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Description: The Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) is a comprehensive source of data that plays a key role in the understanding of the economic behaviour of immigrants. It is the only annual Canadian dataset that allows users to study the characteristics of immigrants to Canada at the time of admission and their economic outcomes and regional (inter-provincial) mobility over a time span of more than 40 years.

Description: Since 1984, an annual international symposium on methodological issues has been sponsored by Statistics Canada. Proceedings have been available since 1987.

Description: BigData users and the BigData research community are expanding rapidly, while statisticians at large are seemingly becoming divided between those who are enthusiastic and those who are concerned, if not downright hostile. Is BigData also a big step ahead, truly advancing our ability to extract meaningful information and actual knowledge from data? Is BigData underplaying traditional statistical inference as we know it, supplanting survey methodology as a low-cost futuristic option? In this paper I will attempt to unravel the multifaceted relationship bridging BigData to sampling methodology. Starting by reasoning why it should be interesting to look at BigData from a sampling statistician’s perspective, I will delve deeper into the somewhat ambiguous definition of BigData and share some very personal considerations and views on the matter. In the process, several open questions will arise while discussing a personal selection of insights that are traceable through the vast body of statistical literature around BigData and sampling methodology. The discussion will take various angles explored across nine key points, and it will conclude with a forward-looking perspective on a main challenge for future research: addressing the strong assumptions needed to manage deviations from purely randomized data collection.

Description: In his article, Professor Carl-Erik Särndal presents for sample-based statistics a new conceptual framework with only a few key assumptions. Selected aspects of the research tradition in Survey Science are briefly discussed in my comments.

Description: This reference guide is intended for users of the Census Subdivisions Boundary File. The guide provides an overview of the file, the general methodology used to create it, and important technical information for users.

Description: The Census Subdivision Boundary File contains the boundaries of all census subdivisions which combined cover all of Canada. A census subdivision is a municipality or an area treated as an equivalent to a municipality for statistical purposes (for example, unorganized territories). The file provides a framework for mapping and spatial analysis using commercially available geographic information systems (GIS) or other mapping software.

The Census Subdivision Boundary File is portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection and is based on the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). A reference guide is available (92-162-G).

Description: This reference guide is intended for users of the Census of Population Road Network File (92-500-X). It provides an overview of the general methodology used to create this file, as well as important technical information.

Description:

This geographical file represents Canada's national road network, containing information such as street names, types, directions and address ranges.

A reference guide is available (Road Network File, Reference Guide, 92-500-G).

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:

This is a CD-ROM product from the Ontario Adult Literacy Survey (OALS), conducted in the spring of 1998 with the goal of providing information on: the ability of Ontario immigrants to use either English or French in their daily activities; and on their self-perceived literacy skills, training needs and barriers to training.

In order to cover the majority of Ontario immigrants, the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) of Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Kitchener, London and St. Catharines were included in the sample. With these 6 CMAs, about 83% of Ontario immigrants were included in the sample frame. This sample of 7,107 dwellings covered the population of Ontario immigrants in general as well as specifically targetting immigrants with a mother tongue of Italian, Chinese, Portuguese, Polish, and Spanish and immigrants born in the Caribbean Islands with a mother tongue of English.

Each interview was approximately 1.5 hours in duration and consisted of a half-hour questionnaire, asking demographic and literacy-related questions as well as a one-hour literacy test. This literacy test was derived from that used in the 1994 International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) and covered the domains of document and quantitative literacy. An overall response rate to the survey of 76% was achieved, resulting in 4,648 respondents.

Description:

The Absence from Work Survey was designed primarily to fulfill the objectives of Human Resources Development Canada. They sponsor the qualified wage loss replacement plan which applies to employers who have their own private plans to cover employee wages lost due to sickness, accident, etc. Employers who fall under the plan are granted a reduction in their quotas payable to the Unemployment Insurance Commission. The data generated from the responses to the supplement will provide input to determine the rates for quota reductions for qualified employers.

Although the Absence from Work Survey collects information on absences from work due to illness, accident or pregnancy, it does not provide a complete picture of people who have been absent from work for these reasons because the concepts and definitions have been developed specifically for the needs of the client. Absences in this survey are defined as being at least two weeks in length, and respondents are only asked the three reasons for their most recent absence and the one preceding it.

Description:

This file provides data on the characteristics of the population such as ethnic origin, labour force activity and income levels. It contains 122 variables.

The Microdata Files contain samples of anonymous responses to the 1996 Census questionnaire. The files have been carefully scrutinized to ensure the complete confidentiality of the individual responses. PUMFs enable the development of statistical information about Canadians, the families and households to which they belong, and the dwellings in which they live.

Microdata files are unique among census products in that they give users access to non-aggregated data. This makes PUMFs a powerful research tools. The user can group and manipulate these variables to suit his/her own data and research requirements. These provide quick access to a comprehensive social and economic database about Canada and its people.

All subject matter covered by the census is included in these files.

The 1996 PUMFs will only be released on CD-ROM using microcomputer applications.

Description: Environmental protection expenditures in the business sector, preliminary data presents operating and capital expenditures made by primary and manufacturing industries in response to, or in anticipation of, environmental regulations and conventions. The results are from the Environmental Protection Expenditure Survey. The data contained in Environmental protection expenditures in the business sector help to fill important gaps in existing information on the demand side of the 'environment industry.' More specifically, it provides a measure of the cost to the industry of adopting pollution prevention and abatement technologies and other environmental protection practices. Data included in Environmental protection expenditures in the business sector are components of a national statistical database on the environment industry.

Description:

This is a user guide to the National Private Vehicle Use Survey. The purpose of the survey is to provide measures of vehicle fuel use and the determinants of fuel use. This information will provide the basis for future policy decisions aimed at reducing the fuel consumed by personal-use vehicles.

To this end, it is important to understand how consumers use their vehicles in order to design adequate energy efficiency programs and alternative energy programs. The specific objectives of the survey are: provide national estimates of annual fuel use for personal-use vehicles (includes passenger cars/light trucks and vans); provide national estimates of total distance driven; identify the main factors in the purchase of a vehicle; identify in a general fashion how households use their vehicles; develop driver profiles by sex, age, marital status, income, education and occupational group; and develop vehicle profiles by vehicle body type, model year, number of cylinders, transmission type, and presence or absence of air conditioning.

Description:

This report presents results of the Waste Management Industry Survey, 1995, which gathered information on the financial characteristics and waste management activities undertaken in the business sector.

Description:

The National Population Health Survey (NPHS) uses the Labour Force Survey sampling frame to draw a sample of approximately 22,000 households. The sample is distributed over four quarterly collection periods. In each household, some limited information is collected from all household members and one person, aged 12 years and over, in each household is randomly selected for a more in-depth interview.

The questionnaire includes content related to health status, use of health services, determinants of health and a range of demographic and economic information. For example, the health status information includes self-perception of health, a health status index, chronic conditions, and activity restrictions. The use of health services is probed through visits to health care providers, both traditional and non-traditional, and the use of drugs and other medications. Health determinants include smoking, alcohol use, physical activity and in the first survey, emphasis has been placed on the collection of selected psycho-social factors that may influence health, such as stress, self-esteem and social support. The demographic and economic information includes age, sex, education, ethnicity, household income and labour force status.

Description: This public use microdata file provides unaggregated data on the Aboriginal adult population - those who identify with their Aboriginal origin(s) and those who do not. For persons who identify, it contains almost 700 variables from the 1991 survey, such as, the group with which they identify, language proficiency, disability, chronic health conditions, schooling, work experience and the 1991 Census variables such as, income levels, marital status, fertility. The same census variables are provided for the population who does not identify.

Description:

The survey, begun in February 1994, monitors the smoking patterns of Canadians over a 12 month period and to measure any changes in smoking resulting from the decrease in taxes in cigarettes which took place in February 1994 in some provinces. It is related to MDF 82M0006. Updates are included in the microdata file price. A guide for this microdata file is available.

Description: Since 1984, an annual international symposium on methodological issues has been sponsored by Statistics Canada. Proceedings have been available since 1987.

Description: BigData users and the BigData research community are expanding rapidly, while statisticians at large are seemingly becoming divided between those who are enthusiastic and those who are concerned, if not downright hostile. Is BigData also a big step ahead, truly advancing our ability to extract meaningful information and actual knowledge from data? Is BigData underplaying traditional statistical inference as we know it, supplanting survey methodology as a low-cost futuristic option? In this paper I will attempt to unravel the multifaceted relationship bridging BigData to sampling methodology. Starting by reasoning why it should be interesting to look at BigData from a sampling statistician’s perspective, I will delve deeper into the somewhat ambiguous definition of BigData and share some very personal considerations and views on the matter. In the process, several open questions will arise while discussing a personal selection of insights that are traceable through the vast body of statistical literature around BigData and sampling methodology. The discussion will take various angles explored across nine key points, and it will conclude with a forward-looking perspective on a main challenge for future research: addressing the strong assumptions needed to manage deviations from purely randomized data collection.

Description: In his article, Professor Carl-Erik Särndal presents for sample-based statistics a new conceptual framework with only a few key assumptions. Selected aspects of the research tradition in Survey Science are briefly discussed in my comments.

Description: This discussion summarizes the interesting new findings around measurement errors in opt-in surveys by Kennedy, Mercer and Lau (KML). While KML enlighten readers about “bogus responding” and possible patterns in them, this discussion suggests combining these new-found results with other avenues of research in nonprobability sampling, such as improvement of representativeness.

Description: The Canadian Income Survey (CIS) has introduced improvements to the methods and data sources used to produce income and poverty estimates with the release of its 2022 reference year estimates. Foremost among these improvements is a significant increase in the sample size for a large subset of the CIS content. The weighting methodology was also improved and the target population of the CIS was changed from persons aged 16 years and over to persons aged 15 years and over. This paper describes the changes made and presents the approximate net result of these changes on the income estimates and data quality of the CIS using 2021 data. The changes described in this paper highlight the ways in which data quality has been improved while having little impact on key CIS estimates and trends.

Description: The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is committed to improving access to more microdata, while ensuring privacy and confidentiality is maintained, through its virtual DataLab which supports researchers to undertake complex research more efficiently. Currently, the DataLab research outputs need to follow strict rules to minimise disclosure risks for clearance. However, the clerical-review process is not cost effective and has potential to introduce errors. The increasing number of statistical outputs from different projects can potentially introduce differencing risks even though these outputs from different projects have met the strict output rules. The ABS has been exploring the possibility of providing automatic output checking using the ABS cellkey methodology to ensure that all outputs across different projects are protected consistently to minimise differencing risks and reduce costs associated with output checking.

Description: This paper spans the academic work and estimation strategies used in national statistics offices. It addresses the issue of producing fine, grid-level geography estimates for Canada by exploring the measurement of subprovincial and subterritorial gross domestic product using Yukon as a test case.

Description: The Canadian Income Survey (CIS) has introduced improvements to the methods and systems used to produce income estimates with the release of its 2021 reference year estimates. This paper describes the changes and presents the approximate net result of these changes on income estimates using data for 2019 and 2020. The changes described in this paper highlight the ways in which data quality has been improved while producing minimal impact on key CIS estimates and trends.

Description: This course is intended for Government of Canada employees who would like to learn about evaluating the quality of data for a particular use. Whether you are a new employee interested in learning the basics, or an experienced subject matter expert looking to refresh your skills, this course is here to help.

Description:

This fact sheet provides a concise description of the context to the understanding of confidence intervals. Confidence intervals are a useful data quality indicator. Confidence intervals will usually be available in data tables accessible through the Statistics Canada website.

Description: The Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) is a comprehensive source of data that plays a key role in the understanding of the economic behaviour of immigrants. It is the only annual Canadian dataset that allows users to study the characteristics of immigrants to Canada at the time of admission and their economic outcomes and regional (inter-provincial) mobility over a time span of more than 40 years.

Description: This reference guide is intended for users of the Census Subdivisions Boundary File. The guide provides an overview of the file, the general methodology used to create it, and important technical information for users.

Description: The Census Subdivision Boundary File contains the boundaries of all census subdivisions which combined cover all of Canada. A census subdivision is a municipality or an area treated as an equivalent to a municipality for statistical purposes (for example, unorganized territories). The file provides a framework for mapping and spatial analysis using commercially available geographic information systems (GIS) or other mapping software.

The Census Subdivision Boundary File is portrayed in Lambert conformal conic projection and is based on the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). A reference guide is available (92-162-G).

Description: This reference guide is intended for users of the Census of Population Road Network File (92-500-X). It provides an overview of the general methodology used to create this file, as well as important technical information.

Description:

This geographical file represents Canada's national road network, containing information such as street names, types, directions and address ranges.

A reference guide is available (Road Network File, Reference Guide, 92-500-G).

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: This paper introduces and explains modifications made to the Labour Force Survey estimates.

Description: The Coverage Technical Report will present the errors included in census data that result from persons who are either missed (not enumerated) or enumerated more than once. The population coverage error is one of the most important types of errors because it affects the accuracy of not only population counts, but also all the census data results that describe the characteristics of the population universe.

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.