The quality assurance of official statistics in Japan: Framework and practice

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Takahashi, Masao¹

Affiliations: Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, 19-1, Wakamatsu-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8668, Japan | Tel.: +81 3 5273 1106; Fax: +81 3 5273 1494; E-mail: [email protected]

Note: [1] The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies of the organization to which the author belongs or belonged.

Abstract: Assuring the quality of official statistics is critical as the information based on official statistics is used for reasonable decision making not only by the government but also by citizens. In order to assure the quality of official statistics in Japan, a multi-layered framework and continual practice under the framework play essential roles. The legal part of the framework consists of several elements such as the Statistics Act, the Master Plan, Examination of plans and budgets for censuses and statistical surveys, and the Statistics Commission, while the practical part of the framework is implemented based on the Guidelines for Quality Assurance of Official Statistics to form a PDCA cycle. This paper describes how the quality of official statistics in Japan is assured in terms of its framework and practical implementation, which are well compatible with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (FPOS) and the National Quality Assurance Framework (NQAF) of the United Nations.

Keywords: Official statistics, statistics act, national quality assurance framework, guidelines, PDCA cycle

DOI: 10.3233/SJI-170403

Journal: Statistical Journal of the IAOS, vol. 34, no. 3, pp. 331-342, 2018