Comparison is the cognitive function that is basis for any measuring process and a frequent activity in everyday human life. Nowadays, comparisons of statistics over time and, even more demanding, cross-national and multilateral comparisons are a central element of economic and social analyzes. For politics and administration, for business and media, and for each citizen, comparisons are means to understand and assess the political, economic, and social processes of this world. This situation raises questions: Under which conditions are statistics comparable? Under which conditions is a comparison valid and leads to reliable results? What conclusions may be drawn and what are the risks implied by such conclusions?
Comparability: Definition and Assessment
Rathsmann-Sponsel and Sponsel (2001) describe “comparison” as a 7-digit relation f(P, S, Z, K, V, A, B); P represents the comparing person, S and Z describe the comparing situation and the purpose of comparison, respectively; vector K...
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European Commission (2005) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and to the Council on the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and Community statistical authorities, Recommendation on the independence, integrity and accountability of the national and Community statistical authorities, COM (2005) 217
European Statistics Code of Practice (2005) http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/quality/documents/code_ practice.pdf
Eurostat (2009) ESS handbook for quality reports. European Communities, Luxembourg
Jouhette S, Sproge L (2005) Quality profiles for structural indicators EU LFS based indicators. In: 29th CEIES seminar, Expert meeting statistics “Structural indicators”, Luxembourg, European Communities, pp 107–129
Rathsmann-Sponsel I, Sponsel R (2001) Allgemeine Theorie und Praxis des Vergleichens und der Vergleichbarkeit. Internet Publikation fr allgemeine und integrative Psychotherapie, http://www.sgipt.org/wisms/verglbk0.htm
Nederpelt V, Peter WM (2009) Checklist quality of statistical output. Statistics Netherlands, Den Haag/Heerlen
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Hackl, P. (2011). Comparability of Statistics. In: Lovric, M. (eds) International Encyclopedia of Statistical Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04898-2_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04898-2_12
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