Principle 4 - Prevention of misuse

The statistical agencies are entitled to comment on erroneous interpretation and misuse of statistics.

Most misuse is unintentional and can be minimized by statistical agencies themselves ensuring they follow sound statistical principles in the

presentation of statistics (see Principle 1) and provide easy access to information on

concepts, sources and methods (see Principle 3), including information on quality. Other measures to minimize misuse include the publication of documentation explaining key statistics and

education programs for users to increase awareness and knowledge of official statistics.

While statistics can be used and interpreted in many different and acceptable ways, it is important for the maintenance of trust and credibility of official statistics that attention is drawn by statistical agencies to obvious public incorrect use or interpretation, along with the correct use. This is usually done through the application of policies such as

dealing with misuse .