Evaluation of the Quality of Administrative Data Used in the Dutch Virtual Census

This chapter focuses on evaluating the potential use of administrative sources, at various levels, at the start of the statistical production process. It introduces the data sources and variables of the 2011 Dutch Census. The focus of this chapter is on the quality of a number of registers used to obtain information on the highest level of educational attainment and current activity status. The quality framework is described in detail. Next, the chapter discusses the results of applying the framework. The most important one was the result of the increased dependency on the input quality of the source. For registers, for instance, the collection and maintenance are beyond the control of the statistical institute. It is therefore important that these institutes are able to evaluate all considerations at the source, metadata, and data level.