Information Quality Guidelines | Procedures to Seek a Correction | Public Comments Summary
The Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) issued government-wide information quality guidelines
under Section 515 of the Treasury and General Government
Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001. The OMB guidelines
were prepared to ensure and maximize the quality, utility,
objectivity, integrity, transparency, and reproducibility
of information disseminated by federal agencies and
OMB directed each federal agency to issue its own guidelines.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
has now issued basic guidelines for all Department
agencies, including NASS. Those guidelines are available
at the USDA Web Site (http://www.ocio.usda.gov/
qi_guide/index.html).The
guidelines presented here (highlighted in bold) describe
specific procedures the National Agricultural Statistics
Service (NASS) employs, in keeping with the OMB and
USDA guidelines, to ensure its information products
quality. The accompanying text describes steps that
NASS takes to conform to these guidelines.
NASS prepares and releases to the public a wide variety
of statistical products which cover nearly every facet
of U.S. agriculture--production and supplies of food
and fiber, prices received and paid by farmers, farm
labor and wages, farm income and finances, chemical
use, and basic demographic data. NASS issues about
425 statistical reports from its Headquarters each
year, its State Statistical Offices issue some 9,000
reports and news releases annually highlighting or
expanding on information in the National reports, and
the Agency conducts and releases the Census of Agriculture
every 5 years. NASS reports and its available data
bases are used for decision making by farmers, farm
and commodity marketing organizations, providers of
goods and services to farmers, agribusinesses, and
government planners and policymakers as well as by
researchers, the media, and the public interested in
agriculture.
Utility
Utility involves the usefulness and availability of information
to its intended audience. To produce useful, policy-relevant
information, agencies must stay informed of needs and develop
new data, models, and information products where appropriate.
NASS keeps informed of information needs through
active and ongoing contact with the user community and
provides vehicles for user input. NASS keeps
abreast of information needs through a variety of means,
including data user meetings, advisory committees, attending
industry meetings, and sponsoring outreach activities.
NASS statistical and other information products
are reviewed to ensure they remain relevant and timely
and address current needs. Even though most NASS
reports consist of specific data series, improvements to
reports and data bases are constantly being made in terms
of additional data breakouts, improved coverage, and improved
timeliness. Special reports or additional categories within
existing reports are added to best summarize the constantly
changing character of agriculture, within the budget available
to the Agency.
NASS information dissemination makes products widely
available and broadly accessible. All reports
and data bases are available electronically from the NASS
Web Site with most statistical reports available in multiple
formats. Dates and release times of statistical reports
are shown on the annual calendar available by November
of each preceding year. Special publications are announced
as far ahead of time as possible through the NASS Web Site
and press releases. Free electronic mail subscriptions
are available through a cooperative arrangement with Cornell
University, which also provides archival access to all
reports issued since 1995. Timeliness is critically important
for many NASS market sensitive reports. All reports are
available on the Internet within minutes of release and
agricultural news services also provide immediate release
of those reports.
Objectivity
Objectivity involves ensuring that information is accurate,
reliable, and unbiased and that information products are
presented in a clear, complete, and well-documented manner.
Objectivity is achieved by using reliable data sources and
sound analytical techniques, by using proven methods, and
by carefully reviewing the content of all information products.
NASS surveys are based on well maintained sampling
frames. Since agricultural operations are constantly
changing due to new entrants, mergers, new operating arrangements,
and operators leaving farming, NASS offices constantly
work to maintain a list sampling frame which is as up-to-date,
and with as much detailed data for efficient stratification,
as possible. The list sampling frame is constructed from
all available list sources as well as name and address
changes collected during on-going survey activities. In
addition, the Agency has developed an area sampling frame
which can provide independent estimates for common produced
commodities and which provides an annual measure of the
incompleteness in the list sampling frame.
Reliable administrative data are utilized by NASS
whenever possible. There are many agricultural
administrative data sources such as imports and exports,
livestock slaughter, sign-up for various farm programs,
and market movement and price data. NASS, after validating
the quality, uses administrative data in concert with previously
collected data to minimize new collections, to re-examine
preliminary estimates, and to combine with other data in
improved statistical reports.
NASS surveys are conducted using methodologies consistent
with generally accepted standards. NASS employs
and documents professional standards and practices for
all major survey activities, including sampling frame development,
sample design, questionnaire design and pre-testing, data
collection, analysis of sampling and coverage errors, nonresponse
analysis, imputation of missing data, weighting, and variance
estimation. NASS follows guidelines and policies set forth
in the Paperwork Reduction Act and other regulations related
to the conduct of government surveys.
NASS estimates and forecasts are prepared using
statistically sound procedures. Most NASS statistical
reports are created from repetitive surveys of farmers
or censuses of specific segments of agribusiness production,
storage, and processing. This continuity provides important
information for reviewing and analyzing current survey
results. Historic survey data allows Agency personnel to
calculate multiple survey indications. Administrative data
are combined with survey data in balance sheet analyses
when appropriate. Mathematical statisticians create sophisticated
models for forecasting end-of-season production from early-season
indications and data relationships from past years.
Survey procedures and past forecast and estimation
performance are documented in market sensitive publications. Based
on input from data users who want a practical basis for
evaluating current reports, NASS includes performance documentation
in many crop and livestock reports. This normally includes
information on sample sizes, methods of data collection,
estimation procedures, revision policies, and reliability
expressed in terms of average, maximum, and minimum percentage
changes for the past 20 forecasts or estimates. In addition,
a brief overview of all NASS estimating programs is found
in Sample
Survey and Census Programs of NASS on
the NASS Web Site.
All NASS publications are closely edited and proofread
to ensure clarity and coherence. Most NASS information
products present data tables with minimal narrative explanations
which highlight and clarify the data relationships. Table
formats are known ahead of time so data users and the media
can quickly extract information of particular interest.
All tables and text are carefully reviewed and proofed
before publication.
NASS has a comprehensive errata policy to inform
users when an error has been found and corrected. If
an error is detected after release but before long run
copies are printed, corrections will be made for the long
run. If the long run mailing has been sent out, an errata
sheet is issued with all subsequent publications disseminated
and, where appropriate, the errata sent to those who received
the initial mailing. The corrected version is posted on
the NASS Web Site and errata notices are posted to inform
repeat Site visitors. Corrected copies are sent to e-mail
subscribers.
Integrity
Integrity, as used in the OMB quality guidelines, refers
to the security of information from unauthorized access or
revision to ensure that the information is not compromised
through corruption or falsification. NASS utilizes policies
and practices to closely protect all data and information.
NASS employs rigorous controls in order to carry
out sound security practices. NASS operates under
strong confidentiality legislation which protects all data
reported to the Agency and legislation which subjects employees
to fines and/or prison sentences for violation of confidentiality
provisions. All employees must annually re-certify to the
regulations. All survey data and summaries are controlled
on a strict need-to-know basis and secured when not in
use. NASS data networks are firewall and application access
controlled and closely audited by security specialists.
NASS regularly commissions outside security reviews and
corrects any vulnerabilities found in those reviews. Differing
levels of physical security are employed, depending on
the market sensitivity of particular reports. For the most
market sensitive reports, a secured work area has been
constructed and reports are finalized only after all outside
communications have been disabled and an armed guard is
posted to prevent anyone from leaving the area and to admit
only authorized personnel.
NASS has programs and policies in place for securing its
resources as required by the Government Information Security
Reform Act (P.L. 106-398, title X, subtitle G). Those procedures
address all major components of information security and
apply to all NASS operating components. In addition, NASS
is subject to statutory requirements to protect the sensitive
information it gathers and maintains on individuals. Those
requirements are contained in the following documents:
- Privacy Act of 1974
- Computer Security Act of 1987
- Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars A-123, A- 127, and A-130
- Government Information Security Reform Act
- Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act (FMFIA) of 1982
- Title 7, Section 2276 of the U. S. Code
Transparency and Reproducibility
For the purpose of these guidelines, transparency refers
to a clear description of the methods, data sources, assumptions,
outcomes, and related information that allows a data user
to understand how an information product was designed and
produced. Reproducibility of information refers to the ability,
in principle, for a qualified individual to use the documented
methods, assumptions, and data sources to achieve comparable
findings.
NASS will make the methods used to produce information
as transparent as possible. NASS internal guidelines
call for clear documentation of data and methods used in
producing estimates and forecasts such that it can operate
a truly National program implemented in 46 State Statistical
Offices. Implementation of those guidelines ensures the
reproducibility of disseminated information.
NASS estimates and projections are not directly reproducible
by the public because all underlying data sets are confidential.
However, reproducibility can be evaluated through periodic
reviews by outside panels of technical experts and through
documentation of methods, assumptions, data sources, and
related information.
Last modified: 11/17/08
