Office for National Statistics

• Understanding the economy
• Understanding society
• Understanding the population
• Maintaining sources of official data
• Measuring Government Activity
• Developing Methodology
• Geographers at ONS

Developing Methodology

The development of methodology within the Office for National Statistics is undertaken by statistical methodologists and survey methodologists within the Methodology Directorate.

Statistical methodology provides the technical foundation for the production and analysis of official statistics and provides a basis for the improvement of business and household surveys and the census. This includes sampling and estimation, and editing and imputation. As appropriate, seasonal adjustment and statistical disclosure control procedures are applied to estimates, and data from multiple survey and administrative sources are incorporated into estimates.

Survey methodology focuses on aspects such as questionnaire design and testing, research (e.g. respondent follow-ups, feasibility studies and exploratory research) and evaluation (e.g. evaluating new initiatives). Methods that are applied by survey methodologists include cognitive interviews, in-depth interviewing, focus groups and observational techniques.

The ONS methodology function supports the analysis of official statistics and develops new approaches to expand the types of products that ONS produces.

For more information on methodology at ONS please follow this link: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/methodology/default.asp