Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency: Why, What, and to What Effect

Abstract

The Committee on National Statistics at the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council first published Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency in 1992 in response to requests from Congress and others about what constitutes an effective statistical agency. Beginning in 2001, the committee has regularly updated P&P every 4 years so that a new edition is available for incoming political officials. The document helps protect the independence and objectivity of federal statistics in the highly decentralized U.S. statistical system. This article begins with a brief history of the federal statistical system and the difficulties that its decentralized structure presents for innovation and coordination, followed by an overview of the committee. The article then discusses the why and what of the first through fifth editions of P&P, highlighting major changes in each edition to respond to changes in society, the legal environment, and statistical methods and data collection techniques. The article concludes that P&P has been of value to the federal statistical agencies, to the Office of Management and Budget, and in congressional oversight.