Role & Scope

Relevant, timely, credible, and objective statistical information is part of the foundation of democracy and the fundamental responsibility of the U.S. Federal statistical system. Since the Nation's founding, the U.S. Federal statistical system has collected and transformed data into high quality statistical information, making it readily available to inform all types of decision-making, while protecting the responses of individual data providers. Such decisions may include those made by Federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal policymakers; the private sector, including businesses; and individuals.

The U.S. Federal statistical system is a decentralized, interconnected network of 16 Recognized Statistical Agencies and Units, 24 Statistical Officials (across 24 major cabinet agencies), approximately 100 additional Federal statistical programs engaged in statistical activities, and several cross system interagency and advisory bodies.

The vision of the Federal statistical system is to operate as a seamless system, as stewards of much of the nation's most sensitive data, enabling greater evidence building, civic engagement, and public and private sector decision making.

 

This resource is intended for users of Federal System System who need to:

 

- understand the structure of the Federal Statistical System (agencies, operations and geostatisitcal programs)

- determine what data are available to best meet application needs

- determine alternative sources of similar data to best meet application needs

- options available to access the data

- integrate these data with other data

- use the data; interpret and evaluate the data

 

Defining Federal Statistical Data

- something more than just data

- OMB OIRA authorization to collect data (Paperwork Reduction Act)

- authorized by Congress (a legal act)

- as described in the Federal Register

- for a defined geography (individual person or housing unit, political area, statistical area)

- collected/developed by a Federal agency

 

Derived Federal Statistical Data

- developed by a Federal agency

- developed using solely Federal statistical data (e.g. Congressional Communities)

 

Attributes of statistical data

- summary versus micro

- one point in time versus time series

- survey versus model-based

    - Summary Levels and Codes

- summary statistic versus data about individual

- current/historical versus  projection

- census versus survey

- special tabulation based on a census

- secure versus non-secure data

- determining reliability of the data

- NAICS codes -- data by type of business

- disclosure/suppression coded into data

- jam values

 

Focus on Application Programming Interface (API)

API stands for Application Programming Interface and provides a developer with programmatic access to a proprietary software application.

An API is software that makes it possible for application programs to interact with each other and share data.

 

See the scope of agencies covered in this document.

 

 

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