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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:

The Survey of Principals collects information on various topics related to the work of school principals. This article presents a brief description of this survey 's challenges and provides examples to illustrate the problems observed. The steps taken to resolve the challenges are described, and their impact on data quality is analyzed.

Description:

In 2002, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) underwent a major change in the way in which it collects and compiles its business statistics.This initiative (known as Business Statistics Innovation Program or BSIP) aims through the use of innovative technological, methodological, organisational and operational initiatives, to re-engineer the ABS's business statistics processes, so as to improve the quality and relevance of ABS business statistics in a manner that is most efficient for both the ABS and its providers.

Description:

The traditional approach to presenting variance information to data users is to publish estimates of variance or related statistics, such as standard errors, coefficients of variation, confidence limits or simple grading systems. The paper examines potential sources of variance, such as sample design, sample allocation, sample selection, non-response, and considers what might best be done to reduce variance. Finally, the paper assesses briefly the financial costs to producers and users of reducing or not reducing variance and how we might trade off the costs of producing more accurate statistics against the financial benefits of greater accuracy.

Description:

The Quarterly Services Survey has maintained comprehensive response data since the survey's inception. In analyzing the data, we concentrate on three fundamental features of response: rate, timeliness, and quality. We examine these three components across multiple dimensions. We observe the effect associated with NAICS classification, company size and response mode.

Description:

This paper sets out the importance of quality measures that can be used for monitoring purposes of these current and future information needs in the ESS. Particular emphasis is put on the needs for generalisation of initiatives in the ESS for the development and implementation of operational quality measures for enhanced quality of the statistical processes.

Description:

This presentation (1) explores the meanings of quality within a national statistical organization, (2) examines the users and uses of the quality measurements, (3) identifies particular issues in the measurement of quality, and (4) argues the need for a balanced set of measures. Among the issues discussed are the roles of customer satisfaction measures, traditional survey quality measures, financial measures, and the reliability of the quality measures themselves. The discussion draws upon the statistical and the quality management literature, and includes examples drawn from a variety of national statistical organizations.

Description:

Traditionally, data quality indicators reported by surveys have been the sampling variance, coverage error, non-response rate and imputation rate. To obtain an imputation rate when combining survey data and administrative data, one of the problems is to compute the imputation rate itself. The presentation will discuss how to solve this problem. First, we will discuss the desired properties when developing a rate in a general context. Second, we will develop some concepts and definitions that will help us to develop combine rates. Third, we will propose different combined rates for the case of imputation. We will then present three different combined rates, and we will discuss properties for each rate. We will end with some illustrative examples.

Description:

Sample allocation can be optimized with respect to various goals. When there is more than one goal, a compromise allocation must be chosen. In the past, the Reverse Record Check achieved that compromise by having a certain fraction of the sample optimally allocated for each goal (for example, two thirds of the sample is allocated to produce good-quality provincial estimates, and one third to produce a good-quality national estimate). This paper suggests a method that involves selecting the maximum of two or more optimal allocations. By analyzing the impact that the precision of population estimates has on the federal government's equalization payments to the provinces, we can set four goals for the Reverse Record Check's provincial sample allocation. The Reverse Record Check's subprovincial sample allocation requires the smoothing of stratum-level parameters. This paper shows how calibration can be used to achieve this smoothing. The calibration problem and its solution do not assume that the calibration constraints have a solution. This avoids convergence problems inherent in related methods such as the raking ratio.

Description:

The Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID) is a longitudinal survey initiated in 1993. The survey was designed to measure changes in the economic well-being of Canadians as well as the factors affecting these changes.

Sample surveys are subject to errors. As with all surveys conducted at Statistics Canada, considerable time and effort is taken to control such errors at every stage of the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics. Nonetheless errors do occur. It is the policy at Statistics Canada to furnish users with measures of data quality so that the user is able to interpret the data properly. This report summarizes a set of quality measures that has been produced in an attempt to describe the overall quality of SLID data. Among the measures included in the report are sample composition and attrition rates, sampling errors, coverage errors in the form of slippage rates, response rates, tax permission and tax linkage rates, and imputation rates.

Description:

This document summarizes the results of content analyses of the 2004 Census Test. The first section briefly explains the context of the content analyses by describing the nature of the sample, its limitations and the strategies used to evaluate data quality. The second section provides an overview of the results for questions that have not changed since the 2001 Census by describing the similarities between 2001 and 2004 distributions and non-response rates. The third section evaluates data quality of new census questions or questions that have changed substantially: same-sex married couples, ethnic origins, levels of schooling, location where highest diploma was obtained, school attendance, permission to access income tax files, and permission to make personal data publicly available 92 years after the census. The last section summarizes the overall results for questions whose content was coded and evaluated as part of the 2004 test, namely industry, occupation and place of work variables.

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: 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:

This overview document describes the conceptual underpinnings of the Integrated Business Statistics Program and explains how program components facilitate a more integrated approach to economic surveying at Statistics Canada.

Description:

The Research Data Centres (RDCs) Information and Technical Bulletin (ITB) is a forum by which Statistics Canada analysts and the research community can inform each other on survey data uses and methodological techniques. Articles in the ITB focus on data analysis and modelling, data management, and best or ineffective statistical, computational, and scientific practices. Further, ITB topics will include essays on data content, implications of questionnaire wording, comparisons of datasets, reviews on methodologies and their application, data peculiarities, problematic data and solutions, and explanations of innovative tools using RDC surveys and relevant software. All of these essays may provide advice and detailed examples outlining commands, habits, tricks and strategies used to make problem-solving easier for the RDC user.

The main aims of the ITB are:

- the advancement and dissemination of knowledge surrounding Statistics Canada's data; - the exchange of ideas among the RDC-user community;- the support of new users; - the co-operation with subject matter experts and divisions within Statistics Canada.

The ITB is interested in quality articles that are worth publicizing throughout the research community, and that will add value to the quality of research produced at Statistics Canada's RDCs.

Description:

This paper introduces and explains modifications made to the Labour Force Survey estimates in January 2015. Some of these modifications include the adjustment of all LFS estimates to reflect population counts based on the 2011 Census and includes updates to 2011 Geography classification system.

Description:

This report describes the quality indicators produced for the 2013 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 2011 NHS Aboriginal Peoples Technical Report deals with: (1) Aboriginal ancestry, (2) Aboriginal identity, (3) Registered Indian status and (4) First Nation/Indian band membership.

The report contains explanations of concepts, data quality, historical comparability and comparability to other sources, as well as information on data collection, processing and dissemination.