3 Data gathering and processing
3.4 Processing

In the first half of this section, we have covered in detail the many steps involved in collecting data with a survey or census: the planning stage, the different ways to select a sample, how to reach selected units and to collect the information needed to meet the objective of the survey using a well-designed questionnaire and often with the help of interviewers. Once data has been obtained, either from this series of steps or from an administrative or alternative source of information, it’s time to process it so it’s ready to be used to produce statistical information.

This section describes the five processing steps that are commonly used to transform data prior to estimation. The complexity of the processing and the time and resources needed to prepare data depend on the type of source and the quality of data.