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Streamlining European social surveys - European Statistical System (ESS)

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Eurostat
04/02/2015
Streamlining European social surveys

On 22-23 January, Eurostat re-launched the "Expert Group on the integration of the European social surveys". The group was created by the DSS in 2011 with the mandate to address the issue of survey integration and is composed of methodologists who are experts on social surveys in their respective NSIs (AT, DE, EE, FI, FR, IT, NL SE, UK).


 
The activity of the group is connected with the Eurostat VIP project "Streamlining and integration of the European social surveys", which is part of the overall programme of the modernisation of social statistics.  In line with the 2009 Vision Communication, and following the orientations endorsed by the DGINS in Wiesbaden in September 2011, the project has been exploring technical and methodological solutions for an integrated and streamlined approach to micro data collections for social statistics.


 
The aim of integration is to rationalise the current system of stand-alone social surveys so that the system of surveys becomes more flexible and more responsive, answering faster and accommodating new user needs while reducing costs. One important aspect of integration is its multi-source and multi-mode approach, including the wider use of administrative data sources and online data collection.


 
The approach followed by Eurostat Social statistics unit F1 (in collaboration with unit B1) envisages the gradual achievement of a modular survey architecture and such an architecture has been used as a reference to identify methodological tools and actions leading to progressively higher levels of integration.


 
The Expert Group reviewed the work and the developments carried out at Eurostat and in Member States in order to pave the way for future decision-making on the next steps of the integration process. The participants underlined the value of the Eurostat work and expressed their wish for continuing involvement in the project. They recognised that the project has evolved from the original vision to a more pragmatic phase and that basic conditions for integration have been identified. The group suggested some complementary areas of work to be investigated and asked for additional efforts in order to better quantify the potential gains coming from an integrated system.
 

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