Users of official European statistical data

Abstract

Reports the findings of a research project, undertaken by r•cade (the Resource Centre for Access to Data on Europe) into the needs of users of European statistical data. The aim was to assist r•cade with the future development of its own services and to disseminate the research findings and their implications to the wider data-providing community, through partnership in the EU Info 2000 MADAME project (Methods for Access to Data and Metadata on Europe) (http://www.info2000-madame.org/). The study involved focus groups, a questionnaire survey, helpdesk logging data, and feedback questionnaires from academics attending a training programme in 1999. The consultation process revealed the complex environment in which r•cade operates and the extent to which any disseminator of official statistics has little control over the data supply chain. The mixed customer focus group clearly highlighted the considerable variation in service expectations. While Eurostat is the sole source of official harmonized statistics for the European Union, the potential market is enormous and very complex. Eurostat has to balance its service delivery between different, and sometimes conflicting, customer and supplier groups, while at the same time balancing access rights versus data protection; harmonization versus specificity; and high resource demands versus a complex supply chain.