Revisions and Corrections Policy for SQA statistics
Introduction
Official Statistics are produced in adherence with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
Principle T3.9 of the code states "Scheduled revisions or unscheduled corrections to the statistics and data should be released as soon as practicable. The changes should be handled transparently in line with a published policy".
This policy sets out the principles and procedures that will be used by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) when revisions and/or corrections are required for statistical publications on the SQA website.
Revisions
SQA publishes attainment statistics on certification day in August annually. These are provisional figures of national attainment. The use of provisional data can be beneficial, providing an early indication of trends to users. Following Post Results Services/Appeals, Malpractice and other post certification procedures, a revised summary of national attainment is published in December.
August data will be marked as provisional to ensure that users are aware of the associated data issues when using these early figures. This will also help to make clear to users that when looking at trends over time, August and December attainment statistics should not be mixed and differences should be highlighted.
In addition to scheduled revisions of data, there can also be revisions due to changes in methodology or systems that improve the accuracy of statistics. These types of revisions are usually planned and carried out at regular intervals and will be communicated to our users via our website.
On occasion, revisions can be the result of an immediate need to address identified issues. These will be clearly communicated to users via our website as soon as practicable.
In dealing with revisions, SQA will:
- Clearly mark publications and data as being based on August or December data in the future. Our publication schedule clearly sets out when publications will be available as far as possible in advance, with at least four weeks notice given of the publication date.
- Provide clear notice of any additional revisions to publications and detail the reasons for, and impacts of, any revisions made where applicable.
- Consult users prior to making any changes that would affect statistics or publications (e.g., methodology changes) where possible.
- In cases of revisions to methodology, coverage, or data, produce consistent historical data to ensure robustness and avoid breaking any published time series, where feasible.
- Previous versions of publications and data tables containing unrevised figures will be replaced and archived. This may not always be feasible. As a minimum all unrevised figures will be clearly marked and contain a link to the revised figures.
Corrections
Corrections are a result of errors and should not be confused with revisions. While our statistical publications go through rigorous quality control procedures, errors can occur.
In practice, corrections are likely to fall into one of two categories:
- Corrections that do not alter a user’s interpretation of the statistics.
- Corrections that alter a user’s interpretation of the statistics.
In dealing with corrections, SQA will:
- Make minor corrections to statistical publications as soon as practicable where the resources required are deemed not to exceed the potential user benefits.
- Deal with all other corrections on a case-by-case basis, where the appropriate action will be decided based on the scale of the error and the impact on a user’s statistical interpretation. Such actions could extend from a guidance note for users to the removal, archiving and re-publishing of the publication.
- Provide clear notice of any corrections on our website and within the publication, detailing the nature and reasons for, and impacts of, the corrections made.
- Review and, where appropriate, amend policies and procedures to minimise any risk of such errors reoccurring.
Responsibilities
The Head of Profession (Head of Data and Analytics) has final responsibility for deciding on any action necessary to comply with these procedures.