Quality report recommendation
The Advisory Board of Official Statistics of Finland adopted a new recommendation for quality reports at its meeting on 25 April 2023. The previously used national recommendation for quality descriptions and the EU's SIMSv2 quality report structure were taken into account when preparing the recommendation. The new quality report recommendation takes account of the metadata essential for customers from the SIMS model. Compared with the old OSF quality description, the change is mainly visible in the structure of the report. The new structure divides large descriptions into several elements, which makes it easier to find and further use information. The new quality report recommendation also harmonises international and national quality reporting.
OSF producers will adopt the new recommendation for quality reports according to their own schedules but by 31 December 2025 at the latest. Statistics Finland and the Natural Resources Institute Finland have already adopted the new structure in their statistical releases.
In future, each set of OSF statistics must be accompanied by a quality report or, during the transition period, a quality description. The quality report describes the quality, reliability and suitability of the statistics for different purposes.
Publication of the quality report
The quality report is published simultaneously with the data of the statistics so that the user of the statistics can easily access it. The quality report is published on the web pages of the producer of Official Statistics of Finland and its web address must be given in all publication formats of the statistics. The quality report can also be published as part of a printed statistical publication.
The quality report always relates to statistical data released at a certain point in time. The different versions of the quality report will be retained.
Content of the quality description
The main contents of the quality report are summarised in the table (xlsx). The quality report is divided into 19 sections and more detailed fields. Not all sections or fields are required for all statistics. Optional fields are filled in if this is essential for communicating about the statistics.
The sections of the quality report are:
- Contact
- Metadata update
- Statistical presentation
- Unit of measure
- Reference period
- Institutional mandate
- Confidentiality
- Release policy
- Frequency of dissemination
- Accessibility and clarity
- Quality management
- Relevance
- Accuracy and reliability
- Timeliness and punctuality
- Coherence and comparability
- Cost and burden
- Data revision
- Statistical processing
- Comment
Examples of quality reports
Documentation of Statistics Finland's Labour Force Survey
Quality report of the Natural Resources Institute Finland's milk and milk products statistics