Methods to Foster Transparency and Reproducibility of Federal Statistics

In 2014 the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided support to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for a series of Forums on Open Science in response to a government-wide directive to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the federal government. However, the breadth of the work resulting from the series precluded a focus on any specific topic or discussion about how to improve public access. Thus, the main goal of the Workshop on Transparency and Reproducibility in Federal Statistics was to develop some understanding of what principles and practices are, or would be, supportive of making federal statistics more understandable and reviewable, both by agency staff and the public. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop. Table of Contents Front Matter 1 Introduction 2 Existing Guidelines Related to Transparency 3 Benefits and Costs of Transparency: Views from Three Statistical Agencies 4 Benefits and Costs of Transparency: Views from the United Kingdom and Canada 5 Two U.S. Examples: SAIPE and LEHD 6 Operationalizing Transparency 7 Summarizing Day 1 8 Standards for Metadata and Work Processes 9 Possible Next Steps Appendix A: Workshop Agenda Appendix B: List of Participants Committee on National Statistics