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Peer review and governance

It's important that our methodology is fit for purpose and robust so that census outputs are:

  • high quality
  • trustworthy
  • of public value

We have 3 layers of review and governance to help us make sure our methodology is sound.

Internal peer review

Our internal peer review group is made up of 15 statisticians from National Records of Scotland.

They review and provide feedback on proposed methodologies for each step of census processing. The group meets regularly and provides support to the teams who are designing the methodology for each step in the data journey.

External assurance

We asked a group of external experts to form an external methodology assurance panel to review our proposed methodologies. The panel meets regularly and have peer-reviewed a different part of the proposed methodology at each session.

After each panel session, they compile a report, providing feedback on whether the methodology is fit for purpose.

The external experts are:

  • Katherine Keenan - University of St. Andrews (chair)
  • Chris Martin - Ipsos Mori (Deputy chair)
  • Genevieve Cezard - Centre for Population Change
  • Lisa Rutherford - ScotCen
  • Lee Williamson - Scottish Longitudinal Survey
  • Federico Andreis
  • Alan Marshall - University of Edinburgh (former chair)

Board approval

The final stage of governance is National Records of Scotland's census design authority. This board is responsible for the overall census design. This is also where all aspects of our methodology are approved. The board uses the advice from the internal and external reviews to make their decision.

External panel meetings and papers

We publish methodology papers and summary reports as soon as possible following panel sessions.

Before we publish, we will:

• work through the advice provided by peer review groups

• update methodology as needed

• complete the internal governance steps towards final approval of the statistical methods discussed in each paper

Panel session 1: Wednesday 27 May 2020

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR001: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 1 – Wednesday 27 May 2020

Panel session 2: Tuesday 23 June 2020

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR002: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 2 – Tuesday 23 June 2020

Panel session 3: Wednesday 29 July 2020

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR003: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 3 - Wednesday 20 July 2020

Panel session 4: Wednesday 26 August 2020

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR004: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 4 - Wednesday 26 August 2020

Panel session 5: Wednesday 23 September 2020

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR005: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 5 - Wednesday 23 September 2020

Panel session 6: Thursday 29 October 2020

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR006: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 6 – Thursday 29 October 2020

Panel session 7: Tuesday 26 January 2021

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR007: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 7 – Tuesday 26 January 2021

Panel session 8: Thursday 25 February 2021

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR008: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 8 – Thursday 25 February 2021

Panel session 9: Tuesday 23 March 2021

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR009: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 9 – Tuesday 23 March 2021

Panel session 10: Tuesday 27 April 2021

Methodology reviewed:

Panel report:

PSR010: Summary Report of the findings of EMAP Session 10 – Tuesday 27 April 2021

*We will publish these papers as soon as they are ready.