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Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency Sixth Edition (2017) / Chapter Skim
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Definition of a Federal Statistical Agency
Pages 11-14

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From page 11...
... It may also include the acquisition of data from other sources, such as administrative records maintained by government agencies to operate a program, datasets available from the private sector, or data gleaned from sensors or selected Internet websites.7 6 The Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency of 2002 (P.L. 107-347, Section 502(8)
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From page 12...
... It does not use these data for nonstatistical purposes, such as regulation or law enforcement. It also protects the confidentiality of responses collected under a confidentiality pledge and safeguards individual records against unauthorized access.9 This definition of a federal statistical agency does not include many statistical activities of the federal government, such as statistics compiled by an operating agency for administrative purposes (e.g., U.S.
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From page 13...
... Statistical agencies may collect information that identifies individual government agencies when the data are already public information -- as, for example, in the Census Bureau's program of statistics for state and local governments (see National Research Council, 2007a) and the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics' program to collect information on research and development spending from federal agencies (see National Research Council, 2010a)
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From page 14...
... export laws.12 Statistical agencies should carefully consider the advantages and disadvantages of undertaking a program with both statistical and nonstatistical purposes. A potential advantage is that there may be improved consistency, quality, and cost-effectiveness when a statistical agency collects information for its own use and that of other agencies.
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  • federal cybersecurity
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  • assessing policy
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  • otherwise processed
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  • developing policy
  • purposes include

  • uniform quality
  • policy alternatives
  • individual records
  • entirely consistent
  • typically collect


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