- 1. Does the ranking measure corruption?
- 2. How much data does the ranking include?
- 3. How old is the data?
- 4. Where does the data come from?
- 5. Are all the data correct?
- 6. Have there been any changes of the data?
- 7. How is data evaluated?
- 8. Why only 100 largest municipalities?
- 9. What is the difference between policy areas and questions?
- 10. Why 11 assessed policy areas?
- 11. Are all policy areas equally important?
- 12. Why these questions?
- 13. Are all the questions included in the ranking?
- 14. What if municipalities did not provide their answers?
- 15. What does indicator show?
- 16. How does the grade scale work?
- 17. Where can I download the project logo?
- 18. I see Slovak text on the English version of the website. Why?
1. Does the ranking measure corruption?
The Open Government 2010 ranking does not measure corruption. It is an indicator of municipal openness. Although the ranking does not measure corruption, TIS holds that higher score in the ranking and more transparent towns and cities provide fewer opportunities for corrupt behaviour. However, it cannot be ruled out that municipalities high up in the ranking are not corrupt and vice versa.
Municipalities interested in obtaining more specific data and a more complete picture of their administration should consider TIS’ Transparent town audit. At the time of writing, Martin has already been audited, and audits are under way in Prievidza and Žiar nad Hronom.
2. How much data does the ranking include?
The database includes 11,184 answers to 112 questions sorted in 11 policy areas. If one includes the commentaries, the total figure is more than 11,700 data.
3. How old is the data?
TIS collected the data during September 2010. Hence, the data show the state of affairs in September 2010.
4. Where does the data come from?
The data comes from 3 sources:
- Municipal website assessment of quality of information (50% of the score weight)
- Replies to Freedom of Information Act (211/2000) requests solicited by TIS (36%)
- Replies to Freedom of Information Act (211/2000) requests solicited unofficially by TIS – through third person (14%)
5. Are all data correct?
In the case of Freedom of Information requests, the municipalities are legally bound to provide true and precise answers. TIS employees spent maximum effort to provide precise information from website assessment. However, complex website structures could cause that certain data was hard to find and hence appeared non-existent. Furthermore, TIS set a 2 minute time limit rule used for online search of information in order to simulate an ordinary user.
6. Have there been any changes of the data?
Yes. There have been the following changes in the data since the official launch of the website (26th October 2010).
7. How is data evaluated?
TIS set weights on policies and questions according to their importance for transparent and open conduct of municipalities (see table below). The maximum number of points that municipalities could score was 100. Each municipality was also awarded a grade according to their final score.
8. Why only 100 largest municipalities?
The ranking includes only the 100 largest municipalities due to the amount of time and resources that would have had to be spent on all the 2934 local governments in Slovakia. These 100 largest municipalities comprise 2,696,862 Slovak inhabitants, which is approximately half of the total population.
9. What is the difference between policy areas and questions?
TIS selected 112 questions assorted to 11 policy areas (see table below). Policy areas cover powers and duties legally vested with municipalities (e.g. public property sales and leasing) as well as policy areas deemed important by TIS for good and ethical governance (e.g. ethics, conflict of interests). Individual questions reflect existence of concrete transparency tools (e.g. Do you use e-auctions?).
10. Why 11 assessed policy areas?
Policy areas cover powers and duties legally vested with municipalities (e.g. public property sales and leasing) as well as policy areas deemed important by TIS for good and ethical governance (e.g. ethics, conflict of interests). TIS originally worked with 17 policy areas. These were used for the Transparent Town project in the town of Martin during 2008 and 2009. In order to provide a more comprehensible list, TIS combined some of these policy areas to make the final 11.
11. Are all policy areas equally important?
TIS set weights on policy areas according to their importance for transparent and open conduct of municipalities (see table below).
12. Why these questions?
The 112 questions (in Slovak) were deliberately chosen by TIS using the previously conducted TIS audits and Recommendations for Local Governments (in Slovak) 2010 as the source of inspiration. It includes 82 primary recommendations for municipal governments which strive to act openly and transparently. These recommendations had been in making for several months, were externally reviewed and later published in September 2010.
13. Are all the questions included in the ranking?
No. 13 of the 112 questions are included but do not affect the ranking. Most of them are used as a check on other questions or specify already provided information. These questions are showed in italics.
14. What if municipalities did not provide their answers?
If a municipality had not provided its full answers or if it had not provided certain answers at all, it was not awarded with any points for the respective questions, i.e. it received 0 points for the respective unanswered questions.
15. What does indicator show?
Indicator shows the percentage of attained points for individual policy areas. For example, if a municipality received 8 points out of 10 for a certain policy area, its indicator for that policy area reads 80%.
16. How does the grade scale work?
TIS also chose to use a grade scale (see below) for better understanding and presentation of the point system. The maximum grade being A+ (100 points or 100%) and the lowest one being F (0 points or 0%).
| Grade | % |
|---|---|
| A+ | 80-100 |
| A | 75-79 |
| A- | 70-74 |
| B+ | 65-69 |
| B | 60-64 |
| B- | 55-59 |
| C+ | 50-54 |
| C | 45-49 |
| C- | 40-44 |
| D+ | 35-39 |
| D | 30-34 |
| D- | 25-29 |
| E+ | 20-24 |
| E | 15-19 |
| E- | 10-14 |
| F | 0-9 |
17. Where can I download the project logo?
You can download the project logo here.
18. I see Slovak text on the English version of the website. Why?
We apologise but some answers have not been translated yet.