Core Support for the Committee on National Statistics

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The Committee on National Statistics (CNSTAT) is a standing committee of the National Academies. It was established in 1972 at the recommendation of the President's Commission on Federal Statistics to fill a critical gap as an integrative force for the federal government's highly decentralized statistical system. The Committee works to improve the data and analytic methods that contribute to public policy research and decision-making. During this grant period, the Committee will hold public seminars and develop studies in areas of increasing challenge for federal statistical agencies, including: the tension between protecting confidentiality and privacy and providing research access to data; stemming the decline in response to government surveys; measuring the changing economy; and pursuing innovation and coordination in preference to the status quo. The Committee also will respond to requests for particular studies from sponsor agencies. Some current and expected projects include: measurement of food insecurity and hunger; residence rules and coverage evaluation for the 2010 census; estimation issues for the new American Community Survey; the adequacy of federal business statistics on small business dynamics and innovation; the design of national health accounts; and an update of the Committee's white paper, Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency. Joint projects with other units in the National Academies include the feasibility of a national ballistics imaging database and applications of data mining and information fusion for public health, terrorism prevention, and other governmental functions.Committee on National Statistics projects are designed to have broad application beyond the specific issues covered. Many studies help improve government policy and operations. Almost all contribute to the social, behavioral, and economic sciences in such ways as: improving federally sponsored data collections on which much social science research depends; furthering the development and use of statistical methods for policy and methodological research; providing forums for intellectual exchange and consideration of system-wide issues, such as human research participant protection for social science research; and advancing the social, behavioral, and economic sciences within the National Academies and through the Committee's relationships with Congress, OMB, and federal research and program agencies. Many projects also contribute to better public understanding by improving key national indicators (e.g., the poverty measure, the Consumer Price Index) and the quality, relevance, and accessibility of key data sets.