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Description:

This is a toolkit intended to aid data producers and data users external to Statistics Canada.

Description:

This guide focuses on the following topic: Structural Type of Dwelling and Collectives variables. Provides information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2016 Census. Each guide contains definitions and explanations on census concepts, talks about changes made to the 2016 Census, data quality and historical comparability, as well as comparison with other data sources. Additional information will be included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the census.

Description:

The Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) serves as the highest-level governance tool for quality management at Statistics Canada. The QAF gives an overview of the quality management and risk mitigation strategies used by the Agency’s program areas. The QAF is used in conjunction with Statistics Canada management practices, such as those described in the Quality Guidelines.

Description:

Statistics Canada regularly publishes macroeconomic indicators on household assets, liabilities and net worth as part of the quarterly National Balance Sheet Accounts (NBSA). These accounts are aligned with the most recent international standards and are the source of estimates of national wealth for all sectors of the economy, including households, non-profit institutions, governments and corporations along with Canada’s wealth position vis-a-vis the rest of the world. While the NBSA provide high quality information on the overall position of households relative to other economic sectors, they lack the granularity required to understand vulnerabilities of specific groups and the resulting implications for economic wellbeing and financial stability.

Description:

Annual information is available on the RRSP contribution limit (RRSP room) available to Canadians for a particular tax year. Data may be requested for people with room by new room, unused room and total room. Information is available for the number of taxfilers with new room, their average age, their median earned income, the average dollar amount of new room and the percentage of new room greater than several predetermined dollar levels.

Data for some geographic areas are available since 1993. The latest data (2017 Room) can be requested for selected levels of postal and census geographies. The statistics are derived from a preliminary version of the annual taxfile provided by the Canada Revenue Agency.

Description: Annual data provide an overview of individuals who reported donations to registered charitable organizations on line 340 of their tax return. Data include the total number of donors, their average age, their total and median donations, their median total income, the average donation by age group and the percentage of donors by sex, age group or income group.

Data for some geographic areas are available since 1990. The latest data (2022) can be requested for selected levels of postal and census geographies. The statistics are derived from a preliminary version of the annual taxfile provided by the Canada Revenue Agency.

Description:

Every year, thousands of workers lose their jobs as firms reduce the size of their workforce in response to growing competition, technological changes, changing trade patterns and numerous other factors. Thousands of workers also start a job with a new employer as new firms enter a product market and existing firms expand or replace employees who recently left. This worker reallocation process across employers is generally seen as contributing to productivity growth and rising living standards. To measure this labour reallocation process, labour market indicators such as hiring rates and layoff rates are needed. In response to growing demand for subprovincial labour market information and taking advantage of unique administrative datasets, Statistics Canada is producing hiring rates and layoff rates by economic region of residence. This document describes the data sources, conceptual and methodological issues, and other matters pertaining to these two indicators.

Description:

The Guide to Job Vacancy Statistics provides an overview of the structure of the survey and covers topics such as survey methodology, data quality as well as terms and definitions.

Description:

This report describes the quality indicators produced for the 2014 Survey of Household Spending. These quality indicators, such as coefficients of variation, nonresponse rates, slippage rates and imputation rates, help users interpret the survey data.

Description:

The operationalization of the Population and Housing Census in Portugal is managed by a hierarchical structure in which Statistics Portugal is at the top and local government institutions at the bottom. When the Census takes place every ten years, local governments are asked to collaborate with Statistics Portugal in the execution and monitoring of the fieldwork operations at the local level. During the Pilot Test stage of the 2011 Census, local governments were asked for additional collaboration: to answer the Perception of Risk survey, whose aim was to gather information to design a quality assurance instrument that could be used to monitor the Census operations. The response rate of the survey was desired to be 100%, however, by the deadline of data collection nearly a quarter of local governments had not responded to the survey and thus a decision was made to make a follow up mailing. In this paper, we examine whether the same conclusions could have been reached from survey without follow ups as with them and evaluate the influence of follow ups on the conception of the quality assurance instrument. Comparison of responses on a set of perception variables revealed that local governments answering previous or after the follow up did not differ. However the configuration of the quality assurance instrument changed when including follow up responses.

Description:

This guide is for the Household Internet Use Survey microdata file. The Household Internet Use Survey is being conducted by Statistics Canada on behalf of Industry Canada. The information from this survey will assist the Science and Technology Redesign Project at Statistics Canada to fulfil a three-year contractual agreement between them and the Telecommunications and Policy Branch of Industry Canada. The Household Internet Use Survey is a voluntary survey. It will provide information on the use of computers for communication purposes, and households' access and use of the Internet from home.

The objective of this survey is to measure the demand for telecommunications services by Canadian households. To assess the demand, we measure the frequency and intensity of use of what is commonly referred to as "the information highway" among other things. This was done by asking questions relating to the accessibility of the Internet to Canadian households both at home, the workplace and a number of other locations. The information collected will be used to update and expand upon previous studies done by Statistics Canada on the topic of the Information Highway.

Description:

The main objective of the 2002 Youth Smoking Survey (YSS) is to provide current information on the smoking behaviour of students in grades 5 to 9 (in Quebec primary school grades 5 and 6 and secondary school grades 1 to 3), and to measure changes that occurred since the last time the survey was conducted in 1994. Additionally, the 2002 survey collected basic data on alcohol and drug use by students in grades 7 to 9 (in Quebec secondary 1 to 3). Results of the Youth Smoking Survey will help with the evaluation of anti-smoking and anti-drug use programs, as well as with the development of new programs.

Description:

The Adult Education and Training Survey (AETS) is Canada's most comprehensive source of data on individual participation in formal adult education and training. It is the only Canadian survey to collect detailed information about the skill development efforts of the entire adult Canadian population. The AETS provides information about the main subject of training activities, their provider, duration and the sources and types of support for training. Furthermore, the AETS allows for the examination of the socio-economic and demographic profiles of both training participants and non-participants. This survey also identifies barriers faced by individuals who wish to take some form of training but cannot. The AETS was administered three times during the 1990s, in 1992, 1994 and 1998, as a supplement to the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

The content of the AETS was revised to take into account recommendations coming from consultation exercises. As a result, more than half of the 2003 survey is made up of new questions and the target population has been modified.

The main objectives are:1) To measure the incidence and intensity of adults' participation in job-related formal training.2) To profile employer support to job-related formal training.3) To analyze the aspects of job-related training activities such as: training provider, expenses, financial support, motivations, outcomes and difficulties experienced while training.4) To identify the barriers preventing individuals from participating in the job-related formal training they want or need to take.5) To identify reasons explaining adults' lack of participation and of interest in job-related formal training.6) To relate adults' current participation patterns to their past involvement in and plans about future participation in job-related training.7) To measure the incidence and frequency of adults' participation in job-related informal training.8) To examine the interactions between participation in formal and informal job-related training.

The population covered by the AETS consists of Canadians 25 years of age and older. This is a change from the population previously targeted by the AETS, which consisted of Canadians aged 17 years of age and older. A primary consideration for this change was the practical difficulties in applying the definition of adult education to individuals in the 17 to 24 years of age group. By definition, adult education excludes students who are still involved in their first or initial stage of schooling. As previous AETS did not precisely identify students still in their initial stage of schooling, analyses using these data had to rely on an ad hoc definition of adult learners. According to this definition, individuals aged 17 to 24 who were not in one of the following situations were excluded from the analysis: full-time students subsidized by an employer and full-time students over 19 enrolled in elementary or secondary programs.

Description:

This publication contains data from 1976 to date for major livestock series: cattle and calves, hogs, sheep and lambs, wool, furs, trade and prices, stocks of frozen meats, and apparent per capita meat consumption. Data highlights are also included. New and revised estimates for these data are released four times a year.

Description:

This microdata file provides data from the Compensation Sector Survey. The purpose of the survey is to obtain a profile of members of the compensation community in the Human Resources community of the federal public service. The results will allow the Human Resources Community Secretariat to renew recruiting, training and development programs for this community in such a manner that these programs would take into account current data.

Description:

Section 1 described results for small for-hire carriers whose operating revenues were between $30,000 and $1,000,000. Section 2 contains data for all owner operators included in the Annual Motor Carriers of Freight Survey of Small For-hire Carriers and Owner Operators including some firms whose operating revenues exceeded $1,000,000. Section 3 provides a general discussion of the Annual Motor Carriers of Freight Survey of Small For-hire Carriers and Owner Operators methodology and data quality.

Description:

The National Population Health Survey (NPHS) used the Labour Force Survey sampling frame to draw the initial sample of approximately 20,000 households starting in 1994 and for the sample top-up this third cycle. The survey is conducted every two years. The sample collection is distributed over four quarterly periods followed by a follow-up period and the whole process takes a year. In each household, some limited health information is collected from all household members and one person in each household is randomly selected for a more in-depth interview.

The survey is designed to collect information on the health of the Canadian population and related socio-demographic information. The first cycle of data collection began in 1994, and continues every second year thereafter. The survey is designed to produce both cross-sectional and longitudinal estimates. The questionnaires includes content related to health status, use of health services, determinants of health, a health 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 mediciations. Health determinants include smoking, alcohol use and physical activity. A special focus content for this cycle includes family medical history with questions about certain chronic conditions among immediate family members and when they were acquired. As well, a section on self care has also been included this cycle. The socio-demographic information includes age, sex, education, ethnicity, household income and labour force status.

Description:

Information in this microdata file refers to survey data collected in September - November, 1994 for persons 15 years of age and older in Canada's ten provinces. The survey's main data objectives were to measure the prevalence and patterns of alcohol and other drug use, to assess harm and other consequences of drug use and to evaluate trends in recent patterns of use. Canada's Alcohol and Other Drugs Survey (CADS) also updates and expands upon data collected in the first survey, the National Alcohol and Other Drugs Survey (NADS), conducted in 1989.

Description:

Nearly 50,000 or one in five (22%) Canadian truck drivers on the road in 1998 were independent truckers or "owner-operators". However, similar to other forms of self-employment, the net-earnings and socio-economic characteristics of owner-operators have often been ignored by researchers for reasons of analytical convenience or data limitations. New data products recently released by Statistics Canada such as the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) have the potential to fill much of this gap. The 1997 SLID cross-sectional micro-data files offer a limited but meaningful insight into the work patterns of the owner-operator population, complementing and validating well-established business surveys such as the annual Small for-hire carrier and Owner-operator Survey (SFO). The purpose of this study, through a multivariate analysis of the 1997 SLID and the 1997 SFO survey, was to compare the work patterns and backgrounds of owner-operators to company drivers (paid truck drivers employed by carriers). The study found that while drivers may choose to be self-employed to gain independence, owner-operators tend to work longer hours to meet fixed and variable costs, in return for lower after-tax earnings and a greater likelihood of high work-life stress. The analysis also found that the odds of self-employment among truckers were highest among drivers over 40 years of age with no post-secondary training.

Description:

This compendium of vital statistics includes summary data on births, deaths, marriages and divorces. The introduction covers the data sources, data quality, and methods pertaining to each event, and includes a glossary defining the terms used. The first chapter is a brief overview of vital statistics for 1996. Subsequent chapters treat marriage, divorce, birth, fetal and infant mortality, total mortality, causes of death, vital statistics by census division, and international comparisons. Most charts and tables show Canada data for 1986 though 1996, while the charts and tables for causes of death show Canada data for 1979 through1996. Data for the provinces and territories are usually shown for 1995 and 1996. Appendices include population denominator data, age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) calculation methods, and leading causes of death methodology.

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

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:

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.

Description:

In the context of its "admin-first" paradigm, Statistics Canada is prioritizing the use of non-survey sources to produce official statistics. This paradigm critically relies on non-survey sources that may have a nearly perfect coverage of some target populations, including administrative files or big data sources. Yet, this coverage must be measured, e.g., by applying the capture-recapture method, where they are compared to other sources with good coverage of the same populations, including a census. However, this is a challenging exercise in the presence of linkage errors, which arise inevitably when the linkage is based on quasi-identifiers, as is typically the case. To address the issue, a new methodology is described where the capture-recapture method is enhanced with a new error model that is based on the number of links adjacent to a given record. It is applied in an experiment with public census data.

Key Words: dual system estimation, data matching, record linkage, quality, data integration, big data.

Description:

The 2006 Census Technical Report on Aboriginal Peoples deals with: (i) Aboriginal ancestry, (ii) Aboriginal identity, (iii) registered Indian status, and (iv) First Nation or Band membership. The report aims to inform users about the complexity of the data and any difficulties that could affect their use. It explains the conceptual framework and definitions used to gather the data, and it discusses factors that could affect data quality. The historical comparability of the data is also discussed.

Description:

This guide presents information of interest to users of data from the Survey of Household Spending, which gathers information on the spending habits, dwelling characteristics and household equipment of Canadian households. The survey covers private households in the 10 provinces. (The territories are surveyed every second year, starting in 1999.)

This guide includes definitions of survey terms and variables, as well as descriptions of survey methodology and data quality. One section describes the various statistics that can be created using expenditure data (e.g., budget share, market share, aggregates and medians).

Description:

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a parent-reported instrument designed to provide information on children's behaviours and relationships. The SDQ consists of 25 items which are grouped into five subscales: (1) pro-social, (2) inattention-hyperactivity, (3) emotional symptoms, (4) conduct problems, and (5) peer problems. The SDQ was used to provide information on children aged 2 to 5 years in the 2006 Aboriginal Children's Survey (ACS). Though validated on general populations, the constructs of the SDQ have not been validated for off-reserve First Nations, Métis and Inuit children in Canada. The first objective of this evaluation is to examine if the five subscales of the SDQ demonstrate construct validity and reliability for off-reserve First Nations, Métis and Inuit children. The second objective is to examine if an alternative set of subscales, using the 25 SDQ items, may be more valid and reliable for off-reserve First Nations, Métis and Inuit children.

Description:

This guide is intended to help data users understand the concepts and methods used in the 2006 Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS), which was conducted from October 2006 to March 2007.

Technical details on sampling, processing and data quality are included in this guide. Further, the guide explains the relationship between the APS and the 2006 Census and cautions users as to important differences in the data produced from these two sources. Appendix 1 provides a list of communities for which data are available while Appendix 2 contains a glossary of terms that relate to the APS. Answers to some frequently asked questions are provided in Appendix 3. Links to the 2006 APS questionnaires are found in Appendix 4.

Description:

This guide presents information of interest to users of data from the Survey of Household Spending, which gathers information on the spending habits, dwelling characteristics and household equipment of Canadian households. The survey covers private households in the 10 provinces. (The territories are surveyed every second year, starting in 1999.)

This guide includes definitions of survey terms and variables, as well as descriptions of survey methodology and data quality. One section describes the various statistics that can be created using expenditure data (e.g., budget share, market share, aggregates and medians)

Description:

This guide focuses on the following variables: After-tax income, Total income and its components, Income status as well as other related variables from the Income and earnings release.

Provides information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2006 Census. Each guide contains definitions and explanations on census concepts, data quality and historical comparability. Additional information will be included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the census.

Description:

This guide focuses on the following variables: After-tax income, Total income and its components, Income status as well as other related variables from the Income and earnings release.

Provides information that enables users to effectively use, apply and interpret data from the 2006 Census. Each guide contains definitions and explanations on census concepts, data quality and historical comparability. Additional information will be included for specific variables to help general users better understand the concepts and questions used in the census.

Description:

This guide is intended to help data users understand the concepts and methods used in the 2006 Aboriginal Children's Survey (ACS), which was conducted from October 2006 to March 2007.

Technical details on sampling, processing and data quality are included in this guide. Further, the guide explains the relationship between the ACS and the 2006 Census and cautions users as to important differences in the data produced from these two sources. Appendix 1 contains a glossary of terms that relate to the ACS. Answers to some frequently asked questions are provided in Appendix 2. Links to the 2006 ACS questionnaires are found in Appendix 3.

Description:

With each census, Statistics Canada improves its methods of dissemination to the public by seeking ways of publishing census results in a timely and accessible manner, while maintaining high data quality standards.

This consultation guide has been developed to assist you in providing feedback on 2006 Census products and services and in contributing ideas and suggestions to the 2011 Census dissemination strategy.

Description:

This special methodological paper will help readers understand and assess reports that rank the health status or health system performance of a country, province or jurisdiction. The report outlines the components and processes that underlie health rankings, explores why such rankings can be difficult to interpret and includes a plain-language checklist to use as a critical evaluative resource when reading health-ranking reports.