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  • Articles and reports: 11-522-X20010016265
    Description:

    This paper discusses in detail issues dealing with the technical aspects of designing and conducting surveys. It is intended for an audience of survey methodologists.

    Several key strategies contributed to the success of the United States' Census 2000. This paper describes the strategy for the Address Building Process that incorporated numerous address lists and updated activities. The Field Interview Process created close to 900,000 jobs that needed to be filled. Two key strategies to achieve this are also described. The Formal Quality Control Process established principles to guide the quality assurance (QA) programs. These programs are presented, as are some of the examples of their implementation. The Coverage Measurement and Correction Process was used to increase census accuracy through the use of statistical methods. The steps taken to ensure Annual Capital Expenditures (ACE) accuracy and quality are described and the preliminary estimates of the undercount are reported.

    Release date: 2002-09-12

  • Articles and reports: 11F0019M2002168
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    This paper examines the factors contributing to the adoption of advanced technologies in the Canadian food-processing sector. The numbers of technologies used by a plant is found to be highly correlated with expected gains in firm performance. The benefits of enhanced food safety and quality, as well as productivity improvements, are closely associated with technology use. Impediments that negatively affect technology use include software costs, problems with external financing, lack of cash flow for financing, and internal management problems. Even after accounting for the different benefits and costs associated with technology adoption, the numbers of advanced technologies that are adopted are found to be greater in larger plants, in foreign-controlled plants, in plants that engage in both primary and secondary processing, and in the dairy, fruit and vegetable and "other" food product industries.

    Release date: 2002-05-28

  • Articles and reports: 88-003-X20000035762
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    The first survey of innovation, advanced technologies and practices in the Canadian construction sector was recently conducted. Of the five types of technologies listed in the survey, communications technologies have the highest percentage of use (46% of businesses). Of all the techonolgies, three computer-related technologies had the highest percentage of use : e-mail (38%), company computer networks (25%) and computer aided design (23%). The three advanced practices with the largest percentage of business using them, each with one third of businesses, are: design-build contracts, computerized inventory control and computerized estimating software.

    Release date: 2000-10-06

  • Articles and reports: 12-001-X19990024877
    Description:

    In 1999 Statistics Sweden outlined a proposal for improved quality within the European Statistical System (ESS). The ESS comprises Eurostat and National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) associated with Eurostat. ... Basically Statistics Sweden proposed the creation of a LEG [Leadership Expert Group] on Quality].

    Release date: 2000-03-01

  • Articles and reports: 63F0002X1999028
    Description:

    This article focuses on characteristics of primary Internet service providers (ISPs), that is, firms reporting that 50% or more of their revenues come from ISP activities. It looks at challenges facing ISPs including barriers to growth, competing in the Internet sector, complaints and practices regarding offensive content and conduct, as well as ISPs' perceptions of what is important to their customers. These items are analysed after classifying ISPs into four different size categories, enabling one to see any differences in perception or conduct between ISPs of varying sizes.

    Release date: 2000-01-10

  • Journals and periodicals: 88-518-X
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    The food-processing industry benefits from a wide a range of new advanced technologies. Technological advances include computer-based information and control systems, as well as sophisticated processing and packaging methods that enhance product quality, improve food safety and reduce costs. Continuous quality improvement and benchmarking are examples of related business practices.

    This study examines the use of advanced technologies in the food-processing industry. It focuses not just on the incidence and intensity of use of these new technologies but also on the way technology relates to overall firm strategy. It also examines how technology use is affected by selected industry structural characteristics and how the adoption of technologies affects the performance of firms. It considers as well how the environment influences technological change. The nature and structure of the industry are shown to condition the competitive environment, the business strategies that are pursued, product characteristics and the role of technology.

    Firms make strategic choices in light of technological opportunities and the risks and opportunities provided by their competitive environments. They implement strategies through appropriate business practices and activities, including the development of core competencies in the areas of marketing, production and human resources, as well as technology. Firms that differ in size and nationality choose to pursue different technological strategies. This study focuses on how these differences are reflected in the different use of technology for large and small establishments, for foreign and domestic plants and for plants in different industries.

    Release date: 1999-12-20

  • Articles and reports: 88F0006X1999005
    Description:

    The study of the adoption and dissemination of technologies is one of the key components of innovation and technological development. Indeed, it is through the adoption of newer, more advanced, technologies that industries can increase their production capabilities, improve their productivity, and expand their lines of new products and services. Surveys on the adoption of new technologies complement other information collected about R&D and innovation, allow the measurement of and how quickly and in what way industries adapt to technological change.

    This is the fifth Survey of Advanced Technology in the Canadian Manufacturing Sector. Three surveys of advanced manufacturing technologies were conducted in 1987, 1989 and 1993 (which was part of the Survey of Advanced Technology in Canadian Manufacturing), followed by a survey of the use of biotechnology by Canadian industries, conducted in 1997.

    Increasingly, manufacturing industries rely on information technology and telecommunications, computerizing and linking all functions of their production process. This survey puts the emphasis on issues such as the use of communication networks, whether internal (e. g. Local Area Networks) or external (e.g. the Internet).

    Release date: 1999-08-23

  • Articles and reports: 63-016-X19990014621
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    This paper will look at challenges facing ISPs today including barriers to growth, competing in the Internet sector, complaints and practices regarding offensive content and conduct, as well as ISPs' perceptions of what is important to customers. These issues will be analysed after classifying ISPs into four different size categories, based on ISP revenue. This will enable one to see any differences in perception or conduct between ISPs of varying sizes.

    Release date: 1999-07-15

  • Articles and reports: 62F0014M1998012
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    This paper examines the methods of adjustment for quality change made in the Canadian Consumer Price Index for the period 1989 to 1994. It finds that in most cases the current Canadian practice ensures that the replacement of one commodity by another, one variety of a commodity by another, or one outlet by another, has no impact on the overall index. The main exceptions to this result occur when replacing varieties of commodities that are purchased only occasionally, and a judgement is made that the quality ratio between the old and new variety is not the same as the ratio of their prices. In these cases there is an impact on the index, up or down, depending on whether the change in price reported is higher or lower than the change in quality. From the experience of the CPI in these six years there has been a correlation between the price ratio of a variety and its replacement and the index movement that derives from the judgement. The direction and size of the impact on the index depends largely on whether an item is replaced with a higher or lower priced item. For these reasons, the paper argues that more attention should be paid to ensuring that the item selection is more representative of current sales than has traditionally been the case.

    Release date: 1999-05-13

  • Journals and periodicals: 88-517-X
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    New firms are seen to play a key role in the innovation process, especially in certain key sectors of the economy. This study therefore examines the differences in the profiles of successful new firms in science-based industries and other industries. The firms that are examined are entrants who survey into their early teen years. The study examines numerous factors that are seen to influence the success of new businesses. These include the competitive environment, business strategies and the financial structure of the businesses.

    Successful new firms in science-based industries are found to differ in a number of dimensions from new firms in other industries. They are more likely to be exporters. They face greater technological change and intense competition with regards to the rate at which new products are being introduced. They tend to put more emphasis on quality, the frequent introduction of new products and the customization of products. They make greater use of information technology. They place more stress on new technology development, research and development facilities and the use of intellectual property. They are much more likely to innovate and they place more importance on recruiting skilled labour and on training. Finally, they are more likely to use non-traditional financial measures to evaluate performance and they are less likely to rely on secured credit for financing both their research and development activity and their machinery and equipment that are firms in other sectors.

    Release date: 1999-03-31
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Analysis (28)

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  • Articles and reports: 11-522-X202100100015
    Description: National statistical agencies such as Statistics Canada have a responsibility to convey the quality of statistical information to users. The methods traditionally used to do this are based on measures of sampling error. As a result, they are not adapted to the estimates produced using administrative data, for which the main sources of error are not due to sampling. A more suitable approach to reporting the quality of estimates presented in a multidimensional table is described in this paper. Quality indicators were derived for various post-acquisition processing steps, such as linkage, geocoding and imputation, by estimation domain. A clustering algorithm was then used to combine domains with similar quality levels for a given estimate. Ratings to inform users of the relative quality of estimates across domains were assigned to the groups created. This indicator, called the composite quality indicator (CQI), was developed and experimented with in the Canadian Housing Statistics Program (CHSP), which aims to produce official statistics on the residential housing sector in Canada using multiple administrative data sources.

    Keywords: Unsupervised machine learning, quality assurance, administrative data, data integration, clustering.

    Release date: 2021-10-22

  • Articles and reports: 82-003-X201000111066
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    This article considers critical quality control and data reduction procedures that should be addressed before physical activity information is derived from accelerometry data.

    Release date: 2010-01-13

  • Articles and reports: 11-522-X200800010950
    Description:

    The next census will be conducted in May 2011. Being a major survey, it presents a formidable challenge for Statistics Canada and requires a great deal of time and resources. Careful planning has been done to ensure that all deadlines are met. A number of steps have been planned in the questionnaire testing process. These tests apply to both census content and the proposed communications strategy. This paper presents an overview of the strategy, with a focus on combining qualitative studies with the 2008 quantitative study so that the results can be analyzed and the proposals properly evaluated.

    Release date: 2009-12-03

  • Articles and reports: 11-522-X200800010955
    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.

    Release date: 2009-12-03

  • Articles and reports: 11-522-X200800010968
    Description:

    Statistics Canada has embarked on a program of increasing and improving the usage of imaging technology for paper survey questionnaires. The goal is to make the process an efficient, reliable and cost effective method of capturing survey data. The objective is to continue using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to capture the data from questionnaires, documents and faxes received whilst improving the process integration and Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QC) of the data capture process. These improvements are discussed in this paper.

    Release date: 2009-12-03

  • Journals and periodicals: 89-639-X
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    Beginning in late 2006, the Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division of Statistics Canada embarked on the process of review of questions used in the Census and in surveys to produce data about Aboriginal peoples (North American Indian, Métis and Inuit). This process is essential to ensure that Aboriginal identification questions are valid measures of contemporary Aboriginal identification, in all its complexity. Questions reviewed included the following (from the Census 2B questionnaire):- the Ethnic origin / Aboriginal ancestry question;- the Aboriginal identity question;- the Treaty / Registered Indian question; and- the Indian band / First Nation Membership question.

    Additional testing was conducted on Census questions with potential Aboriginal response options: the population group question (also known as visible minorities), and the Religion question. The review process to date has involved two major steps: regional discussions with data users and stakeholders, and qualitative testing. The regional discussions with over 350 users of Aboriginal data across Canada were held in early 2007 to examine the four questions used on the Census and other surveys of Statistics Canada. Data users included National Aboriginal organizations, Aboriginal Provincial and Territorial Organizations, Federal, Provincial and local governments, researchers and Aboriginal service organizations. User feedback showed that main areas of concern were data quality, undercoverage, the wording of questions, and the importance of comparability over time.

    Release date: 2009-04-17

  • Articles and reports: 82-003-S200700010361
    Description:

    This article summarizes the background, history and rationale for the Canadian Health Measures Survey, and provides an overview of the objectives, methods and analysis plans.

    Release date: 2007-12-05

  • Articles and reports: 82-003-S200700010366
    Description:

    This article describes some of the logistical and operational requirement and procedures employed to perform the clinic component of the Canadian Health Measures Survey.

    Release date: 2007-12-05

  • Stats in brief: 89-628-X2007001
    Geography: Canada
    Description:

    The Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) is Canada's national survey that gathers information about adults and children whose daily activities are limited by a physical, mental, or other health-related condition or problem.

    This report presents some basic information about the survey and an overview of the methodological and content changes between the 2001 and 2006 PALS. The major difference involves a change in coverage resulting from the inclusion of a number of aboriginal communities, the addition of the three territories, and the modification to the definition of collective dwellings.

    Release date: 2007-12-03

  • Articles and reports: 12-001-X20040027750
    Description:

    Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) has been widely used as a new technology in data capture processing. It was used for the first time at Statistics Canada to process the 2001 Canadian Census of Agriculture. This involved many new challenges, both operational and methodological. This paper presents an overview of the methodological tools used to put in place an efficient ICR system. Since the potential for high levels of error existed at various stages of the operation, Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) methods and procedures were built into this operation to ensure a high degree of accuracy in the captured data. This paper describes these QA / QC methods along with their results and shows how quality improvements were achieved in the ICR Data Capture operation. This paper also identifies the positive impacts of these procedures on this operation.

    Release date: 2005-02-03
Reference (4)

Reference (4) ((4 results))

  • Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 12-539-X
    Description:

    This document brings together guidelines and checklists on many issues that need to be considered in the pursuit of quality objectives in the execution of statistical activities. Its focus is on how to assure quality through effective and appropriate design or redesign of a statistical project or program from inception through to data evaluation, dissemination and documentation. These guidelines draw on the collective knowledge and experience of many Statistics Canada employees. It is expected that Quality Guidelines will be useful to staff engaged in the planning and design of surveys and other statistical projects, as well as to those who evaluate and analyze the outputs of these projects.

    Release date: 2019-12-04

  • Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-633-X2019001
    Description:

    The mandate of the Analytical Studies Branch (ASB) is to provide high-quality, relevant and timely information on economic, health and social issues that are important to Canadians. The branch strategically makes use of expert knowledge and a large range of statistical sources to describe, draw inferences from, and make objective and scientifically supported deductions about the evolving nature of the Canadian economy and society. Research questions are addressed by applying leading-edge methods, including microsimulation and predictive analytics using a range of linked and integrated administrative and survey data. In supporting greater access to data, ASB linked data are made available to external researchers and policy makers to support evidence-based decision making. Research results are disseminated by the branch using a range of mediums (i.e., research papers, studies, infographics, videos, and blogs) to meet user needs. The branch also provides analytical support and training, feedback, and quality assurance to the wide range of programs within and outside Statistics Canada.

    Release date: 2019-05-29

  • Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 12-606-X
    Description:

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

    Release date: 2017-09-27

  • Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 12-594-X
    Description:

    This Summary Report provides an overview of the findings of a Quality Assurance Review that was conducted for nine key statistical programs during the period September 2006 to February 2007. The review was commissioned by Statistics Canada's Policy Committee in order to assess the soundness of quality assurance processes for these nine programs and to propose improvements where needed. The Summary Report describes the principal themes that recur frequently throughout these programs, as well as providing guidance for future reviews of this type.

    Release date: 2007-06-20
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