

that you have provided.

I would like also to thank my fellow

co-chairs um Talip from Kilit from the

World Bank, Baba and Jessa from Yun

Women um who were the co-chairs of the

working group when the handbook process

began of course Selia Mononttoya the

director of UIS um whom I have kind of

succeeded in recent months. uh the

statistics division who has supported

this work, how and her team uh who have

been really outstanding in uh steering

this process through the past two years

and the the government of China that

provided financial and technical

support. Um part of that was channeled

also for the expert review process as

the development of the handbook was

informed by extensive consultations uh

with many of you and many many more. um

including uh meetings that were held in

Shenzhen uh in January 2024 uh in Oslo

uh in October 24, in Lisbon uh in June

last year and lastly in Sia. So I think

we have gathered today not to hear me

but to listen to all of you that have

provided terrific inputs into the

preparation of this handbook. So I'm uh

handing back the micro and like to thank

you very much for joining here today to

celebrate this important moment.

>> Thank you so much manos. Thank you so

much to everyone who has been supporting

this process and it's amazing process.

It's only two years we were able to

deliver. Um still remember we first got

the mandate we were like really are we

doing it in two years? Okay. So, just a

few things. Uh colleagues, if you have

questions, uh there's a Q&A session and

please type your question there and we

can either respond to them uh live or

through um message respon written

responses and and the session is

recorded um it will be available at um

um on you UN stats YouTube. Thank you.

And link to the session will also be

shared. So, they will be everything will

be published online.

And most importantly the handbook is

also available online. I'll ask my

colleague to share the link on the chat.

Um so today's session we have two parts

and let's get it started. The first uh

we invite all the steering committee

members to give you a little glimpse of

what's in the handbook. Um and then

after that they will go into a country

panel with our NSO colleagues who are

both working so hard and with a lot of

work in their offices but also

contributed so much to this revision

process and their drafter. They've

contributed a lot of their experiences

to to this handbook. Uh so two parts and

let's get it started uh with the

presentation. Let me just first

introduce our panelist uh Charles Laauo

who is the lead technical editor for

this handbook and he's the one shop

really really pushing us encouraging us

to get to this finish line keep us on

top of everything and he's also the

deputy global research director at

Gallup and Professor Peter Len um from

um Institute for Social Economic

Research University of Essex uh Mauricio

Hey, our dear colleague from In Mexico

and Silan Bullet who is in charge of the

new data collection initiative uh at

stats Canada and Jessa

um uh who is from your women she was

also the co-chair when we start this

process um thank you so much Jessa for

being here

uh let's get it started

So I'll just two slides. First of all,

what is um Michael J already talked

about intersector working group. It it's

been 11 years since when we were

established by the UN statistical

commission. These are the four

objectives and all of them are linked

the handbooks to all linked to all of

the four objectives.

uh coordination of surveys, advanced

crosscutting survey methodology,

innovation, enhanced communication

advocacy and support capacity building.

We're currently having uh 12

international organizations as members

and also our rotating member states the

secretarias with usd and also the ekalox

division with us and uh they're

currently co-chared by the war bank and

UNESCO and we do work through different

task forces and uh led by and with

contribution from member and non-member

experts. Next slide please.

So just before we get into the new

handbook, we had UNSD or UN has a lot of

handbooks um on surveys in the past and

started in the 1950s but the most

prominent one we had was 1984 which is

comprehensive handbook we had um and

covers all aspects of this people

countries are still using them. Uh so we

started when that book handbook was

marked 40 years anniversary. Was that 40

years? Okay. And then uh in March 2024,

two years ago, we received a mandate

from the commission to do a new one. And

in between 1984 and 2024, we did have uh

quite a number of handbook um series

covering different aspects of handbook

the survey uh operations from 1982 all

the way to 2008.

And so this revision is guided uh led by

UN statistics division guided by the

intersector working group on household

surveys and we promised commission to

deliver in two years and we're here.

Next slide I think hand over to you

Charles.

>> Thank you so much Hi. Um and it's a

pleasure to introduce the handbook

development and overview uh briefly. Um

so the purpose of the handbook is

obviously to update um what is

everything all the developments that

have occurred since you know 1984.

There's obviously an increase in data

demands uh for national statistical

offices um advances in survey

methodology and surveys used to be the

main or only source uh but now surveys

are just one of of many tools. Um when

we started the process of developing the

handbook we f we wanted to um highlight

five key aspects. So one is key

principles of designing implementing

analyzing and disseminating household

surveys. So um as a way to provide

guidance for across time and different

countries. The handbook also covers

necessary steps for each survey. So each

step of the survey cycle. So from the

very beginning of the inception of an

idea all the way through to

dissemination of results. The handbook

focuses both on theoretical foundations

right. So understand introducing

concepts and ideas uh but also practical

solutions. So the handbook is intended

to be a very practical userfriendly

thing that can hopefully help all of us

do our jobs um as best as we can. The

handbook covers emerging approaches and

innovations that NSOs and others have

been piloting and also highlights some

really um exceptional national practices

and case studies that NSOs have been

engaging in.

Next slide please.

The audience for the handbook is you. Uh

this national statistical offices is a

primary audience. Although you know

anyone who's conducting uh survey

research can benefit from the handbook.

Um other members of national statistical

systems, line ministries, NOS's, private

firms um and others. So it's a broad

handbook um across countries and types

of work. Next slide please.

The handbook has four key features um

that kind of distinguish it from the

previous handbook and other survey in

other handbooks and applications. So one

is coverage of emerging approaches

right. So we didn't want to just conduct

write a handbook about um surveys as

they are in 200 you know 25 and 26. We

wanted to highlight um emerging

approaches methods that are actively

being explored. So things like AI used

in translation or uh data processing as

well as methods that may be tested and

applied in some countries but not widely

adopted as a globe. Inclusion is a key

crosscutting theme and we'll hear later

from uh Peter on um some more aspects of

inclusion. Surveys are you know

increasingly being integrated with other

data source administrative data um and

other data sources. So we kind of

situate surveys as one of many tools and

the handbook will be updated as a living

document. So this is a digital first um

handbook that will keep updating as we

go to reflect new and emerging practices

in the field. Next slide.

So uh process so there was um as how you

said we completed the this handbook in

about two years and um it was the only

way we were successful is by engaging a

talented dedicated and really diverse

team um within the handbook as well as

the consultation processes. So there

were a series of consultations early on

early on there were regional

consultations uh thematic area

consultations as well as a series of

technical meetings workshops in China,

Norway and Portugal.

Next slide. The handbook has two parts.

Um part one is you could think of as

core tasks that apply to any survey that

are that is conducted. Um, and we'll

highlight what those core tasks are in a

in a minute. And then part two though

focuses on special topics, right? These

are special topics to make sure surveys

are inclusive specific subject matter.

So, um, labor statistics or education,

for example, population groups, um, so

for example, mainstreaming gender

perspective or specific country

contexts, um, as well. So, small island

developing states and others for

example.

Next slide.

Governance. Um so this uh the handbook

followed uh kind of a familiar

governance strategy with you know chairs

and co-chairs. Uh we have a steering

committee. We also developed a technical

committee a dissemination committee and

I really wanted to give a lot of um uh

kudos and credit to the authors. Um so

we are up here presenting the final

handbook but this handbook was written

by the dedication of a huge author team.

We had lead authors for each chapter as

well as supporting authors uh to cover

different disciplines and geographies

and types of institutions as well. So

the success of the handbook is due to

the hardworking um you know history from

the last two years from a really diverse

group of of people. Next slide please.

Uh steering committee members are listed

here. Um we also have um additional

technical and dissemination committee

members and I've served as the technical

editor. Next slide.

Handbook structure is shown here. We'll

get into a little more detail as we go

forward. Uh for part one there are 11

chapters starting with the introduction

overview of the landscape and then it

starts from the from the very beginning

from the needs assessment all the way

through to project management

questionnaire design sampling frames

data collection processing waiting

analysis and dissemination. Then part

two tackles these special um topics um

uh which we'll get into. Jessa will uh

present those later um which are kind of

crosscutting issues that u for um

specific um population groups contexts

and um and and other issues.

So we'll go to the next slide please

and I will hand it over to Peter.

Many thanks, Charles. Um, so I'm Peter

Lynn from the University of Essics and

what we're going to do now between us is

to try to give you an overview of the

content of the substantive chapters and

just briefly highlight some of some of

the main messages. So I'm starting with

chapter one and this is really a chapter

where we uh sort of summarize the

state-of-the-art in survey taking at

this moment and that provides the

context to the practical guidance that

we then provide in in the remaining

chapters. Um in particular in chapter

one we discuss a number of crosscutting

issues. So issues which do not have a

specific chapter devoted to them but

actually continually reemerge as

important themes throughout several

chapters. And in a moment I'll just show

you what those nine crosscutting themes

are. Um in this chapter we also

introduce various ideas and terminology

that are then used throughout the

handbook. So even if you want to just

dip into the handbook to look at a

particular chapter like chapter 5 or

chapter 8 or whatever, you might find

yourself wanting to read chapter one

first in order to understand what we're

talking about in the other chapters. Uh

next slide please. So the nine um

specific crosscutting issues that we

raise in chapter one are listed here. Um

I'm not going to just read them all out.

You can read them for yourselves, but

you can see that these are issues that

affect the design, the data collection,

the sampling, the waiting, all the

various issues that we discuss in the

chapters um throughout the rest of the

handbook.

Now, what I want to do is to just

highlight um a few of the key issues

that come up and under those headings.

So, the first the first key point is to

do with principles and frameworks, which

was the first thing on that on that

bullet list. Um there are a lot of sets

of principles and frameworks out there

that can help all of us guide us in our

in our work in designing and carrying

out surveys. We highlight three of them

in this chapter. The first two are

frameworks that are to do with uh

production of statistics but are

relevant to survey statistics just like

any other kind of statistics and we

refer to those in in several places. The

third on the list here, the total survey

error framework is specific to surveys

and we draw on that a lot as a tool for

helping to um make good decisions about

tradeoffs between different error

sources. So the main messages that we're

trying to convey here is that we think

relevant adult statistical office staff

should be familiar with these frameworks

and that they should be used to help

inform survey related decisions.

Next slide please. Um the next thing

that I want to highlight is we do talk

in this chapter about probability and

non-robability sampling and we think

that probability sampling remains a key

recommendation that wherever possible

all national statistical work should use

probability samples. That said, we do

highlight places where non-robability

samples can be useful and that's for

things like cognitive testing,

pre-esting, exploratory investigations,

but not for the main uh statistical data

production. Now, non-probability

sampling sometimes has to be considered

for um a a quantitative survey in

situations where probability sampling is

really impossible. Um and when that's

the case um we think that extreme

caution is needed in communicating the

findings and we give a little bit of

guidance about that. Next please. Um the

next key point is uh about modes of data

collection. Now there are many ways in

which survey data can be collected these

days. In the handbook, we focus

primarily on face-to-face interviewing

using either pencil and paper or

computer assisted modes. Um, that that's

what we talk about most of the time. We

also at various points just allude to

how things might be a bit different if

you are using a different mode like

telephone or web or paper

self-completion because we think those

can be useful and effective modes in

some circumstances.

Increasingly surveys are using mixes of

modes uh within one survey and we

discuss a little bit um why that's done

where it can be advantageous and the

messages we're trying to convey here are

that NSOs need to be aware of the

different modes that are available the

limitations and advantages of each and

to critically evaluate the appropriate

mode for a particular survey rather than

just always assuming that one should

carry on doing the same way one always

has next please. Now, Charles alluded

already to inclusivity as one of the the

themes of the book and and this does

crosscut pretty much all of the

chapters. In chapter one, we identify

three dimensions of inclusivity and that

is inclusive data, inclusive statistics,

and inclusive data collection. These

three are all important. They're all

distinct, but they're also related to

one another. This handbook is primarily

about data collection. So, uh we talk

particularly about the third of these

three inclusive data collection. But be

aware of all three dimensions and help

and use those to help you uh make your

decisions. Next, please. And as I said,

so data collection is the focus of of

the handbook. And here in chapter one,

we talk about the various components of

inclusive data collection. Um we are

concerned with first of all exclusion by

design meaning that some subgroups of

the population may be excluded from our

surveys because of the way we design

them. The obvious example is a choice of

sampling frame. We often choose to limit

national surveys to the household

population in many circumstances. So

non-household populations are excluded.

We discuss that. We discuss why it might

be important to consider including the

non-household population and we give

some guidance and pointers to how that

might be done in different circumstances

although of course the circumstances

will will vary a lot. Um the next step

having chosen the sampling frame or

sampling method is sampling frame under

coverage which is often an issue there

under coverage often leads to some

subgroups being excluded to a much

greater extent than others and it's

worth assessing that and considering

whether there are remedies ways of exclu

including those groups. And then there

are two more steps. After we've got our

sample, we then need to get everyone to

participate to the extent possible. But

some subgroups disproportionately have

barriers to the ability to participate

in our surveys. We can lower those

barriers by thinking about various

things we can do to make it easier um

for various subgroups to take part. And

again, we give some pointers to the

things that can be done. And the final

step is willingness. Even if people are

able to take part, they need to be

willing to. And again there are things

that can be done to try to ensure that

all different subgroups are well

motivated are communicated with in ways

that they understand and so on. So so

those are really the focus of the points

that we want to make about making data

collection inclusive and with that I'll

hand over.

>> Thank you Peter and going to be

discussing mod Rodriguez from Mexico.

I'm going to be discussing uh two of the

uh first chapters the chapter two and

chapter three. There are chapters that

discuss activities that take place from

the very beginning and during all the

process of the survey that are

fundamental for a successful survey uh

completion. Next slide please.

So when when we are asked or we we start

wondering if we are going to conduct a

new survey a new survey program or

project

we usually ask this question like how do

we start? So the aim of this chapter 2

is essentially provide guidelines to uh

statistical offices or anyone who is

thinking about conducting a new survey.

So here we highlight the that we need to

discuss the needs, the scope, funding,

assess if we are going to proceed with

the survey and then think about the the

next steps. Essentially this stage is

important because here we start asking

why are we going to collect information?

What information needs to be collected

and how are we going to collect that

information from at the beginning of the

inception of the survey. The next slide

please.

So here uh we ask who is going to

collect the survey or who is asking for

the survey to be to information to be

collected and what information is the

one that we need to collect. And here we

have to stop and think for a moment that

is not only collect what users want but

was asking why is this data needed? How

are we going to fill the gaps in

information and how are we going to

approach this data collection? Of

course, we have several stakeholders

that we need to discuss uh these topics

with uh from having international uh

organizations uh government entities in

our countries, international and

regional organizations but also

academia, general public that uh are

looking to uh fill their data needs. Uh

but also we need to understand how are

we going to engage with the stakeholders

uh in this new data uh collection uh

process. Um, next slide please.

So with that in mind, we need to uh to

to see and to pay attention to the scalp

of the uh and the funding of of the new

uh survey. Essentially understanding how

are we going to collect this

information? Can we uh do this the

length of the survey? Essentially we

start asking these questions about what

are the modes that we're going to use

the questionnaire. Is this going to be a

lengthy survey? uh the sampling approach

that we will follow uh all the elements

that we have to take into account and we

have to start discussing the funding

like how are we going to um to organize

uh this process if we are talking about

that survey project is going to take

several uh ways or several years if we

can um guarantee funding for the next

stage uh stages but also uh in general

uh we have uh to start with initial

assessment initial budget. uh and of

course this is specific for countries

organizations but it's important to

highlight that while this is a higher

level decision and when we start having

this conversations we need early

involvement of technical experts so we

can start uh having uh this in mind and

of course we have to highlight when we

are working with different organizations

and different uh entities in our

governments we have to start discussing

the management and how are we going to

coordinate between organizations uh to

uh prevent operational confusion uh

legal problems that we may find in the

future and of course discussing about

the data ownership. Who will have access

to the data? How are we going to

preserve the data and how are we going

to disseminate the data in specific uh

instances? Um next slide.

So once we have all these these uh

things in mind then we have the we have

to ask ourselves the questions are we

going to proceed with the survey? Can we

conduct this survey? So here we have to

ask different questions. Again going

back to uh the funding is this going to

be a sustainable uh project. Do we have

the capacity? Uh sometimes we have to

face uh some other projects or we have

to conduct other projects in the same

year. If we have a census probably we

will have many of the resources in our

our organizations focused on that um uh

process but also we have the enough uh

infrastructure in terms of uh human

resources uh it and all the technology

that we need to conduct but also we have

to ask uh is this something that we can

conduct uh is this this in the in the

mandate that our institution has can we

collect this uh this information this

survey and of course this depends on on

on a specific organization specific

countries but we have to start looking

for uh alternative data sources.

Sometimes we uh we want to conduct a new

survey but the information is already

there. So we have to explore all these

options and of course uh from a

technical and operational perspective

thinking always and keeping in mind the

response ben for our informants. We will

have to uh analyze this and come out

with a decision uh because this will be

uh a new survey a new process in our uh

our statistical system that we will have

to uh incorporate in our processes. Uh

the next slide and once we have this

assessment then the usual questions is

what is next the next steps of course

then we have to document the request uh

essentially prepare the business case.

Here we have to discuss the rational of

the and the relevance of the project uh

to highlight the objectives the uh

overall methodology again going back to

the governance uh resources that we are

going to engage in this process and

basic timeline uh output and how

sustainable this process is and of

course uh developing all these elements

uh keeping in mind as Peter mentioned in

uh in his presentation keeping in mind

these frameworks that we followed as as

the fundamental principles and some

other uh international law frameworks

that we have to to follow. So this is

essentially uh from the beginning uh

when we want to think about conducting a

new survey and the next chapter the next

uh elements that I'm going to discuss or

share with you is how we conduct the

survey. So the next slide please.

The next section is about how we manage

the survey. So essentially this is after

initiation after we decided that we are

going to conduct the survey all the

elements and all the procedures that we

have to uh to to put in motion

essentially to uh to to make sure that

we are going to achieve the objectives

in data collection but also guarantee

quality efficiency and uh and this uh

all these elements that we that we want

because we want to um to deliver the

information within the budget with the

required quality.

that uh of course is are fundamental

elements for our organizations. Now the

next slide.

So this chapter is divided in in

specific session essentially uh from

definition key functions of survey

management. Who manages the survey? What

is a a survey team or managing team? how

we govern this uh this story but from

more from the the continuation of the

project on keeping track of the project

on making sure that the project uh stays

within uh the budget within the timeline

that we have but also uh elements that

we have to keep in mind before uh

starting a data collection uh activities

of course testing and having everything

in place so we know uh that when we uh

go to the field go to the development

all the systems all the questionnaires

We already have elements in place so we

can keep track of everything that is

happening. And of course on one we start

with the collection and all these stages

in in the survey. How are we going to

monitor the uh the project essentially

controlling the project make making

adjustments and at the end uh we

highlight some elements in closing the

project survey and then leaving

everything uh for the next uh survey

project or for the next wave of the same

program. Uh next slide.

Uh the next one please. Okay. So uh

going back to definitions and key

functions of course here we have uh we

have to make the distinction between uh

survey management and so planning.

Planning in one is one of the stages of

subway management. So management has to

do with all the coordination of these

activities essentially from the uh like

uh making sure that all stages or all

processes during the survey are are

conducted with the quality standards

that we have from the design

implementation supervention analysis and

closing the project. Of course, we have

to manage resources. We have to keep

those in mind. But for us is essentially

to have or keeping the survey well

organized, being efficient and

essentially um uh keep uh be being sure

that every everybody having or engaging

in specific technical activities uh

produce the deliverables that that we uh

that we are expected. So this sovereign

management is essentially about the

higher management of the project. So we

don't go into specific operations but we

should keep uh those in in mind. So the

next slide.

So going back to governance and this was

discussed before uh from the sovereign

management perspective of course we we

have different options for uh governance

in service. We can have a steering

committees, we can have technical

advisory committees or uh community

committees that are going to provide gu

uh guidance during the project. The

these uh bodies uh oversight the project

and provide uh some uh feedback

information and again this is uh not

engaging in specific um roles and

specific activities but also uh provides

uh accountability and keep us

accountable on the things that we are

doing. Sometimes uh we have to keep in

mind that if we are conducting a survey

with a third party essentially we sign

some agreements all the legal

requirements have to be met and we have

to keep uh that that uh in mind. Of

course role of the survey manager uh

manager is to keep this governance uh

varies informed of the um stages of the

uh how well the survey is is moving. So

this this varies between organization

and across organizations but uh

something that we highlight as these

governance bodies are engaged in

different uh in different forms uh in

all survey processes. Um the next one

now uh who manages a survey essentially

here we have uh to make the distinction

between uh what is the survey team and

in the survey team we have we have

experts or subject matter specialists

that are going to engage in specific

stages from uh design of questionnaires

uh uh frame sampling uh and all those

things that are going to be discussed

later. And then we have the sovereign

manager. So again the sovereign manager

is this person who again serves as a

link between higher management or

governance bodies and the technical team

but also this person or this team can be

a team of persons have to oversee the

entire process again from planning to uh

delivering uh the project and keeping

things uh in place and making sure that

uh the survey is is moving uh as

expected And uh here we we highlight

that the sovereign manage manager has to

uh combine these two activities or have

have the two skills. On the one hand,

this person should know or or have at

least uh technical skills to understand

the stages of the survey but also

management skills to uh to see the the

entirety of the project. The next slide.

Now before data collection of course uh

here is is important uh it was mentioned

before from the business case early

involvement of software manager is

important because here we we will have a

smooth transition between the business

case to the implementation of the

survey. Here uh we have to uh review the

business case. We have to uh highlight

the specific activities or the specific

uh things that we have to conduct. is

important to uh come out with a with a

budget to the schedule uh and keep the

scope of the survey within uh the

resources and the uh projects that we

have uh here is important also from the

beginning to highlight the quality uh

framework that we're going to follow and

during the scheduling to understand the

dependencies between the stages and uh

having all the logistics between the

staff and the involvement uh and the

controls that we are going to follow uh

during the process. Um the next slide

please and then we move to testing. As

it was mentioned before testing can be

is usually seen as pre data collection

but also when we have these long

projects we have kind of like waves or

we can have rounds of testing different

things. But essentially before going

into the field with a with a survey we

highlight the relevance of piloting the

the survey. This of course uh is going

to help us to un to identify risk to

ident identify uh areas that we need to

improve and to essentially be ready uh

to face uh the different things that

we're going to face during uh the

collection period. Uh this is again a

comprehensive test of all the procedures

not only the questioner not only the

device. So how are we going to how are

we organizing within the organization?

How are the logistics working? and we

are communicating between uh areas

between the technical experts in

specific uh elements or specific members

of the survey team. We have to have all

those uh thing in mind and also to

develop uh alternatives uh to react when

we face some uh elements that uh we we

probably couldn't uh see uh beforehand

like how are we going to essentially

developing a contingency plan and be

ready for uh to keep this survey uh

going.

Once we have the testing and the and all

the elements of course we have to move

to the implementation and how we're

going going to monitor uh the process.

The next slide please.

So here when we uh essentially are

conducting the survey are again this is

not only collecting is all the stations

in the survey we have to keep track of

the different elements. uh we have to

keep track and of course to compare the

baseline the plan that we had with the

reality and when we see some some

differences of course be ready to solve

issues uh such as staff rotation some

emergency that might happen and be aware

again that we have to communicate with

hire manage manager essentially with the

governing bodies to receive feedback. uh

this is um we can have some organization

or some systems in our organization that

will help us to monitor the pro the pro

uh the process or the project and but

also it's important to at every step

step we collect information we document

everything that is happening because

this is going to be important for future

surveys and for future uh rounds of the

survey and of course during all the

process we have to manage contract

budget resources uh And essentially uh

having a plan if we have to hire new uh

staff to train the staff as we are going

uh with the survey and essentially all

the elements that uh we have here and

something that we have to keep in mind

is that we have like the relevance of

having an adaptive and unresponsive

design when we are conducting a survey.

And if we move to the next slide then we

discuss uh what happens when we have to

grow close a project. Essentially this

is once we are we are finished with all

the stages of the survey. We submitted

the results. We have uh everything

ready. Uh first of all we have to

confirm that all outputs were delivered.

We have to go and check the financial

the finances of the survey uh to see

what happened with the budget. But it is

important to document everything that

happens. Uh all documentation is

important because of course this will uh

provide information for future surveys

and uh we have to keep in mind that we

when we document we have to uh document

not only the processes but also uh to

make sure that all the data is is

storage is safe is accessible but not

only the data but also the metadata the

paradata that will uh inform uh future

sub managers or even ourselves if we

conduct this. Uh again uh of course

having all the all this proper

documentation not only improves

credibility

but also uh help us to increase the

trust in the process to reuse the

information and uh having this uh

perspective of transparency uh which is

important for our organization and of

course to preserve the knowledge uh in

our institutions. So with that uh I give

the use the microphone to the next

person who's going to discuss a specific

uh chapters. Thank you.

Thank you Mauricio. So I'm going to uh

take over and discuss the remaining

chapters of the first part uh of the

handbook. Chapters 4 through 10 go

through each of the big tasks that need

to be done in order to implement a

survey individually. Um go through the

planning process for each of these

tasks. Goes through the implementation

process for each of these tasks. Um and

has a sort of unified view throughout

that emphasizes the practical examples.

So things that are important for the

survey practitioner as well as

introducing emerging approaches so that

we can keep um the way things are

implemented up to date uh and and we're

going to be updating these chapters a as

we've got more information on those

emerging approaches.

Now for each of these uh I could go on

and on and on about them but I don't

need to. There will be series of

webinars to go through these things. And

so what I'm going to do is just give a

brief overview right now, but take it as

an advertisement for coming back and

getting more information on the tasks

that you're more interested in. So the

first of these is everything to do with

questionnaires, design, translation,

bringing them into an instrument to make

them usable in practice on the field. So

the whole process is covered here.

um including what's needed for

paperbased questionnaires as well as

what is specific when uh questionnaires

are built electronically

uh since those two have specificities

that need to be addressed. Translation

is a common theme in many areas and

something that needs particular

attention. Uh beyond this there's

evaluation and testing figuring out

collection systems all of that is a is

covered within this chapter. After

questionnaire design we go on to frames

and sampling. Next slide please.

This chapter is sort of a twoin one. The

first part deals with frames. It deals

with multiple types of frames. area

frames, uh, dwelling frames, person

frames, telephone frames because there's

a lot of variety in terms of what can be

used as a frame for a survey of

households or individuals.

In that part of the chapter, it focuses

on the areas that are important for

ensuring pra ensuring quality when we

get uh into practice. So, contact

information, coverage, auxiliary

information. After that first part,

there's a second part on sampling. It

starts by introducing the basic sampling

designs that serve as building blocks

but are typically used in combination

within the complex designs that are used

for household surveys and for surveys of

individuals.

It gets into some of the practical

details especially those needed during

planning, figuring out sample sizes,

sample allocation, etc. Um, and it

finishes off by talking about

specialized methods that are used to

address emerging needs that might not be

the everyday methods used on most

surveys, but are useful when particular

situations come up.

Next slide, please.

Going along through the survey process,

we then get to data collection. The

focus of the chapter is on uh in-person

collection given how important that is

and how many aspects of it need to be

managed appropriately. But it doesn't

only look at inperson uh collection the

introduction of new modes and those

options uh are also covered in this. And

then it goes through setting up a team

training publicity for for the survey uh

actually implementation including the

important steps of monitoring collection

and ensuring quality throughout the

process. As with the other chapters,

there are ways of addressing things that

aren't necessarily everyday problems.

what happens when uh you're in a time of

crisis and where are emerging issues

going to be needed?

Once we have the data, the process isn't

over. So, next slide, please.

We receive a whole bunch of raw data,

but that raw data needs to be

transformed to make it available for

analysis. So chapter 7 covers all of the

steps of that data transformation except

for waiting which gets its own chapter

given the the size of the task that

that's needed. Um it covers that entire

process of receiving the data checking

it uh transforming it through coding

through imputation through derived

variables.

It also covers topics such as the

metadata uh and data storage and how to

incorporate AI into these processes uh

in particular for

editing for coding for for these sorts

of tasks.

Next slide please.

While doing data processing, the waiting

is often going to be going on and needs

to be incorporated into that final data

set uh that of the processed data. The

waiting chapter really starts by

focusing on the principles that we're

trying to follow while doing waiting and

then it takes those principles and

converts them into practical steps for

things like figuring out your design

weights, the non-response adjustments,

calibration along with other adjustments

that that can be used during waiting. It

gives uh advice as to diagnostics that

can be used throughout that process to

monitor the uh the quality of the

waiting process and ensure that errors

aren't introduced inadvertently

throughout that process. Um and also it

gets into specialized topics um in for

instance panel surveys, pulled samples.

It closes off with uh one of the big

emerging topics that shows up, the use

of nonprobability samples. Highlights

what can be done, how traditional

methods for probability samples can be

adjusted, but also the limitations that

are inherent in doing those sorts of

things.

Once the data is weighted, next slide

please. Once the data is weighted, it is

ready for analysis.

The analysis chapter concentrates on how

to do analysis within the context of a

complex of complex survey data. So just

as the previous chapters mentioned not

just the basics but go through how these

get combined in practice into designs

that are complex and how that affects

the waiting. The chapter 9 also talks

about how that affects the analysis and

empas emphasizes the importance of a

designbased inference framework in which

we can give not only the point estimate

but also the uncertainty that surrounds

it. And so it talks about the the the

variance for instance and how to measure

that. talks about descriptive parameters

um analysis between categorical data

looking at associations regressions uh

along with uh how to share that data

through tables and data visualization.

Uh it has a particularly delightful

example going from one end of the

chapter to the other with code that can

be followed along to actually show in

practice some of that data analysis.

Next slide, please.

And finally, this part of the chapter

finishes off by looking at

dissemination, the principles and

strategies for effectively communicating

survey results. Um, plenty of examples

of user focused products, uh, including

things that use, uh, up-to-date

technology. The way in which we share

data has really expanded uh recently

especially since 1984 since the last

handbook. The same could be said for

most of the chapters but but this one in

particular the way in which we can share

that data has changed. Um and and this

gives advice within the newer context.

It also talks about how to monitor data

use to actually maximize its impact and

adjust during subsequent iterations of

surveys. uh to to meet needs more

effectively.

So that is a brief overview. I am

certainly sorry that I couldn't give you

more details out of for for every single

one of these chapters. But the uh

interesting bit is that there will be

more occasions to get into these details

through through webinars and through

looking at the handbook.

Next slide. Please hand it over to Jessa

for the second part of the handbook.

Yeah, thank you Silan. So for part two,

rather than walking through the seven

chapters one by one, let me focus on

what part two is really for, what it is

fundamentally about. Next slide.

Part two does not introduce a new

methodology. It does not change the

survey cycle. So across the very

different topics in this part labor,

education, governance, wealth,

displacement, gender, recurring survey

design decisions arise. The challenge is

that standard survey procedures rely on

certain assumptions and in some context

those assumptions no longer apply. So

when that happens, risks follow. So for

example, when proxy reporting changes,

what is actually being measured? When

the sampling frame leaves out part of

the target population,

when sensitive modules affect response

behavior beyond what quality controls

can fix, and when estimates are

statistically coherent but not credible

to users. So in these situations, the

pro the procedures are not wrong, but

the assumptions behind them may no

longer hold. So the message is simple.

Part two provides guidance on making

technical decisions when assumptions

break. It applies the same survey cycle

but under different and more demanding

conditions. Next slide.

Let me show how part two is organized.

It is structured around recurring survey

design questions that arise when

assumptions no longer hold. Are we

measuring what we intend to measure or

relying on a weak proxy? Is the sampling

frame structurally excluding part of the

population?

Are adaptations required to prevent

bias, not just improve implementation?

Is survey data alone sufficient or

credible estimates? And will rem and

will results remain interpretable once

released. So part two did brings these

questions forward to the design stage

before they surface later as coverage

error um measurement bias structural

breaks or even credibility concerns.

Next slide.

Let me give three brief examples.

Labor when countries adopt new ICLS

standards breaks in series are

unavoidable.

Part two helps you plan continuity and

communication before release. Sensitive

topics in governance or genderbased

violence modules. Privacy protocols are

not optional. They are necessary to

reduce response bias. Displacement. A

household frame may be statistically

sound but invalid for camps or mobile

populations. Part two asks is the frame

defensible for the population we claim

to measure. These are operational

realities. Part two does not prescribe

one solution. It helps you anticipate

and manage these constraints. Next

slide.

Now let me turn briefly to chapter 15 on

gender because this is often

misunderstood.

Gender here is not a team not a sector.

It is about measurement across all

surveys. Who responds, who is selected

and who is present during during the

interview all affect data quality and

response behavior. Sex disagregation

alone does not correct weaknesses

introduced earlier in survey design.

Chapter 15 on gender highlights where

these matters. Planning. Are we

measuring individuals or households?

Design. Are we relying on proxy

reporting that hides differences within

the household? Sampling. Who might be

excluded by default? Data collection. Do

interview conditions affect responses?

Analysis. Are we assuming disagregation

alone fixes earlier weaknesses?

This is about data quality, not gender

advocacy alone.

Next slide. So how can part two be used?

Let me suggest three practical ways but

this is not limited to that. During

survey design, use the relevant chapters

to guide methodological review and

adjustment decisions.

When methodological decisions need to be

documented or justified, part two sets

out the rational and precedent for why

certain adaptations are absolutely

necessary.

Third, before releasing results, it

helps anticipate interpretation

challenges and address them proactively.

Part two is designed for targeted use.

It is there to consult when design

decisions require careful judgment. Next

slide. Let me close with this. If part

one of the handbooks helps us run

surveys well, part two helps us decide

when running them well requires doing

things differently. And for many of the

measurement challenges countries now

face, that distinction matters. Thank

you.

Thank you so much. Thank you dear

colleague. Thank you Jessa. Thanks to

all the colleagues who have presented

this um the handbook. It's uh a little

bit over what we had planned for the

time. Uh without delaying further

delaying I first invite all colleague or

the our colleagues joining this seminar

webinar put your questions on Q&A we'll

be responding to them or you can also

put you can put in the chat but Q&A is a

place to put your questions. Let's move

to the session. I would like to talk to

the countries uh invite our panelists

here

for a few run have to adapt because I

don't think we'll have time to do all

three runs. Um let's get to the question

for uh the four representatives from our

national statistic offices here.

Um so my question first let me first

introduce let me find my screen

introduce my the the

colleagues here

wait can't find my screen sorry

uh we have four colleagues here we have

Pedro

Pedro are you there

>> yes

>> I can't see you so Pedro Silva

um currently with science and in Brazil

and he used to work IBG uh at in Brazil

as well the stats office and um Pedro

has been instrumental in all work and

he's also part of steering committee

member and Gabrielle Faz from ESAT hi

Gabrielle thank you Gabrielle's from

ISAT and she also helped with our

chapter on data collection Alicia from

Staten Stat Statistical Agency in

Jamaica hi Hi Alicia,

are you there? Is that me?

>> Yes, I am. No, it's not me.

>> Okay, great. It's like I don't see

people. Okay. Uh and then lastly, uh Si

um from stats statistical um statistics

South Africa.

So my colleague from China and BS send

their regret regrets because they are

>> in the middle of the Chinese New Year.

Uh so they won't be able to join us. So

I have a couple of questions. I'll just

maybe let's do two rounds of questions

and let's see where then we can fit the

third round.

Um for each one of you

um if if you can u from start from Pedro

and then Gabrielle, Alicia and Sally we

can reverse the order afterwards.

If you can give us one to two concrete

decision points and you're part of the

handbook so I assume you know the

handbook very well. uh in your service

cycle where the handbook will change

what you do.

Is it about sampling or think about the

design choices and inclusivity

um or data integration you know making

surveys more interoperable

um one to two things you think most

likely you will change how you approach

your own surveys.

start with and and colleagues for the

the opportunity and to participate in

the production of this fantastic um work

uh you have done. Um I think the two

places where I I would see the handbook

being more helpful uh regard the survey

initiation and management. These are

areas where very little scarce

literature is available for us to refer

to and having these presented by the

handbook will enable leadership and high

level managers in the NSOS to have um

better guidance and a reference point

where they can you know see um um even

with examples from other countries where

there might be room for improving their

own practice. this and I see a very

important um a second level of um um

support being provided in the terms of

the technical aspects of the survey

design and implementation

uh especially uh in light of the newer

demands that are being placed on NSOS uh

challenges faced to handle new topics

more disagregated data all of these are

emerging topics where these technical uh

um um framing of how the processes

should be conducted and a very vast

wealth of references there available for

colleagues to learn more and perhaps

adapt in their own surveys. Thank you.

>> Thank you so much Pedro. Um

let's move to Gabrielle.

>> Yes, thank you. Uh I totally agree with

Pedro. I think that the survey

initiation and management and also the

closure of the survey are part that need

to be um

very well considered and there is no so

much literature about it. Um I think

that the handbook provide provides a

concrete guidance for recurring problems

that all statistical offices face today.

shrinking budgets, difficulty of

recruiting and retaining professional

interviewers,

how to address declining response rates

and in each chapters there there are

some suggestions experiences from other

NSOS involved that on the ground

experience that emerged from our

consultation that can be very helpful

very

yes very helpful. So um it has the

ability I think to provide a shared

framework from a series of crucial

strate strategic choices. For example,

in the design, the end book can guides

uh can guide all DNS that are in the

strategic transition from paperbased to

digital or from method based on

interviewer to web self administrative

method and uh in the questionaire design

part it promotes the use of cognitive

models and systematic testing. I think

that the approach based on the

respondent centered design can reflect a

modern participant focused new design

and can be very helpful too

and

uh the inclusivity part also uh design

book goes beyond technique and it

positions inclusivity as a central and

nonoptional principle of sardde design.

So it challenges us to go beyond the

easyto-reach population and to develop

concrete strategies to include other

groups, homeless, migrant workers,

workers, people living in institution,

etc.

As I said, it offers practical solution,

for example, in innovative sampling

techniques to reach out uh these hidden

populations.

Um how to break down language barriers

through rigorous translation, how to

design questions that are accessible to

those with low lit literacy level. So I

think that in all this aspect and also

in the interoperability by design part

it can be very helpful for each uh

national statistical office. Thank you.

>> Thank you so much uh Gabrielle for

offering all this. Um now let me go to

Lysa. Lisa um you've heard both

Gabriella and Pedro talk about chapter 2

and three. You're the one who proposed

it.

you want to come in on that and with

your own points of course.

>> Thank you very much. Um so for me

chapter 2 and three I'm very happy that

we are here in the handbook where

they're finished and they are part of

the handbook. We know at least for those

of us who are co-authors that these were

not the easiest chapters to write but

they are so important because it gives

us as NSOs the framework to make the

decision on whether and how to proceed

with um new survey and data collection

initiatives as well. It provides

guidance on a on an area where the

literature is very sparse in terms of

management and and estab and how we set

up the governance framework for our

surveys. Um for me when I look at the

handbook holistically it it's it is a

wonderful tool that will serve as part

of our onboarding process for new survey

managers and methodologists because it

so clearly outlines and in a very

succinct way the surveying process and

the various components of the survey

albeit an adapted version of the GSBPM

but it gives us that sort of ground um

foundation that we can build our

internal policies and practices around

and for me that is very very useful for

for for me as an NSO. Um specifically

though um the two areas that I um I

think will be most impactful and I agree

with Sully and Gabriella chapters two

and three survey initiation and survey

management. Um but as well the guidance

on questionnaire design and development

ensuring that we understand and we think

about how to make our survey data more

interoperable at the start but also very

importantly how we optimize our surveys.

Um as you know the response rate is

constantly declining and therefore we

have to also make sure that at the start

of our surveys when we're designing and

developing that we consider these very

important factors to improve the quality

of the data overall. So those are my two

areas. Thank you.

>> Thank you Alicia. Um Sally

>> yes thank you so much and thank you

colleagues. I agree with the previous

speakers. I think from my side maybe

just to add um two things. One I think

the handbook help us in terms of

harmonizing the survey program. So if

you are running surveys and you're

utilizing the handbook I think it will

able to assist in terms of harmonizing

and not only within the household

program but even across especially in

the continent uh from Africa

perspective. The second aspect which I

think the handbook is actually quite

useful in terms of helping us to

integrate other data sources for example

administrative data source and also

geospatial data source. I think this is

also quite key especially now with what

has already mentioned in terms of the

resource constraint and also the

response rate that are dropping. It's

it's going to be a key tool or a

handbook will help us to see how we can

integrate these sources as we are doing

our production in terms of our survey.

Thank you.

>> Thank you so much. Um

we've heard quite a bit. Thank you for

um the first round of responses from all

of you and great resource book and help

survey optimizing your survey and

training guide. We learned a lot from

other countries training guide thanks to

salon and other colleagues sharing their

guide in their offices um for on

boarding new colleagues um and data

integration making our service more

interoperable with other sources and of

course this first two chapters and then

other sources and we have so much to

offer in the handbook and thank you

let's go into the second round of

question

um so I'm going to put the two rounds a

bit together in a sense. So now we have

the handbook the draft we'll keep it

live we'll keep updating we're bringing

more case studies and country examples

in

what are the things that from your side

and also from your side for your and

your office side and also what's your

expectation how can we help you concrete

steps from an intersector working group

to help you getting the book use the

book um making sure that book is not

just a book sitting on the shelf will be

used in your office.

>> Shall I go first?

>> Yes, please.

>> Well, I think uh the handbook would be

an excellent platform especially when it

becomes available as a live document

online to support country um capacity

building and training programs. my own

country in Brazil uh we have something

called the National School of

Statistical Science that over 25 years

ago it's 27 28 now started a graduate

program to educate staff on doing the

business of the agency

surveys but surveys are an integral part

and for example this program has modules

on various of the uh topics that are

chapters in this handbook I Don't say

this is the solution for any other

country. Each country will have their

different needs and priorities. But

educating staff at large in an uh survey

or a national stats office on the topics

that this handbook covers will be an

essential component of moving it

forward. So I I believe it provides a

foundation upon which countries can

organize and develop continuous

professional education or even more

formal educational programs to support

their staff in adopting and having this

modern view of the survey taking

business that is core to uh NSOS around

the world. Thank you.

>> Thank you so much Petra. So you

mentioned about keeping this a live

document online. So do we need to

connect with your uh IBG office and the

the the training institute and say hey

how how can we support you

>> in turning this book into a training and

guidance or training materials.

>> If I was still a teacher there I would

be recommending reading the chapters in

each of the courses I I was taking and

teaching

>> something data analysis data processing

and all that.

>> Well definitely reach out. Thank you.

Um, next to um, Gabriella.

>> Yes, thanks. Um in Europe we have the

European statistical training program by

Euroat and a very concrete way to

achieve uh the

the

uh sponsorship of the handbook can be to

integrate the handbook's key topic into

the ESTP program because the STP mission

is to provide European statisticians

statisticians with the training to meet

the challenges of comparable statistics

at an international level. So I think it

will be the perfect place. So uh

offering courses on specific aspect

covered in the end book can be a key

such as um I don't know advanced

sampling techniques, modern questioner

design, data integration methods in STP

programs. There are already some of

these courses and I think that the end

book can be one of the reference.

The link references and resources may

may be very helpful too. The the end

book is full of external sources of you

know experience or material and uh to

keep the handbook alive. I think that

these references and resources should be

highlighted and uh integrated day by day

and uh maybe um a partnership with the

Euroat or other international bodies and

national entities can be created

organized workshop online forums

tutoring maybe for NSOS that want to

apply some of the

guidance that are in the end book or

maybe try a pilot testing uh

with using some of the emerging

technologies

um cited uh into the handbook can be can

be helpful to have all these material

and resources ready for NSOS.

>> Perfect. Thank you so much Gabriella.

open the door for us to work with the

countries in uh European Europe.

Um Lysa,

>> thank you. Howie, so I agree with both

Gabriella and Pedro about training and

partnering with regional and national

institutions. um particularly for us in

the Caribbean region um the availability

of training on survey methods is not

something that's readily available in

terms of a practical hands-on um

training material. We do however have um

electronic and e-learning learning

platforms. I know there is the knowledge

transfer network out of Ethra and

there's the eister platform um out of

CARACOM. However, what I think would be

very useful from the steering committee

and the inter secretariat working groups

perspective is packaging the training

material um essentially to

facilitate a sort of training of

trainers where we can then engage with

South Corporation. We can then um take

the material and adapt it to our

respective circumstances and then we can

deploy it more widely. Um I think that

would be quite useful and that will also

allow for some consistency. So for

example, if we have um standard guidance

notes for the instructors and standard

standardizing or giving examples of

assessments and exercises that we can

have um the our our teammates engage in

um as part of the workshops that we

would be organizing locally. That would

be quite useful as well. It would be

very useful and resource of course

permitting

um to execute whether regionally or

nationally some hands-on training

workshops some topic specific hands-on

training workshops um as you know last

year we piloted the questionnaire

workshop um in Jamaica and we did it

with some of our caracub colleagues and

we found that was very useful and it was

based on the chapter in the handbook um

on questionnaire design and development.

So these sorts of hands-on workshops

where persons are getting engaged and

engaged in the actual process I think

will be most effective in helping us to

implement them within our NSOS.

>> Thank you so much Fisha. So uh work with

our partners. Thank you for highlighting

the question chapter. I heard it went

very well. Um and also adapt the

materials into training materials that

we can use and train our trainers. Um

now uh Sally

>> thank you. I think to keep the handbook

alive firstly I think as the at the

institutional requirements

we really need to have a strong

leadership and ownership. I think that

will be key in terms of making sure that

there's some implementation regarding

the handbook. I think the second point

is the political and legal support

because in the handbook we are speaking

about the administrative data and we

really need to see if there's some

police and legal support regarding that

particular aspect and the operational uh

aspect where we are now need to become

practical because we have to have some

practical implementation tools and I

think the team and the colleagues there

already have mentioned that capacity

building will be key. I think the third

one which I think is something that we

need to think about is the issue around

the change management mechanism. What

are some of the change management

mechanism within the institutions as we

are going through some phases in terms

of implementing the way we want to see a

new way of doing surveys in our NSOS. I

think at the working group level my

recommendation will be we need to

develop a phased implementation road

map. So this road map will give us a

sense in terms of how best we can

actually support the NSO as we're trying

to operationalize the handbook. And I

think the third one which is the last

one from our side at the regional and

the and the at the continental level I

think we could actually work with the AU

where with the institution of statistics

in terms of trying to come up with some

capacity building and also utilizing the

tools that we can able to assist the NSO

especially in the African continent.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. So uh working with AU

and our colleagues in the in in the

African region. Uh thank you for

proposed phased implementation map um

for the handbook. It um

strong leadership and political wise any

is referring to your own office right?

>> Yes indeed

>> political. Yes indeed because without

the support at the management level the

handbook will be just be a book that

they are not necessarily able to

operationalize it because it will

require some changes and hence I'm

referring to change management within

the NSO and again within the continent

again thank you

>> thank you thank you so much um now I

think I'm we are at 10 minutes before we

close the event let me open the floor

to questions.

Anyone you would like to comment or any

put in the Q&A

There is an online question. Hi.

>> Yes. So Josh uh reading through the

case. So you're uh the Q&A in the chat.

>> Yeah.

>> The chat. Yes.

>> Yes. Uh for the panel, did you encounter

Okay. Reading through the case studies,

I was struck by how different nations

are solving similar problems in unique

ways. for the panel. Did you encounter a

methodology from a pure nation that

changed your perspective on a common

challenge? I would like to I would love

to hear which specific use case inspired

you enough that you want to try in your

home organization.

I could I could go first.

>> Sure. So, and again I'm going back to

chapter 2. Um when I started going

through some of the examples in terms of

how the how NSOS are deciding whether or

not to proceed with a survey and the

mechanisms that they have in place, it

gave me a lot of ideas. Um generally I

thought we had a lot of good practices

already established and and mechanisms

already existing. But when I started

going through um the examples that I'm

seeing especially from some of our more

developed countries it gave me a lot of

ideas um some setting up of some user

councils and more engagement in terms of

how we are deciding what to include when

to include how to proceed and making

that decision around how and when to

initiate our surveys. So there are a lot

of material.

>> Thank you Lisha.

other colleagues.

>> I'm no longer a member of an NSO, but

I'll tell you uh reading the

dissemination chapter and the examples

given there gave me also several ideas

for how things might change in my own

former organization. the way we

disseminate and preserve data is not the

best way given current other practices

that I've seen elsewhere. So I would

love the IBG to move forward some of

their dissemination approaches in light

of what I have seen but I cannot speak

for them. I'm no longer there. I'm

retired. So

>> thank you Pyra.

>> Uh I can add another example. Yeah. Can

I?

>> Yes. Um the for the communication part,

the advanced letter sent by Portugal I

think uh can be very inspirational for

um

give prepares more engaging

communication with the respondents

trying to uh convince them to

participate to take part to the survey

to respond to our questionnaire. And so

that is an example that we are trying to

implement.

>> Thank you Gabriella. Um I'm also the

question is open to colleagues like for

example Mauricio I'm looking at you Sila

you're also from NSO. Um

please feel free to comment.

>> Yeah. Uh can I comment on

>> Yes, please.

not only as as following the the entire

uh handbook but also as an author of one

of the chapters and and

uh for instance in so management uh

because as as it was mentioned there's

not much literature on on the topic and

more than than essentially having

conversations with different colleagues

from different organizations. It is

really interesting how different sizes

of organizations uh have to well of

course we all face the same challenges

but we have to come up with different

approaches to solve those challenges and

again uh uh there are like a small

organizations that probably have

specialists across all the process

organizations that have have highly

specialized teams for specific stages

and and some organizations have uh they

split by like theatic areas not only by

stages of the production. So, it's

really interesting to see all the

diversity of approaches uh that we have

and and I'm pretty sure that we can all

uh learn from each other uh in the

future webinars and and meet that we

will have.

>> Thank you. Thank you, Mara.

>> Um I see that we're four minutes before

we should be closing. I did see a

question uh William when they are much

small areas and the household surveys

doesn't take into account are we talking

about the coverage um

of the surveys maybe

I'll see who would like to come in to

talk about that

>> I I can say a word

>> yes please

>> no survey planning will ever be capable

capable of providing for all the

unforeseen demands. All services are

planned to meet some target objectives

in terms of disagregation.

But there are always new emerging needs

that people when when they see the data,

oh I would like to disagregate this by

and then the questions appear. So this

is not covered in the handbook. Uh it

may become a chapter later on. But

there's a wealth of literature on

modeling approaches and data integration

approaches that enable service to be

useful for some small area applications.

There's a wealth of literature including

um um uh live uh material provided on a

wiki site that the inter secretariat

group sponsored on training for small

air estimation. So I encourage you

William and colleagues to look for these

materials and for many applications they

might help you solve or address the the

demand that you have. In some other

cases unfortunately you'll have to make

a business case for a new survey that

actually delivers to your target um uh

domains. Unfortunately,

no survey can anticipate all uh demands

for disagregation

um that may come up sometimes later.

>> Thank you. I'll just invite one one um

colleague to respond in one minute the

question about AI. I know it's going to

come out. How can countries benefit from

AI in service without allowing

automation to silently redefine what

data quality means? It's a great

question.

>> Anybody volunteer?

>> I don't think we have time to go in

detail here, but I'll say that the

handbook addresses this question. So

throughout the um the chapters on

questionnaire design, data processing,

data quality control, using machine

learning to identify outliers and

suspicious cases all the way through

through to dissemination. So there's

lots to look at in the handbook and we

look forward to hearing more country

case studies and examples on that. So

great question.

>> I'm I'm just going to add one sentence.

These kinds of challenges are the reason

for which the handbook starts with uh a

focus on the frameworks that can help

you figure out uh what you need to focus

on in terms of quality. So as new

technologies emerge, those same

fundamentals are there to guide you. A

and that's why that's the starting point

in chapter 1, the very first section is

talking about these frameworks that can

guide us through new and interesting

challenges. Um but but also through sort

of the the everyday discussions that we

need as well.

>> Thank you. Thank you both Charles and