Q: How to ensure that the missing information is clearly explained? With what other terms to replace the following terms "-", "n.a.", "N/A," or similar that are not allowed in the documentation?
A: Standard use of categories should be respected, such as Not applicable / Not available or Not requested / Not required.
Reason of information missing is optimally included :
- When data or information is not or not fully available, please insert basic information (e.g. covering the main quality criteria and if possible the core set of quality indicators which are in principle applicable)
- This may be a general sentence, such as: "The information on quality is currently restricted to the following aspects: …. More complete information on quality is expected to be delivered by Member States for the data referring to yy/mm and to be published by Eurostat yy/mm…."
- If no information is available this should be flagged in the metadata file and clearly indicated when information will be available. It should be recognized that the metadata on quality for statistics based on gentlemen agreements are likely to be more difficult to collect and therefore expected to be less complete than for statistics covered by well-established legislative frameworks.
- Not applicable refers to cases where a concept is not relevant
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