Analytic reports will be prepared by subject specialists who use sound statistical and analytic methods and are knowledgeable about the data sources and models being used. Reports are prepared by staff using a variety of analytical techniques ranging from simple tabulations and descriptive summary statistics to multivariate statistical methods and econometric models. Staff preparing analytic reports and policy studies are expert in their use of relevant administrative data files, external data sources, and projections from simulation models.
Analytical techniques will be reviewed to ensure that they are appropriate for the data and the analysis to which they are applied and they will be documented. All analytical reports and policy studies are reviewed by qualified staff to ensure that the analysis is valid, complete, unbiased, objective, and relevant. Reports and studies that are considered to be more technically complex and are likely to have a greater impact are also reviewed by external technical committees to provide additional perspective and expertise. Analytic techniques are clearly described in reports and data sources are identified in RRB publications. When analyses are based on projections from simulation models, the assumptions used to produce the projections are identified, as well as the rationale for the assumptions used and the impact of using alternative assumptions.