1. Variable Standardisation: State of Play
Census WG 19/20 May 2015
Variable Standardisation: State of Play
Thanks for interest
Agenda:
Mandate
Different elements of standardisation and their potential usage
Record level standardisation
Output level standardisation
Input harmonisation
Usefulness for IESS
Procedure of standardisation
Background information
Project initiation
State of play
Internal consultation in Directorate F
External consultation (Working Groups)

2. Mandate
DSS November 2013
'review the definitions, response categories and implementation guidelines of all variables used in several surveys with a view to proposing a single methodology wherever appropriate'
Sources of knowledge
CES Census Recommendations and 2011 EU legislation important
Methodology in Demographic data collection
Survey related issues
Consistency assured where possible
Sometimes detailed breakdowns (administrative registers)

3. Elements and usage Data record level
'Variable concept' and 'Category concepts'
Data collection in surveys and administrative data / micro-data integration → stability
Useful for the IESS initiative 'Elements common to different data collections'
Particular issues for 'Geography' and 'Age'
IESS: Collection of micro-data
Deliberate identification of different elements
Relevant for micro level: Variable concept (what does the variable measure) and 'category concepts (what do the categories represent, which unit belongs to the category)
Touches directly on the data production (surveys, admin data)
We might expect comments during the external consultation
Requires a high degree of stability !
Geography / Age: variable in the data record ≠ variable in the output table
Specification of variable and its categories must work for different data collections
Independence of filters and limited target populations (e.g. LFS < 15); important issue: provide categories for all member of the population (e.g. main activity status shall cover young children)
Must be suitable to support the design of questionnaires
Must be suitable to verify if / how specifications in administrative registers meet statistical specifications
Must be specific enough to support micro-data integration

4. Elements and usage Output level
'Standard concept systems' (breakdowns)
Often 'post-collection' work → a bit less stability
Useful for tabular production/validation, matching, and dissemination; IESS initiative (common elements)
Risk: Often more than one system (e.g. 'Age')
How is the information stored in the micro-level record represented in the output ?
breakdowns of one-dimensional variables (Sex, Tenure status)
concept systems covering more than one variable (e.g. household status of a person)
representation of variable information differs from stored information (e.g. Geography, Age, Household type)
Element of standardisation: 'standard concept system'
Post-collection work
Advantage: a bit less stability is required
Disadvantage: risk of competing standard concept systems
Important issue: how to address the possibility of alternative Standard concept systems ?
Example: Age
a 'grosso modo' standard: Cover the famous 4/5 !
In some cases openness to alternative category systems (e.g. 'Age', 'Household type')

5. Elements and usage Input harmonisation Implementation guidelines
Reference questions
Recommendations
Might be useful for IESS ('Technical specification of the data collections')
Repeated request for input harmonisation
CUDF 13 October 2014: add as optional elements
'Implementation guidelines' / 'Reference questions'
Whereas the elements 'category concept', 'variable concept' and 'category system' will be binding, the elements 'Implementation guidelines' and 'Reference questions' will have the status of recommendations
However, they might become important in the context of IESS, in particular of the 'technical specifications of the data collections'

6. Roles and Procedure F 1 initiated the process
Identification of variables
Collection of information on the status quo (RAMON)
Purpose, features, work process of standardisation
Information to all Units, contact persons, CUDF
2 presentations to the DSS / DSS Board
Identification of variables
45 variables appear in more than one European surveys
CUDF 13 October 2014
Designation of 17 P1 variables, of which 6 are Core Social Variables and 11 are not; deadline for draft ready for DSS: June 2015
Designation of 10 P2 variables; deadline: December 2015
The status quo
F1 has set up a platform in RAMON and collected information on the current definitions, categories and breakdowns
Completed for all P1 variables since March 2014
Completed for all P2 variables since January 2014
Link to the tool provided in this sheet
The work process
the CUDF authorises the list of variables and the standardisation activities (done)
proposals for standardisation are prepared and discussed by the experts in the concerned Units within Directorate F (decentralised approach)
F1 acts as a facilitator (e.g. co-ordination, database management)
Progress is reported back to the CUDF for decisions on further activities
Once agreed internally, standardisation proposals can be discussed with subject matter working groups (later more)
After external consultation for all P1s is finished, Unit F1 prepares consolidated document for presentation to the DSS for approval

7. Roles and Procedure Background papers
CIRCABC Space: Modernisation of social statistics / Library / Standardisation of social variables
'Standardisation of Variables and Concept Systems in the ESS' ─ methodological paper and user guide for the tool in RAMON
Overview for DSS Board December 2014 ( )
All documents are available in CircABC (modernisation, standardisation)

8. P 1 State of play F2 to F5 produce drafts for standardisation
Overview of the progress
All request were launched in April 2014
The production of standard definitions can be divided into 4 steps
Green: Requests for P1 variables sent out March and April 2014 to the contact persons in Units F2 to F5
Blue: preparation of the first drafts
Sent to F1 (revision by F1, exchange of s, bilateral meetings)
Consolidated draft to be used for internal consultation
Red: Internal consultation – final draft uploaded to database, and also to CircABC as 'Eurostat proposal'.
Yellow: External consultation

9. P 1 State of play Socio-demographic variables (F 2)
Sex; Date of birth/Age; Arrival/Duration of stay in the country of residence
Conglomerate of related variables
'Date of birth' in the data records / No 'Not stated' category for the 'date of birth'?
Age in completed years as standard in social statistics ?
One standard concept, but openness to others ?
Briefly explain the standards (only if needed)

10. P 1 State of play Labour market variables (F 3)
Status of economic activity; Type of contract; Full or part-time work; Reasons for part-time work
External consultation: December 2014 LAMAS WG
Next steps
Internal discussion
Second revision by the LAMAS WG on 17 June 2015
Consultation of other Working Groups

11. P 1 State of play Household variables (F 4)
Three modes for the Household composition:
Full household grid (EU-SILC, HBS, possibly TUS)
Reconstructed household grid (LFS)
Only 'Household size'; 'Household composition' (AES; EHIS; ICT-HH)
Variables 'Household type' and 'De-facto marital status' absorbed by the household grid
Variable 'Household by age of the youngest child' discontinued

12. P 1 State of play Tenure status of household (F 4)
Eurostat proposal ready for external consultation

13. P 1 State of play Variables on education (F 5) Eurostat proposal ready
Educational attainment; Participation in formal education; Level of education participated in
Eurostat proposal ready
Consulted with ETS WG in February 2015
Review reconsulted in June 2015

14. P 1 State of play Content of the variable under development
Limitation in activities due to health problems (F 5)
Content of the variable under development
Task Force 'Global Activity Limitation Indicator' in June 2015
Draft expected after the task force meeting

15. P 2 State of play Requests for drafts launched in February 2015
P2 variables
In total 11 variables
Include the Core Social Variables not covered by the P1s
Requests for drafts to be launched to 9 variables
Variables "Region of residence" and "Degree of urbanisation"
Proposals for geographical variables already available

16. P 1 external consultation
CUDF Oct 2014: In writing or in meetings (CircABC)
From February 2015 to end of 2015
CUDF October 2014: The contact to the respective WGs is managed by F2 to F5, in writing or in meetings
Space within the DSS CircABC Website for standardisation of variables
Equal treatment of the different stakeholders in the NSIs
Already uploaded: 'Tenure status of households' and the 3 educational variables
These variables are open for external consultation
Explain exception for LAMAS in December 2014
Dates for WGs May/June
12 May: TF- Revision of EU-SILC legal basis
19 May: Population and housing censuses
April/May: Task Force on Global Activity Limitation Instrument (GALI)
8 June: Population statistics
10 June: WG Income and Living Conditions/HBS
18 June: Working group on Education and training statistics (ETS)
30 June: Task Force on the Future Censuses
June: Task Force European Health Interview Surveys (EHIS)