Guidelines on indicator methodology: A mission impossible?

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Radermacher, Walter J.

Affiliations: Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy | E-mail: wjr@outlook.de

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy. E-mail: wjr@outlook.de.

Note: [2] Source: 12. Land KC, Ferriss AL. Conceptual Models for the Development and Use of Social Indicators. In: Glatzer W, Habich R, Mayer KU, editors. Sozialer Wandel und gesellschaftliche Dauerbeobachtung. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag Für Sozialwissenschaften; 2002. pp. 337–52. quoted from 13. IRESEARCHNET [Internet]2020. [cited 2020 28.12.2020]. Available from: https://www.iresearchnet.com/ research-paper-examples/sociology-research-paper/social-indicators/.

Abstract: Indicators are part of daily life, modern politics and public debate in times of crises and their solutions. The question arises to what extent indicators embody a special form of statistical information, whether a separate indicator-chapter in statistical methodology is needed and what the content of this chapter should be. This paper considers different perspectives of indicators produced by official statistics agencies. Starting from the definition of indicators, it then discusses statistical quality, impact and interaction between producers and users of indicators. To introduce and illustrate the points made in the paper a choice of cases is used in order to derive the essential elements of a methodological framing. The overall objective is to enhance the added value of official statistics indicators as they are communicated and expected to lead to trustworthy evidence for policy making.

Keywords: Official statistics, indicators, information quality, methodology

DOI: 10.3233/SJI-200724

Journal: Statistical Journal of the IAOS, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 205-217, 2021