Policy responses

The stop to “traditional” face-to-face interview due to the lockdowns and social distancing measures affects important surveys such as labour market surveys, consumer prices surveys, consumer trust surveys and agricultural surveys. The effect is so ample in scope that it has also impacted the planning and implementation of population and agricultural censuses. It is largely recognized that this situation will probably impact the quality and the timeliness of the data.

- To cope with the stress faced by the offices in charge of running statistical operations, the use of alternative data collection approaches such as telephone (crowdsourcing), Internet applications, or use of big data (webscraping or the use of satellite imagery) is being proposed and implemented.

- National statistical systems are encouraged to develop contingency plans for every statistical operation. In this  process, NSS should prioritize, channelling resources and innovation efforts to the most needed operations at this time.

Links and references

-  FAO. 2020. The coronavirus and the potential blackout of national statistics: Reorganizing national statistical systems in the context of COVID-19. Rome.

-  FAO. Global Strategy to improve Rural and Agricultural Statistics (GSARS). 2018. Guidelines on improving and using administrative data in agricultural statistics. Rome.

-  European Commission and the African Development Bank. 2017. Using web and mobile phone technologies to collect food market prices in Africa.

-  European Commission. 2017. Innovative Food Price Collection in Developing Countries. Focus on Crowdsourcing in Africa. Brussels.

-  Eurostat. 2020. Farm structure survey - administrative sources. Luxembourg.

-  Eurostat. 2018. Pilot projects on using IACS (Integrated Administration and Control System) for agricultural statistics. Luxembourg.

-  Eurostat COVID-19 Support for Statisticians: Guidelines and methodological notes in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.

-  Flowminder COVID-19 Resources

-  International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI). Publishing data on COVID-19 using the IATI Standard website.

-  ILO. 2020. COVID-19: Guidance for labour statistics data collection. Paris.

-  ILO. 2020. Monitoring labour markets amid lockdowns to contain the COVID-19 virus: Essential labour force survey content and treatment of special groups. Paris.

-  ILO. 2020. COVID-19 impact on the collection of labour market statistics. Paris.

-  IMF. Special Series on Statistical Issues in Response to COVID-19: Consumer Price Index. 2020.

-  ISTAT. 2020. A sample approach to the estimation of the critical parameters of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemics: an operational design with a focus on the Italian health system.

-  ISWGHS COVID-19 page: https://unstats.un.org/iswghs/task-forces/covid-19-and-household-surveys/

-  Statistics Canada. COVID-19 A data perspective.

-  Qatar Computing Research Institute - AI and Data Science for COVID-19 (https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en/research-groups/social-computing and https://www.hbku.edu.qa/en/data-science-covid-19)

-  UNECA. 2020. Quick Assessment of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Africa National Statistical Offices Operations. Addis Abeba.

-  UNESCAP Stats Brief, February 2020 (Issue no. 23): Surveys Under Lockdown; a pandemic lesson. Bangkok.

-  United Kingdom Office of National Statistics. 2020. Coronavirus and the effects on UK prices. London.

-  UNSD. 2020. Use of administrative data sources under COVID-19. New York.

-  UNSD and World Bank. Monitoring the state of statistical operations under the COVID-19 Pandemic (Round 1, June 2020, Round 2, August 2020 and Round 3, December 2020).

-  World Bank. 2020. LSMS-supported phone surveys on the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19. Washington.

-  World Bank. 2020. Crowd-Sourced Price Collection. Washington.

-  World Bank. 2016. Lessons from a crowdsourcing failure. Washington.

-  World Bank. 2015. The Socio-Economic Impacts of Ebola in Sierra Leone: Results from a High Frequency Cell Phone Survey. Washington.

Pros - Mitigate the effects of the lockdowns on surveys such as labour market surveys, consumer prices surveys, consumer trust surveys and agricultural surveys, as well as on the planning and implementation of population and agricultural censuses. - Safeguard the quality and timeliness of the data. - Contribute to understand the impact of COVID-19 on the economy and the society. - Help governments and communities make informed decisions around countries’ response to the pandemic.

Cons - Some developing countries may be less equipped to benefit fully from ICTs due to poor connectivity, high cost of access and lack of necessary skills. - Adequate time for testing and training prior to adoption should not be underestimated. - Transition to new data production methods may have an effect on the quality and comparability of the data that needs to be carefully analysed.

Minimum conditions - Institutional, financial, technological and digital capacities.