Assessing quality control: Evaluating the quality audit

Abstract

Effective quality control systems are the foundation for successful manufacturers and data publishers. For years, statisticians have proposed theories and findings to improve data product quality. The Economic Directorate of the U.S. Census Bureau collects various economic data with a requirement to accurately capture and analyze our data and conduct quality audits to ensure programs correctly identify problems to save time and money and ensure quality. Our primary objective is to assess our program areas' compliance with best practices, particularly in the area of dissemination, to ensure that statistically sound practices are used in the collection of data and in the presentation of results to the public. These data have gone through rigorous quality control procedures to assure the highest possible quality and consistency. In this paper, we discuss the first two rounds of quality audit processes that i) identified inspection goals and inspection plans, ii) detected data quality, iii) communicated quality expectations and provided recommendations based on the audit results. In the remainder of the paper we discuss measures to correct system challenges and introduce quality assurance measures throughout the survey life cycle.