Score Functions and Statistical Criteria to Manage Intensive Follow up in Business Surveys
STATISTICA, anno LXVII, n. 1, 2007 SCORE FUNCTIONS AND STATISTICAL CRITERIA TO MANAGE INTENSIVE FOLLOW UP IN BUSINESS SURVEYS Roberto Gismondi1 1. NON RESPONSE PREVENTION AND OFFICIAL STATISTICS Among the main components on which the statistical definition of quality for business statistics is founded (ISTAT, 1989; EUROSTAT, 2000), accuracy and timeliness seem to be the most relevant both for producers and users of statistical data. That is particularly true for what concerns short-term statistics that by defini- tion must be characterised by a very short delay between date of release and pe- riod of reference of data. However, it is well known the trade/off between timeliness and accuracy. When only a part of the theoretical set of respondents is available for estimation, in ad- dition to imputation or re-weighting, one should previously get responses by all those units that can be considered “critical” in order to produce good estimates. That is true both for census, cut/off or pure sampling surveys (Cassel et al., 1983). On the other hand, the number of recontacts that can be carried out is limited, not only because of time constraints, but also for the need to contain response burden on enterprises involved in statistical surveys (Kalton et al., 1989). One must consider that, in the European Union framework, the evaluation of re- sponse burden is assuming a more and more relevant strategic role (EUROSTAT, 2005b); its limitation is an implicit request by the European Commission and in- fluences operative choices, obliging national statistical institutes to consider with care how many and which non respondent units should be object of follow ups and reminders.
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