In 2014 the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided support to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for a series of Forums on Open Science in response to a government-wide directive to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the federal government. However, the breadth of the work resulting from the series precluded a focus on any specific topic or discussion about how to improve public access. Thus, the main goal of the Workshop on Transparency and Reproducibility in Federal Statistics was to develop some understanding of what principles and practices are, or would be, supportive of making federal statistics more understandable and reviewable, both by agency staff and the public. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Contents

• The National Academies of SCIENCES • ENGINEERING • MEDICINE
• STEERING COMMITTEE ON TRANSPARENCY AND REPRODUCIBILITY OF FEDERAL STATISTICS
• COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Existing Guidelines Related to Transparency
  • PETER MILLER: AAPOR TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE
  • BRIAN HARRIS-KOJETIN: RELEVANT OMB DIRECTIVES
• 3. Benefits and Costs of Transparency: Views from Three Statistical Agencies
  • JENNIFER MADANS: BENEFITS AND COSTS OF TRANSPARENCY
  • SALLY THOMPSON: BENEFITS AND COSTS OF TRANSPARENCY
  • JOHN ELTINGE: COSTS AND BENEFITS OF TRANSPARENCY
• 4. Benefits and Costs of Transparency: Views from the United Kingdom and Canada
  • PETER BRODIE: FOREIGN VIEW OF BENEFITS AND COSTS OF TRANSPARENCY
  • SARAH HENRY: FOREIGN VIEW OF THE BENEFITS AND COSTS OF TRANSPARENCY
  • ERIC RANCOURT: FOREIGN VIEW OF THE BENEFITS AND COSTS OF TRANSPARENCY
• 5. Two U.S. Examples: SAIPE and LEHD
  • SAIPE, WES BASEL: CASE STUDY I
  • LEHD, ROBERT SIENKIEWICZ: CASE STUDY II
• 6. Operationalizing Transparency
  • VIEWS FROM AGENCIES
  • VIEWS FROM ACADEMIA
• 7. Summarizing Day 1
  • JOHN ABOWD: SUMMARIZING THE WORKSHOP UNTIL NOW
• 8. Standards for Metadata and Work Processes
  • H.V. JAGADISH: AUTOMATING THE CAPTURE OF DATA TRANSFORMATION METADATA
  • DANIEL GILLMAN: DATA DOCUMENTATION INITIATIVE
  • DAVID BARRACLOUGH: STATISTICAL DATA AND METADATA EXCHANGE
  • JUAN MUÑOZ: GENERIC STATISTICAL BUSINESS PROCESS MODEL
  • MICHAELA DENK: GENERIC STATISTICAL INFORMATION MODEL
• 9. Possible Next Steps
  • HERMANN HABERMANN: SUMMARY REMARKS
  • TOM LOUIS: SUMMARY REMARKS
  • JOHN ABOWD: SUMMARY REMARKS
• Appendixes
  • Appendix A. Workshop Agenda
  • Appendix B. List of Participants
• COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS

Rapporteur: Michael L. Cohen.

Suggested citation:

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2019). Methods to Foster Transparency and Reproducibility of Federal Statistics: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: https://doi.org/10.17226/25305.