Project objective

The aim of the project is to use Symbolic Data Analysis to solve problems of Statistical Offices, in particular problems of confidentiality and missing data.

The project allows adaptation of statistical concepts to the dynamical global environment, suggests methodology of treatments and gives guidance on understanding the data.

Special attention is given to background knowledge and modelling of statistical metadata in order to provide a "meaning" to the data, thus avoiding false interpretation due to data misunderstanding and ensuring the quality of statistical results.

Operating goals

The ASSO project is the continuation of the SODAS project done as part of the European Esprit project no. 20821. This first project has resulted in a software prototype SODAS for the building and the analysis of symbolic data and has shown the interest of the proposed methods for administrative data. For more information on the SODAS project, see (in French)

http://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/~touati/sodas-pagegarde.htm.

In addition to the objectives of SOSAS project, the ASSO project

• extends standard data analysis to more complex data using proper statistical metadata modelling techniques to ensure the quality of statistical results,
• gives better explanation of statistical results by new interpretation, and
• gives new tools for concept creation, manipulation and dissemination in order to get better and easier communication between community members.

The SODAS2 software improves SODAS in order

• to render it more operational and attractive following the users requests,
• to add new innovative methods and
• to demonstrate that these techniques meet needs of Statistical Offices.