PORTRAYING DISPARITY THROUGH STATISTICS:
SITUATIONS AND METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES-PHILIPPINES1
by
Tomas P. Africa2
0. Background
0.1. The complexity in describing a totality has been simplified by the provision of averages or related single measures. When statistics are given about distributions, these would usually refer to measures of central tendency or position, such as the mean, median or mode. For some reason equally important measures of variation are often left out or unavailable. Moreover details about the population are not given prominent space in its discussion.
0.2. In the past when computing power was proportional to floor area or room temperature, this lack of information that should have been available was understandable. The pace of processing data and disseminating results was cumbersome and slow that analysts and the general public were fed few statistics to understand complex populations and events.
0.3. Special problems and concerns at present are somehow linked to the extent of their statistical visibility. That is, how much and how often statistics about them are available. Gender differentials, income inequalities, and social stratification are probable examples of issues that have been statistically invisible until the last quarter of the 20th century.
0.4. Now that information technology has made computing power more available and relatively inexpensive, there is less reason not to focus on differentials and variations in society and the economy in detail. Both quantification of phenomena and expectations can be calibrated with the availability and accessibility of information.
1 Paper presented at the International Symposium "In Pursuit of Statistics for Sustainable Development in Asia" on November 27,1997 in Tokyo, Japan sponsored by the National Federation of Statistical Associations.
2 Executive Director V, National Statistics Office, Philippines.
