Developing a State-of-the-Art Editing and Imputation System for NASS' Agricultural Censuses and Sample Surveys

摘要

Census to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) in 1997, only months prior to the mailout of the 1997 Census of Agriculture. The lack of lead time precluded making major changes to the processing systems for the 1997 census; however, NASS has subsequently begun developing a new edit and imputation system for its future censuses and large sample surveys. The motivation for this ambitious project lies in the concern that systems currently used for its various survey programs differ substantially, are somewhat antiquated and, in some cases, lack the desired integration of the editing, imputation and analysis modules. As a result, the senior management of NASS chartered a Processing Methodology Team (PMT) in September 1999 to specify an edit, imputation and analysis system for use in the 2002 Census of Agriculture and subsequent, large NASS surveys. The statement of purpose expressed in the teams charter was as follows: AThe objective of the Processing Methodology Team will be to develop systems and procedures that will result in less manual editing, increased interactive editing and analysis capabilities, and a more streamlined data analysis process. Data quality standards must be maintained and hopefully improved. The Team=s recommendations will be utilized across all appropriate survey operations. The report will define policy and philosophy for these processes that enhance productivity without compromising data integrity. It will also list the features of a userfriendly, effective system from a programmer's perspective and a statistician=s perspective. 2. The teams recommendations were formulated through discussions with NASS Headquarters and State Statistical Office (SSO) staff and documented in a NASS Staff Report (Processing Methodology Team, 2000) published in February 2000. They were then presented to and approved by NASS senior management in March 2000. The specifications provided in the NASS Staff Report and summarized in this working paper are intended to guide developers in designing and developing the new system.