Case Study 8

Case Study 8: Release scheduled for date of election

SCENARIO

When a Parliamentary Election was announced, the statisticians in an organisation reviewed their schedule of pre-announced releases and saw that the date of one of their releases co-incided exactly with the date of the Election.

The release in question was an entirely new one and involved some fairly controversial statistics. The Statisticians were also aware from emerging results that the figures would show the government in a bad light.

Although the standard Election Guidance allows releases which have already been pre-announced to go ahead, the Statisticians were concerned that they might be accused of releasing the figures on a day when the media were preoccupied with other matters.

As the Election approached, it became apparent that the figures would become available for publication earlier than originally envisaged - although advancing the date of  publication might excite greater public interest in the figures.

The organisation was, therefore, faced with the choice of either sticking with the original date or advancing the release date

QUESTION

Which principles and protocols of the Code of Practice are relevant to this scenario?

SUGGESTED RELEVANT PRINCIPLES

The following principles might be considered to be the most relevant to this scenario:

• Integrity
• Accessibility

SUGGESTED RELEVANT PROTOCOLS

The following protocols might be considered to be the most relevant to this scenario:

• Professional Competence
  using professional judgment
  
• Release Practices
  Principle 2: final responsibility for the timing of releases lies with Heads of Profession
  Principle  5: release arrangements will be open and pre-announced. Release will be orderly and as early as possible after compilation
  Principle 6: timing will not be influenced by the content of the release

QUESTION

What recommendations do you have?  In what way does the Code of Practice influence your recommendations?

SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATIONS

The organisation was advised that, in this case, the ´as early as possible´ principle should be seen as pre-eminent. The balance of arguments was in favour of bringing forward the date of release - especially since there was sufficient  time before the Election to change the release date without upsetting the ´orderly´ principle.

The statisticians were also advised to announce and explain this change of date as soon as possible.

 Case study as word document