The significance of flawless statistics
Monday, 20 April 2009
A K M Feisal
IT is supremely important to ensure the accuracy and reliability of statistics. For example, for the official population control programme to provide the desired results, it would be essential to have correct statistics to adopt the strategy and spend on it. Dependable statistics on the fertility rate of the couples, their acceptance rate of the planned parenthood methods and contraceptive use, the availability of infrastructure to implement a family planning programme etc., would be the preconditions.
Correct statistics would enable the policy planners to raise or reduce the allocations for different areas of the population control programme or go for the needed revision of the thrust areas or strategies. The revisions could be effective only if proper reevaluation of the programme is done on the basis of objective data. Otherwise, serious lapses or failures would be the obvious outcome. Programmes based on doubtful or insufficient statistics cannot provide the desired result.
In another example, if a company in the private sector wishes to start a new business, it must go for market survey about the demand for the product it wishes to introduce, the position of the competitors, to be able to successfully market its product. The entrepreneur not only has to rely on the information, at the pre-launch stage, from his own investigation but also on official data. It is imperative that data collected under his own initiative and the statistics from the official sources should be precise and reflect the reality. If it does not, he would have to take his investment decision on the basis of inaccurate data. In that event, loss for the business would be a certainty.
The import of foodgrains could be yet another example. The imports must take into account the correct estimate of domestic foodgrains production, and exact shortfall. Loss can occur out of import done on the basis of flawed statistics.
The importance of dependable statistics can, therefore, be ignored in no way in obtaining optimum economic results. But flawed statistics continues to trouble Bangladesh. The statistics, collected by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the government's central body for the purpose, does, on many areas, not tally with the data gathered by other government agencies or private organisations. The discrepancy creates confusion on the dependability of statistical information.
Clearly, the entire system of collection of statistics by the government, the private sector and other institutional bodies, needs to become more efficient and, if possible, they should have the coordination. The skills need be improved, of the individuals engaged. Procedural improvement is also needed for wider sampling for proper data collection and dissemination.
IT is supremely important to ensure the accuracy and reliability of statistics. For example, for the official population control programme to provide the desired results, it would be essential to have correct statistics to adopt the strategy and spend on it. Dependable statistics on the fertility rate of the couples, their acceptance rate of the planned parenthood methods and contraceptive use, the availability of infrastructure to implement a family planning programme etc., would be the preconditions.
Correct statistics would enable the policy planners to raise or reduce the allocations for different areas of the population control programme or go for the needed revision of the thrust areas or strategies. The revisions could be effective only if proper reevaluation of the programme is done on the basis of objective data. Otherwise, serious lapses or failures would be the obvious outcome. Programmes based on doubtful or insufficient statistics cannot provide the desired result.
In another example, if a company in the private sector wishes to start a new business, it must go for market survey about the demand for the product it wishes to introduce, the position of the competitors, to be able to successfully market its product. The entrepreneur not only has to rely on the information, at the pre-launch stage, from his own investigation but also on official data. It is imperative that data collected under his own initiative and the statistics from the official sources should be precise and reflect the reality. If it does not, he would have to take his investment decision on the basis of inaccurate data. In that event, loss for the business would be a certainty.
The import of foodgrains could be yet another example. The imports must take into account the correct estimate of domestic foodgrains production, and exact shortfall. Loss can occur out of import done on the basis of flawed statistics.
The importance of dependable statistics can, therefore, be ignored in no way in obtaining optimum economic results. But flawed statistics continues to trouble Bangladesh. The statistics, collected by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the government's central body for the purpose, does, on many areas, not tally with the data gathered by other government agencies or private organisations. The discrepancy creates confusion on the dependability of statistical information.
Clearly, the entire system of collection of statistics by the government, the private sector and other institutional bodies, needs to become more efficient and, if possible, they should have the coordination. The skills need be improved, of the individuals engaged. Procedural improvement is also needed for wider sampling for proper data collection and dissemination.