DACSEIS - Data quality in complex surveys within the European Information Society

The European statistics faces the difficult task of creating for the future a harmonised and reliable socio-economic database for the New Economy in an united Europe. The definitions used in the member states of the EU need to be made conform and the quality of data gained from complex surveys more homogeneous. Heart of the problem is to obtain practical and usable methods for variance estimation in complex multi-purpose sampling, which enables the user to effectively and reliably estimate variances with comparable standards for the relevant national surveys by choosing from an obtainable list of criteria. This leads to a harmonised and standardised European quality management system in statistics. In order to fulfil this task, all currently available methods of variance estimation need to be analysed, classified, evaluated and improved. This will be achieved on the one hand by a Monte-Carlo study with simulated realistic universes of the relevant national surveys, and on the other hand through coordinated theoretical research by an international group of experts. The results of the project will be made available to all statistical institutions, official, non-official, and theoretical statistics. Errors of data are in the extent dangerous in political and economic use as they remain unknown. Therefore, the aim of DACSEIS is to ensure a mapping of the reality of economic and social conditions into a reliable statistics database with minimum biases and high accuracy. This leads to a best practice recommendation of the methods for practitioners as well as to a discussion of possibilities to harmonise different surveying methods.