To meet its objective of increasing the use and value of survey data, the ADP provides support to make data:
- more usable (better documentation, more quality control)
- more accessible by users (more visible in catalogs, formal dissemination policy, anonymized)
- more relevant (assessment of use)
- more comparable (harmonization)
- more reliable (assessments and quality control, editing)
- more timely (help survey planning)
To allow country-specific support, ADP is primarily implemented at country-level. The program welcomes the involvement of local partners. ADP provides specialized training, technical assistance, acquisition of software and hardware. ADP activities are typically planned and implemented for a period of 12-24 months, according to the national priorities and calendars. To the extent possible, ADP supports the national statistical system as a whole (national statistical office and line ministries), within the context of the existing coordination and strategic frameworks in place.
ADP also supports some activities at the regional level, when there are synergies with regional partners or when there is a need for cross-country exchange. ADP fosters and supports collaboration among participating agencies. ADP was instrumental in the establishment a regional community of practice in Africa and builds local collaboration for sustainability.
ADP does not finance surveys. Data collection is not its objective, even if in special cases ADP can participate in the implementation of a data collection/processing activity (census or survey). This is only the case when this can serve the above-mentioned objectives.
ADP country programs are typically broken into three tasks, depending on the agencies priorities:
- Task 1: Inventory, documentation and dissemination of existing microdata
- Task 2: Assessment and analysis of existing data, and improvement of national survey programs
- Task 3: Support to survey data collection, processing and analysis
Task 1: Inventory, documentation and dissemination of existing microdata
ADP support always starts with Task 1 work. Task 1 objective is to build sustainable capacity in the recipient agency to manage its microdata holdings efficiently. Proper management includes documentation, cataloguing, preservation and dissemination. ADP promotes the adoption of international standards and good practices. The Program makes extensive use of standards adopted by many lead data centers worldwide, and promoted by the International Household Survey Network (IHSN), such as the Data Documentation Initiative (DDI) and the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) for data documentation, the Open Archive Initiative (OAI) for data cataloguing, and the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) for data preservation.
ADP fosters better use of data, and therefore promotes a wider accessibility to data – in particular to the research community. Within ADP, data producers keep full ownership of their data and decide on the most appropriate dissemination policy, in the framework of the national legislation.
Task 1 includes:
- Undertaking a full inventory of past surveys and censuses, and gathering all related data and metadata. The ADP provides a checklist of information to be gathered. No other support is usually needed for this activity.
- Documenting these surveys and censuses using the DDI-compliant IHSN Microdata Management Toolkit, insuring a proper archiving of datasets. The ADP provides training and technical support (by national or international experts), as well as the necessary software and hardware. Training and support is usually provided at the national level, to allow participation of a larger number of national agencies and staff. In exceptional circumstances only, such trainings are provided at the regional level. ADP also supports the assessment of the metadata prior to their dissemination.
- Developing and publishing an on-line catalog of surveys, which will provide users with access to rich metadata. This is done by installing and customizing the IHSN NADA cataloguing application on the agency website.
- Disseminating microdata. NADA catalogs provide information on conditions and procedures for accessing the microdata, when relevant. Agencies disseminate microdata according to their own policies and procedures. When formal dissemination policies are not defined, ADP can support this effort.
- ADP is planning to provide training and technical support to the anonymization of microdata. Specialized software is being developed by the IHSN.
Task 2: Assessment and analysis of existing data, and improvement of national survey programs
Task 2 objective is to improve the quality of future survey data through detailed assessment of the past surveys strengths and weaknesses. Task 1 is crucial for a successful Task 2 as the assessment of past surveys requires an exhaustive survey inventory and the availability of fully documented survey datasets, accessible for the analysts and survey experts involved.
Task 2 is being piloted with a limited number of interested countries, for a particular sector: in Cameroon on education with UNESCO and in Nigeria on water and sanitation with the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program. Task 2 typically requires the involvement of an international partner. In this regards, the ADP relies on the member agencies of the IHSN, but other partners are welcome to join efforts.
Task 2 outputs include the (re)calculation of key estimates, made possible through the use of all datasets available (Task 1). This often requires statistical reconciliation between data sources (including between survey sources and administrative data). Task 2 outputs also include the adoption of international standards (and classifications). Task 2 also help the countries increase methodological harmonization between agencies, to increase the relevance and comparability of future data collection exercises.
Task 2 will benefit greatly from the launching of the IHSN Question Bank.