The European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Unit of Econometrics and Applied Statistics (Ispra – IT) has independently verified the robustness of the Web Index in its report, “ASSESSMENT OF THE WEB INDEX, survey questionnaire calibration and uncertainty analysis”, authored by Annoni P., Weziak-Bialowolska D. and Nardo M.
The report analyzed the survey questions to determine their statistical consistency of the answers, and the Web Index’s findings to evaluate its robustness with respect to its methodological assumptions.
The authors state that “the usage of primary data is one of the innovative aspects of the first release of the [Web Index]. They play a remarkable role in the construction of the composite indicator as they account for about 60% of the [Web Index] indicators.”
Employing a model belonging to the family of Rasch models, the report finds that the questionnaire is balanced and the response structure organised in a ten category scale is always appropriate.” The report also provides suggestions on how to improve data gathering for future surveys.
The authors conclude that “overall, despite its multifaceted structure, the wide coverage of different countries and the fact that it includes both survey and hard data, from the statistical point of view the index is robust.”
View the full report here.