Exploring the user need for coherent data across the UK

Coherence is at the very heart of the Code of Practice for Statistics, and vital to ensuring that statistics serve the public good. I welcome publication of this work, which is a great addition to the evidence base on how users’ needs for coherent data can be met.

Ed Humpherson, Director General, Office for Statistics Regulation

Executive Summary

This qualitative research has explored the challenges and opportunities that data users experience when bringing together government data. This could be data from different data producers, or across subnational and national boundaries.

We have identified three high-level findings by doing a series of qualitative interviews with data users. These findings highlight where data producers can encourage the production of joined up, insightful and coherent statistics. We found that:

working together and strategic oversight enables the production of coherent statistics
understanding the context of their data, and the wider user need, allows data producers to appropriately concentrate their efforts to improve statistical coherence
data can be used to produce a wider narrative when producers clearly communicate appropriate data comparisons and publish data that is easy to access and navigate through

These findings reflect themes which have been previously discussed in work such as:

Our interviews concentrated on overall coherence, but the semi-structured nature of the discussions meant that interviewees often provided specific feedback and data requests. Where these have been identified, they will be shared with specific departments to enable them to be considered and reviewed.

Introduction

Coherence is a cross-cutting theme from the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The Code states that “coherence reflects the degree of similarity between related statistics and the fuller insight achieved by drawing them together”.

The recently updated Concordat on Statistics highlights the responsibility of the UK Government and devolved administrations in producing “coherent and comparable statistics at international, UK and other sub-UK levels”. The Concordat also recognises the different statistical requirements of the legislation and priorities of each nation.

The value of statistical coherence is well known. But we do not have such a clear understanding of the needs of our data users. Our research project set out to improve our understanding of user needs through in-depth interviews with data users. These users included academics, non-government organisations (NGOs), think-tanks, and data users in government. We set out to explore the challenges and opportunities they face when trying to produce a joined-up data picture to inform research and answer policy questions.

Findings

We discovered three high-level findings during our research. These findings guide data producers in their efforts to support the production of joined up, insightful and coherent statistics.

Finding 1: Working together and strategic oversight enables the production of coherent statistics

Statistical producers can work together to achieve statistical coherence across a topic area. Our interviews show that it is important to work together to improve our understanding of the breadth of data being produced. This is important whether statistics are being produced across geographical boundaries or whether they are being produced by different departments.

The UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence explained that:

“…because housing’s devolved, it’s making sure that the different data controllers in the different nations talk to each other about housing data…”

Working together creates opportunities to agree definitions, assess data gaps and help data sharing. This also produces more opportunities for data users to create a coherent picture across datasets.

Examples of good practice of working together are evident through the GSS Cross-Government working, and steering groups show good practice in this area. Topic specific groups work together to improve the value of statistics. GSS topic specific work plans summarise ongoing work to develop and improve statistical outputs.

Finding 2: Understanding the context of their data, and the wide user need, allows data producers to appropriately focus efforts to improve statistical coherence

Through our research we found that some data users wanted to connect and compare data across the UK. For other data users achieving coherence at a subnational level was a greater priority. By understanding the broader policy context and listening to data users’ needs, data producers will be able to appropriately prioritise their coherence efforts.

Green Alliance talked about the importance of local data for their work:

“[For] our kind of work even saying something like the Northwest isn’t particularly helpful, but if you can say it’s Warrington that’s got this issue, and here’s a problem we can solve.”

You can find examples of good practice in understanding the context and user need for data in work done by the GSS Cross-Government Planning Statistics Group. The Group have co-created a stakeholder map and are doing GSS planning statistics engagement exercises.

There have also been recent discussions across the UK statistical system, with Devolved Governments and UK Government Statistical producers, to identify which UK-wide statistical coherence priorities which would be most valuable.

These initiatives build the collective understanding for data producers and allows them to concentrate their coherence efforts.

Finding 3: Data can be used to produce a wider narrative when producers clearly communicate appropriate data comparisons and publish data that is easy to access and navigate through

Interviewees often expressed confusion and frustration about being unable to:

access data
understand how data fit together

Interviewees described the additional time and resources needed to bring data together from different websites, which often have different access processes and data in different formats. They also explained difficulties understanding which data could be compared.

Data producers can work together to give users access to coherent data sets from different sources. Users gave suggestions such as signposting between different data sets, producing tabulation tools, or creating synthesis pieces.

The Green Alliance explained how “the dream” would be accessing a “national portal of statistics”.

There are many examples from across the GSS, of where data has been brought together to make access easier for data users. These include the:

Explore Subnational Statistics (ESS)
GSS Interactive tools
Integrated Data System Dissemination portals such as the climate change statistics portal

In addition to accessing the data in an easy to navigate format, data users value clear and transparent communication about how data can fit together. When data producers provide clear explanations of data and how they can be compared to other data on a related topic, it helps users interpret statistics correctly and prevents misunderstanding.

What happens next

We want our findings to help encourage developments in existing work. We are presenting our findings at a variety of events and meetings across government highlight the user need for coherent data. We are also gathering additional insight through a survey, to allow other data users to contribute to this conversation and extend our research further.

If you have any questions, or would like to hear more about our work, please email us at GSS.Coherence@ons.gov.uk.