Increasing engagement around data and statistics – identifying and responding to user needs

Identifying and responding to the needs of users for data and statistics is at the heart of the mission of National Statistical Offices (NSOs) and national statistical systems. NSOs already undertake many activities interacting with different users such as preparing press releases to aid journalists and communicate with the public at large and organizing launch events/workshops to disseminate important results from surveys and censuses. In general, the NSO interacts with users towards the tail end of the statistical production process when the data is disseminated. There is an opportunity for national statistical offices to further improve their collaboration with users by engaging more systematically throughout the statistical production process. User engagement is the process of conducting a dialogue with users of official statistics to understand their needs and improve the products, services and operation of a statistical organization accordingly