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Description: This video provides a general overview of the income data collection process and specifies the target population as well as the reference period for income data. It also points out important aspects to consider when looking at income data in conjunction with other demographic, social, ethnocultural, education and labour characteristics.

Description: This reference guide may be useful to both new and experienced users who wish to familiarize themselves with and find specific information about the Census of Agriculture.

It provides an overview of the Census of Agriculture communications, content determination, collection, processing, data quality evaluation and dissemination activities. It also summarizes the key changes to the census and other useful information.

Description: Canada’s diversity and rich cultural heritage have been shaped by the people who have come from all over the world to call it home. But even in our multicultural society, eliminating all forms of discrimination remains a challenge. In this episode, we turn a critical eye to the ways that cognitive bias risks perpetuating systemic racism. Statistics are supposed to accurately reflect the world around us, but are all data created equal? Join our guests, Sarah Messou-Ghelazzi, Communications Officer, Filsan Hujaleh, Analyst with the Centre for Social Data Insights and Innovation, and Jeff Latimer, Director General - Accountable for Health, Justice, Diversity and Populations at Statistics Canada as we explore the role data can play to make Canada a more equal society for all.

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This infographic explains the steps involved in collecting data for all Statistics Canada household and business surveys. The responses are compiled, analyzed and used to make important decisions and are kept strictly confidential.

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This infographic provides a high-level overview of Statistics Canada’s Disaggregated Data Action Plan, which will produce detailed statistical information on specific population groups. This plan is essential to highlight the lived experiences of diverse groups of people in Canada, such as women, Indigenous peoples, racialized populations and people living with disabilities.

Description: The Open Database of Recreational and Sport Facilities (ODRSF) is a listing of recreational and sport facilities across Canada from open sources. Facilities are classified into one of the following eighteen types: trails, sports fields, arenas, athletic parks, beaches, casinos, community centres, gyms, marinas, parks, playgrounds, pools, race tracks, rinks, skate parks, splash pads, stadiums, and miscellaneous. The listing contains the names, addresses, and geo coordinates of facilities, as well as the facility type as assigned in the data source. The ODRSF is based on data from authoritative sources that include among them provincial, territorial and municipal governments. The ODRSF is released as open data under the Open Government License - Canada and provided as a zipped comma-separated values (.csv) file.

Description:

This paper presents an open-source system that was developed for automatic estimation of building height from street-view images using Deep Learning (DL), advanced image processing techniques, and geospatial data. The goal of the developed system is to ultimately be used to enrich the Open Database of Buildings (ODB), that was published by Statistics Canada, as a part of the Linkable Open Data Environment (LODE). Some of the obtained results for building-height estimation are presented. Some challenging cases and the scalability of the system are discussed as well.

Description:

Recent advances in artificial intelligence have rekindled ancient fears that robots will replace humans in the economy. Previous waves of automation changed but did not reduce labour’s role, but robots’ human-like flexibility could make this time different. Whether or not it will is an empirical question that has lacked suitable data to answer. This paper describes the creation of a dataset to fill the evidence gap in Canada. Robots! is firm-level panel data on robot adoption created using Canadian import data. The data identify a substantial amount of the robot investment in the Canadian economy from 1996 to 2017. Although many robots are imported by robotics wholesalers or programmers for resale, the majority of them can be attributed to their final (direct) adopting firm. The data can be used to study the impact of robot adoption at the economic region, industry or firm-level.

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Data gathering involves first determining what data you need, then where to find it, how to get it and how to keep it safe. This module introduces you to things you should consider when gathering data.

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This white paper presents Statistics Canada’s planned approach to the 2021 Census of Population and provides a clear explanation of the processes behind the census program, touching on historical, legal, operational and content aspects. Statistics Canada recognizes that it is important to not only successfully conduct the census, but also to be transparent and informative about the way in which those efforts are accomplished. Painting a Portrait of Canada: The 2021 Census of Population gives readers an exclusive, detailed look at how census data is collected, analyzed and given back to Canadians, in the form of high-quality statistical information, used to make evidence-based decisions in Canadian society.

Description: The Open Database of Buildings (ODB) is a collection of open data on buildings, primarily building footprints, originating from municipal, regional, and provincial governments. It is a centralized and harmonized repository of building data made available under the Open Government License - Canada. This exploratory initiative aims to contribute to the creation of a complete, comprehensive and open database of buildings in Canada. The current version (version 2.0) of the ODB contains approximately 4.4 million building footprints collected from seven provinces and one territory. These files are made available for download as zipped shapefiles.

Description: The public use microdata file from the 2010 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating is now available. This file contains information collected from nearly 15,000 respondents aged 15 and over residing in private households in the provinces. The public use microdata file provides provincial-level information about the ways in which Canadians donate money and in-kind gifts to charitable and nonprofit organizations; volunteer their time to these organizations; provide help directly to others. Socio-demographic, income and labour force data are also included on the file.

Description: The Open Database of Recreational and Sport Facilities (ODRSF) is a listing of recreational and sport facilities across Canada from open sources. Facilities are classified into one of the following eighteen types: trails, sports fields, arenas, athletic parks, beaches, casinos, community centres, gyms, marinas, parks, playgrounds, pools, race tracks, rinks, skate parks, splash pads, stadiums, and miscellaneous. The listing contains the names, addresses, and geo coordinates of facilities, as well as the facility type as assigned in the data source. The ODRSF is based on data from authoritative sources that include among them provincial, territorial and municipal governments. The ODRSF is released as open data under the Open Government License - Canada and provided as a zipped comma-separated values (.csv) file.

Description: The Canadian Tobacco, Alcohol and Drugs Survey (CTADS) is a biennial general population survey of tobacco, alcohol and drug use among Canadians aged 15 years and older, with the primary focus on 15- to 24-year-olds. The CTADS is a telephone survey conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of Health Canada.

Description:

Statistics Canada was approached by Stentor Resource Centre Incorporated to conduct a survey to monitor the telephone penetration rates across Canada. The survey determines if the respondents have a telephone line in their residence. If they do not have a telephone line, information is collected as to the reasons why. Information is also collected on the income characteristics of the selected households.

The management of the survey was transferred from Stentor to Bell Canada in the Fall of 1998.

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) supplementary capacity is used to conduct this biannual survey. A sample of approximately 44,000 respondents is used for this survey (five out of six rotation groups). The survey data are collected using Computer Assisted Interviewing (CAI). The first data collection procedure took place during November's LFS week in 1996.

This microdata file is prepared biannually and contains the variables from the survey, plus geographical variables from the LFS (province, census metropolitan area, urban/rural breakdown). No other variables from the LFS are added to the file.

Description:

The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was a collaborative effort by twenty governments and three intergovernmental organizations. The countries of Australia, Belgium/Flanders, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland (French, German and Italian), United Kingdom, United States, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Norway, and Slovenia participated in the IALS.

The Canadian IALS survey had a number of objectives. These were: a) to provide an updated profile of adult literacy abilities for Canada for comparison to that provided by the 1989 Survey of Literacy Skills Used in Daily Activities (LSUDA); b) to provide sufficiently large numbers of Franco-Ontarians, seniors, social assistance recipients, unemployment insurance recipients and out-of-school youth to profile their skill levels; c) to shed light on the relationship between performance, educational attainment, labour market participation and employment for those at certain literacy levels; and d) to compare Canadian literacy levels with those in other countries.

Description: This product provides an overview of the Canadian greenhouse industry. Included are annual estimates of the total area under glass and plastic, months of operation and the total sales. Estimates of employment, labour costs, investments, purchases of plant materials and heating fuel costs are also available. Information on the value of sales of greenhouse vegetables, flowers and ornamental plants are published, as well as the production of flowers by variety. Also included are estimates on the area, cost of purchases, employment and value of nursery stock and sod. Finally, there is information on the proportion of sales through various channels.

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The Public Service Employee Survey was designed to solicit the views of Public Service employees on their work environment and overall job satisfaction. Employees expressed their opinions on their work units, their communications with their supervisors, skills and career aspirations, client services and labour management relations. General information such as age, gender, years of service and province of work were collected and questions were asked on specific themes such as staffing fairness, official languages, health and safety, harassment and discrimination and retention issues. The results were aggregated at the department and Public Service-wide levels. The survey ensures a measurement capacity between the 1999, 2002 and 2005 questionnaires.

In 2008, the 2005 questionnaire was used as the basis for the survey. New questions were added to construct an employee engagement model that will be used to evaluate each organization. As well, the scale of the response category was increased from 4 to 5 to include a neutral category.

Description:

Special Surveys Division was originally contacted by the Health Council of Canada (HCC) during the summer of 2006 to conduct the first iteration of this survey which resulted in the Canadian Survey of Experiences with Primary Health Care (CSE-PHC), 2006-2007 survey. The HCC was created when the First Ministers' Accord on Health Care Renewal was signed in 2003. Their mandate is to report publicly on the progress of health care renewal in Canada. One of the Council's goals is to provide a system-wide perspective on health care reform to the Canadian public with a particular focus on issues related to accountability and transparency.

Once the results of the 2006-2007 survey were released, work began on the 2007-2008 questionnaire. The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) joined members of the HCC and the project team at Statistics Canada to begin shaping the 2007-2008 survey. The CIHI, which became a co-sponsor with the HCC, is an independent, national, not-for-profit organization working to improve the health of Canadians and the health care system by providing quality, reliable and timely health information. The research information they produce focuses on health care services, health spending and human resources working in the health sector, as well as issues surrounding the health of the population.

The 2007-2008 survey differed from the 2006-2007 version in several ways. Along with some content changes, mostly around barriers to access and use of health care, the survey sample was expanded and a sampling strategy was developed to permit national as well as provincial level estimates of survey results. A new questionnaire was developed and tested with focus groups during the month of January 2008, in four cities across the country. The collection mode was also changed from a paper/pencil survey collected over the telephone in 2006-2007 to a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) application in 2007-2008. Collection began in three Statistics Canada regional offices in April and continued until the end of June 2008.

Description:

This compendium provides data from the new Workplace and Employee Survey (WES) conducted by Statistics Canada with the support of Human Resources Development Canada. The survey consists of two components: (1) a workplace survey on the adoption of technologies, organizational change, training and other human resource practices, business strategies, and labour turnover in workplaces; and (2) a survey of employees within these same workplaces covering wages, hours of work, job type, human capital, use of technologies and training. The result is a rich new source of linked information on workplaces and their employees.

Description:

In a survey where results were estimated by simple averages, we will compare the effect on the results of a follow-up among non-respondents, and weighting based on the last ten percents of the respondents. The data used are collected from a Survey of Living Conditions among Immigrants in Norway that was carried out in 2006.

Description:

As survey researchers attempt to maintain traditionally high response rates, reluctant respondents have resulted in increasing data collection costs. This respondent reluctance may be related to the amount of time it takes to complete an interview in large-scale, multi-purpose surveys, such as the National Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG). Recognizing that respondent burden or questionnaire length may contribute to lower response rates, in 2003, following several months of data collection under the standard data collection protocol, the NSRCG offered its nonrespondents monetary incentives about two months before the end of the data collection,. In conjunction with the incentive offer, the NSRCG also offered persistent nonrespondents an opportunity to complete a much-abbreviated interview consisting of a few critical items. The late respondents who completed the interviews as the result of the incentive and critical items-only questionnaire offers may provide some insight into the issue of nonresponse bias and the likelihood that such interviewees would have remained survey nonrespondents if these refusal conversion efforts had not been made.

In this paper, we define "reluctant respondents" as those who responded to the survey only after extra efforts were made beyond the ones initially planned in the standard data collection protocol. Specifically, reluctant respondents in the 2003 NSRCG are those who responded to the regular or shortened questionnaire following the incentive offer. Our conjecture was that the behavior of the reluctant respondents would be more like that of nonrespondents than of respondents to the surveys. This paper describes an investigation of reluctant respondents and the extent to which they are different from regular respondents. We compare different response groups on several key survey estimates. This comparison will expand our understanding of nonresponse bias in the NSRCG, and of the characteristics of nonrespondents themselves, thus providing a basis for changes in the NSRCG weighting system or estimation procedures in the future.

Description:

Survey managers are still discovering the usefulness of digital audio recording for monitoring and managing field staff. Its value so far has been for confirming the authenticity of interviews, detecting curbstoning, offering a concrete basis for feedback on interviewing performance and giving data collection managers an intimate view of in-person interviews. In addition, computer audio-recorded interviewing (CARI) can improve other aspects of survey data quality, offering corroboration or correction of response coding by field staff. Audio recordings may replace or supplement in-field verbatim transcription of free responses, and speech-to-text technology might make this technique more efficient in the future.

Description:

The use of Computer Audio-Recorded Interviewing (CARI) as a tool to identify interview falsification is quickly growing in survey research (Biemer, 2000, 2003; Thissen, 2007). Similarly, survey researchers are starting to expand the usefulness of CARI by combining recordings with coding to address data quality (Herget, 2001; Hansen, 2005; McGee, 2007). This paper presents results from a study included as part of the establishment-based National Center for Health Statistics' National Home and Hospice Care Survey (NHHCS) which used CARI behavior coding and CARI-specific paradata to: 1) identify and correct problematic interviewer behavior or question issues early in the data collection period before either negatively impact data quality, and; 2) identify ways to diminish measurement error in future implementations of the NHHCS. During the first 9 weeks of the 30-week field period, CARI recorded a subset of questions from the NHHCS application for all interviewers. Recordings were linked with the interview application and output and then coded in one of two modes: Code by Interviewer or Code by Question. The Code by Interviewer method provided visibility into problems specific to an interviewer as well as more generalized problems potentially applicable to all interviewers. The Code by Question method yielded data that spoke to understandability of the questions and other response problems. In this mode, coders coded multiple implementations of the same question across multiple interviewers. Using the Code by Question approach, researchers identified issues with three key survey questions in the first few weeks of data collection and provided guidance to interviewers in how to handle those questions as data collection continued. Results from coding the audio recordings (which were linked with the survey application and output) will inform question wording and interviewer training in the next implementation of the NHHCS, and guide future enhancement of CARI and the coding system.

Description:

Business surveys differ from surveys of populations of individual persons or households in many respects. Two of the most important differences are (a) that respondents in business surveys do not answer questions about characteristics of themselves (such as their experiences, behaviours, attitudes and feelings) but about characteristics of organizations (such as their size, revenues, policies, and strategies) and (b) that they answer these questions as an informant for that organization. Academic business surveys differ from other business surveys, such as of national statistical agencies, in many respects as well. The one most important difference is that academic business surveys usually do not aim at generating descriptive statistics but at testing hypotheses, i.e. relations between variables. Response rates in academic business surveys are very low, which implies a huge risk of non-response bias. Usually no attempt is made to assess the extent of non-response bias and published survey results might, therefore, not be a correct reflection of actual relations within the population, which in return increases the likelihood that the reported test result is not correct.

This paper provides an analysis of how (the risk of) non-response bias is discussed in research papers published in top management journals. It demonstrates that non-response bias is not assessed to a sufficient degree and that, if attempted at all, correction of non-response bias is difficult or very costly in practice. Three approaches to dealing with this problem are presented and discussed:(a) obtaining data by other means than questionnaires;(b) conducting surveys of very small populations; and(c) conducting surveys of very small samples.

It will be discussed why these approaches are appropriate means of testing hypotheses in populations. Trade-offs regarding the selection of an approach will be discussed as well.

Description:

Telephone Data Entry (TDE) is a system by which survey respondents can return their data to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) using the keypad on their telephone and currently accounts for approximately 12% of total responses to ONS business surveys. ONS is currently increasing the number of surveys which use TDE as the primary mode of response and this paper gives an overview of the redevelopment project covering; the redevelopment of the paper questionnaire, enhancements made to the TDE system and the results from piloting these changes. Improvements to the quality of the data received and increased response via TDE as a result of these developments suggest that data quality improvements and cost savings are possible as a result of promoting TDE as the primary mode of response to short term surveys.

Description:

The Unified Enterprise Survey (UES) at Statistics Canada is an annual business survey that unifies more than 60 surveys from different industries. Two types of collection follow-up score functions are currently used in the UES data collection. The objective of using a score function is to maximize the economically weighted response rates of the survey in terms of the primary variables of interest, under the constraint of a limited follow-up budget. Since the two types of score functions are based on different methodologies, they could have different impacts on the final estimates.

This study generally compares the two types of score functions based on the collection data obtained from the two recent years. For comparison purposes, this study applies each score function method to the same data respectively and computes various estimates of the published financial and commodity variables, their deviation from the true pseudo value and their mean square deviation, based on each method. These estimates of deviation and mean square deviation based on each method are then used to measure the impact of each score function on the final estimates of the financial and commodity variables.

Description:

Non-response is inevitable in any survey, despite all the effort put into reducing it at the various stages of the survey. In particular, non-response can cause bias in the estimates. In addition, non-response is an especially serious problem in longitudinal studies because the sample shrinks over time. France's ELFE (Étude Longitudinale Française depuis l'Enfance) is a project that aims to track 20,000 children from birth to adulthood using a multidisciplinary approach. This paper is based on the results of the initial pilot studies conducted in 2007 to test the survey's feasibility and acceptance. The participation rates are presented (response rate, non-response factors) along with a preliminary description of the non-response treatment methods being considered.

Description:

Increasingly, children of all ages are becoming respondents in survey interviews. While juveniles are considered to be reliable respondents for many topics and survey settings it is unclear to what extend younger children provide reliable information in a face-to-face interview. In this paper we will report results from a study using video captures of 205 face-to-face interviews with children aged 8 through 14. The interviews have been coded using behavior codes on a question by question level which provides behavior-related indicators regarding the question-answer process. In addition, standard tests of cognitive resources have been conducted. Using visible and audible problems in the respondent behavior, we are able to assess the impact of the children's cognitive resources on respondent behaviors. Results suggest that girls and boys differ fundamentally in the cognitive mechanisms leading to problematic respondent behaviors.

Description:

The ÉLDEQ initiated a special data gathering project in March 2008 with the collection of biological materials from 1,973 families. During a typical visit, a nurse collects a blood or saliva sample from the selected child, makes a series of measurements (anthropometry, pulse rate and blood pressure) and administers questionnaires. Planned and supervised by the Institut de la Statistique du Québec (ISQ) and the Université de Montréal, the study is being conducted in cooperation with two private firms and a number of hospitals. This article examines the choice of collection methods, the division of effort among the various players, the sequence of communications and contacts with respondents, the tracing of families who are not contacted, and follow-up on the biological samples. Preliminary field results are also presented.

Description: The Survey on the Official Language Minority Population (SOLMP) user guide contains a description of the survey, along with survey concepts and definitions and an overview of the content development. The target and survey populations, the sample design and sample size are described in the Methodology section, while the Data Collection module provides the collection period and instrument, modes of collection, collection and communications strategies and response rates.

Updates to the guide include descriptions of the survey data processing, survey error and weighting, and guidelines for tabulations and analysis. Appendices will provide a listing of questions and variables which changed between the current and previous occasions of the survey, as well as various primers on the survey methodology.

Description: This product is the dictionary for the Longitudinal Administrative Databank (LAD). The dictionary contains a complete description for each of the income and demographic variables in the LAD, including name, acronym, definition, source, historical availability and historical continuity.

The following is a partial list of LAD variables: age, sex, marital status, family type, number and age of children, total income, wages and salaries, self-employment, Employment Insurance, Old Age Security, Canada and Quebec Pension Plans, social assistance, investment income, rental income, alimony, registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) income and contributions, low-income status, full-time education deduction, provincial refundable tax credits, goods and service tax (GST) credits, Canada Child Tax Benefits, selected immigration variables, Tax Free Savings (TFSA) information and Canadian Controlled Private Corporations (CCPC) information.

Description: The Guide to the Labour Force Survey contains a dictionary of concepts and definitions and covers topics such as survey methodology, data collection, data processing and data quality. It also contains information on products and services, sub-provincial geography descriptions as well as the survey questionnaire.

Description: The Guide to the Survey of Employment, Payrolls and Hours contains a dictionary of concepts and definitions and covers topics such as survey methodology, data collection and processing, and data quality. It also provides information on products and services, as well as the survey questionnaire.

Description: The Survey on the Official Language Minority Population (SOLMP) user guide contains a description of the survey, along with survey concepts and definitions and an overview of the content development. The target and survey populations, the sample design and sample size are described in the Methodology section. Finally, in the Data Collection module, the collection period and instrument, modes of collection, collection and communications strategies and response rates are provided.

Description: The Guide to the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey contains a dictionary of concepts and definitions, and covers topics such as survey methodology, data collection, processing, and data quality. The guide covers both components of the survey: the job vacancy component, which is quarterly, and the wage component, which is annual.

Description: The Guide to the Job Vacancy and Wage Survey contains a dictionary of concepts and definitions, and covers topics such as survey methodology, data collection, processing, and data quality.

Description:

This report deals with Indigenous identity, Indigenous ancestry, Indigenous group, Registered or Treaty Indian status, Membership in a First Nation or Indian band, Membership in a Métis organization or Settlement, and Enrollment under an Inuit land claims agreement, and contains explanations of concepts, data quality, historical comparability and comparability with other sources, as well as information on data collection, processing and dissemination.

Description: Census of Agriculture data provide statistical information on farms and farm operators at fine geographic levels and for small subpopulations. Quality evaluation activities are essential to ensure that census data are reliable and that they meet user needs.

This report provides data quality information pertaining to the Census of Agriculture, such as sources of error, error detection, disclosure control methods, data quality indicators, response rates and collection rates.

Description: The Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD) is a national survey of Canadians aged 15 and over whose everyday activities are limited because of a long-term condition or health-related problem. The 2022 CSD Concepts and Methods Guide is designed to assist CSD data users by providing relevant information on survey content and concepts, sampling design, collection methods, data processing, data quality and product availability.