Country experience: Spain: automatic editing on statistics by modes of supply

19.49.    In order to better control the quality of data on modes of supply in international trade in services, the Spanish Statistical Office (INE) has developed a software tool for recording and fieldwork treatment to facilitate the automatic editing of mode data in the questionnaire. The software tool ensures that the editing rules defined by the statistical expert are applied exhaustively and automatically in all questionnaires used. The questionnaires are either automatically downloaded into the tool (in the case of web-based questionnaires) or data are entered manually, in the case of hard-copy questionnaires.[1] 

19.50.    The editing rules in the tool are classified into two types: “strong” or “fatal” edits and “weak” edits. Fatal edits imply that the questionnaire is not validated and INE staff must contact the respondent to resolve it. Weak edits allow questionnaire recording to continue, as well as, subsequent validation processes, but an explanation must be included in the “observations” field.  

19.51.    Four editing rules are applicable to the mode of supply section in the survey: 

(a) A fatal edit is implemented when a mode has been associated with a non-service item (INE informs respondents that only services items may have a mode of supply associated to them);

(b) A weak edit is implemented when a mode 3 association is wrongly made to a service (i.e., the supply through mode 3 is not possible, by definition, in international transactions data covered in a BOP trade in services survey; such data can rarely be associated to mode 3, except for construction (see MSITS 2010, chapter V, for more information);

(c) A weak edit is implemented when a mode 2 association is wrongly made to services that, theoretically, cannot be supplied by that mode, according to the guidance provided in MSITS 2010 (note that travel is not covered by the survey; see MSITS 2010 for the non-travel services that can be supplied by mode 2, e.g., manufacturing, maintenance and repair);

(d) A fatal edit is implemented so as to admit only mode 1 for supplying the EBOPS 2002 service item of merchanting.

 

Back to E. Country experiences (Chapter 19) 


[1] According to the policy of the Spanish Statistical Office, respondents can choose whether to answer questionnaires in hard copy or via the web (although computer-assisted web interviewing (CAWI) is strongly recommended).