market as they become obsolete. Calculating quality-adjusted prices is therefore difficult. Using Scanner Data Sets to Update Pricing Samples 10.39 The collection of point-in-time prices by NSO field price collectors visiting retail outlets is resource-intensive. A census of items cannot practically be priced each period resulting in the need for some sort of sampling approach. For example, sampled products may be selected for inclusion in the CPI basket by NSO field price collectors who discuss with the respondent which items are volume sellers or examine the
sector to reduce burden by removing questions that are not relevant to that sector. 0.2 Resources 0.2.1 Staff, financial, and computing resources are commensurate with statistical programs NSO resources are not adequate to undertake their work program. NSO submits bids to the Ministry of Finance each year for sufficient resources to perform the work program but the actual allocations are only about one third of that requested. The CPI has one specialist statistician and three compilers in Zomba. There are three regional field price collectors in
commensurate with statistical programs There are 10 CPI field price collectors and two compiling staff. All have university degrees in disciplines such as management, economics, accounting, or statistics. Since most of the CPI field staff are temporary contractual employees, there is some turnover as people find permanent placements elsewhere. There are sufficient CPI staff to undertake the basic price collection, compilation and dissemination work. However, there are no discretionary resources available to undertake research, investigations, or special analyses since