Guest blog by David Caplan, RSS Honorary Officer for Public Statistics
Last year the RSS started a series of roundtables with the Office for National Statistic (ONS) and the Officer for Statistics Regulation (OSR). The aim of these events is to provide a constructive environment in which RSS members bring their expertise to give methodological advice on some of the most pressing technical challenges facing statistics producers.
The first roundtable was on survey methodology for both business and social surveys. The ONS’s survey improvement and enhancement plan recognises that improving the quality of survey data is a top priority. For example, in line with experiences of National Statistics Institutes across the world, the Labour Force Survey saw a sharp decline in responses following the pandemic (although this has since recovered following action by ONS). Low response rates affect the quality and reliability of their aggregate estimates. At the roundtable, we focused on approaches that would be useful for reducing response fatigue, more effectively designing surveys to maximise response rates and effectively build trust and awareness.
Recently I, along with a group of RSS members, met with the ONS team who were taking forward the survey improvement plan to discuss how they had been using the outputs from the roundtable. They reported that the roundtable had been very useful, especially in validating their overall direction at an early stage. It also was helpful in pushing their thinking on priorities for both business and social surveys, with clear synergies between the recommendations and the work they have since taken forward. The team has used these insights to help structure their programme, talking us through a framework to prioritise activity and starting to grapple with some of the more difficult questions around representativeness and survey quality.
This has supported the evolution of a broad programme of work, including stronger engagement with respondents, improved methods for managing non-response, and a more targeted approach for key businesses, which is already improving response rates and response quality. There was a strong appetite to continue the conversation, with the ONS team keen to use future roundtables as a sounding board and to bring new questions back to RSS members.
It was really encouraging to see how this work has translated into concrete activity at the ONS, clearly demonstrating the benefits of bringing together the expert membership of the RSS and official statisticians. I’m excited to continue engaging with them on these topics.