At a time when people have access to more data and statistics at their fingertips, having reliable and accurate data has become imperative. And with duplication of surveys and reports by different agencies in the country, it has raised questions on data trustworthiness and precision. So on World Statistics Day today, the national custodian of statistics, National Statistics Bureau (NSB), calls for a need to address data duplication.
“For example, NSB goes and collects information on tourist guides in a separate survey, the tourism council conducts another survey getting information on tourist guides. And then there is Ministry of Labour collecting similar information on tourist guides. Now we have three data points which give information on tourist guides and there comes a point where we don’t know which data is correct, whether the data collected by NSB or the data collected by the tourism council or the data collected by the Ministry of Labour is accurate,” said Ugyen Tenzin, the Chief Statistician with the NSB.
With duplication of efforts by different agencies, it has not only resulted in waste of resources but also compromises the quality. And as per the Chief Statistician, these issues will be solved if there is a data governance strategy in place. Data governance is a comprehensive strategy that ensures data that people use is clean, accurate, usable and secure.
“I think I may relate this to the current instances of agencies collecting or conducting a lot of surveys and in most cases, the indicators being collected are the same across all the service. On top of that, the respondents or the citizens who are being asked these questions are the same people. So if we have a data governance strategy which would look into this kind of challenges, I think it would be really utilising our resources well and most importantly I think we will be able to solve the issues which pertain to the respondent burden,” he added.
He also added that there is a need to improve collaboration and partnership with relevant agencies in the government, private sectors, civil society organisations, private data providers and development partners to coordinate statistical activities and improve the quality of data in terms of reliability and relevance.
Sonam Pem
