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Description: Ethnic minorities are often underrepresented in survey research, due to the challenges many researchers face in including these populations. While some studies discuss several methods in comparison, few have directly compared these methods empirically, leaving researchers seeking to include ethnic minorities in their studies unsure of their best options. In this article, I briefly review the methodological and ethical reasons for increasing ethnic minority representation in social science research, as well as challenges of doing so. I then present findings from ten studies which empirically compare methods of sampling and/or recruiting ethnic minority individuals. Finally, I discuss some implications for future research.

Description: We present design-based Horvitz-Thompson and multiplicity estimators of the population size, as well as of the total and mean of a response variable associated with the elements of a hidden population to be used with the link-tracing sampling variant proposed by Félix-Medina and Thompson (2004). Since the computation of the estimators requires to know the inclusion probabilities of the sampled people, but they are unknown, we propose a Bayesian model which allows us to estimate them, and consequently to compute the estimators of the population parameters. The results of a small numeric study indicate that the performance of the proposed estimators is acceptable.

Description: To overcome the traditional drawbacks of chain sampling methods, the sampling method called “network sampling with memory” was developed. Its unique feature is to recreate, gradually in the field, a frame for the target population composed of individuals identified by respondents and to randomly draw future respondents from this frame, thereby minimizing selection bias. Tested for the first time in France between September 2020 and June 2021, for a survey among Chinese immigrants in Île-de-France (ChIPRe), this presentation describes the difficulties encountered during collection—sometimes contextual, due to the pandemic, but mostly inherent to the method.

Description: This article discusses and provides comments on the Ardilly, Haziza, Lavallée and Tillé’s summary presentation of Jean-Claude Deville’s work on survey theory. It sheds light on the context, applications and uses of his findings, and shows how these have become engrained in the role of statisticians, in which Jean-Claude was a trailblazer. It also discusses other aspects of his career and his creative inventions.

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

Description:

This report describes sampling, weighting and estimation procedures used in the Census of Population. It provides operational and theoretical justifications for them, and presents the results of the evaluations of these procedures.

Description: Microdata files are unique among census products in that they give users access to unaggregated data. This makes the public use microdata files (PUMFs) powerful research tools. Each file contains anonymous individual responses on a large number of variables. The PUMF user can group and manipulate these variables to suit his/her own data and research requirements. Tabulations not included in other census products can be created or relationships between variables can be analysed by using different statistical tests. PUMFs 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 the microdata files. However, to ensure the anonymity of the respondents, geographic identifiers have been restricted to the provinces/territories and large metropolitan areas. Microdata files have traditionally been disseminated on magnetic tape, which required access to a mainframe computer. For the first time, the 1991 PUMFs will also be available on CD-ROM for microcomputer applications. This file contains data based on a 3% of the population enumerated in the 1991 Census. It provides information on the demographic, social and economic characteristics of the Canadian population. The Individual File allows users to return to the base unit of the census, enabling them to group and manipulate the data to suit their own data and research requirements.

This product provides two basic tools to assist users in accessing and using the 1991 Census Public Use Microdata File - Individuals CD-ROM.

Description: Microdata files are unique among census products in that they give users access to unaggregated data. This makes the public use microdata files (PUMFs) powerful research tools. Each file contains anonymous individual responses on a large number of variables. The PUMF user can group and manipulate these variables to suit his/her own data and research requirements. Tabulations not included in other census products can be created or relationships between variables can be analysed by using different statistical tests. PUMFs 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 the microdata files. However, to ensure the anonymity of the respondents, geographic identifiers have been restricted to the provinces/territories and large metropolitan areas. Microdata files have traditionally been disseminated on magnetic tape, which required access to a mainframe computer. For the first time, the 1991 PUMFs will also be available on CD-ROM for microcomputer applications. This file contains data based on a 3% of the population enumerated in the 1991 Census. It provides information on the demographic, social and economic characteristics of the Canadian population. The Households and Housing File allows users to return to the base unit of the census, enabling them to group and manipulate the data to suit their own data and research requirements.

This product provides two basic tools to assist users in accessing and using the 1991 Census Public Use Microdata File - Households and Housing CD-ROM.

Description: This report provides data quality information pertaining to the Agriculture–Population Linkage, such as sources of error, matching process, response rates, imputation rates, sampling, weighting, disclosure control methods and data quality indicators.

Description: In this paper, with and without-replacement versions of adaptive proportional to size sampling are presented. Unbiased estimators are developed for these methods and their properties are studied. In the two versions, the drawing probabilities are adapted during the sampling process based on the observations already selected. To this end, in the version with-replacement, after each draw and observation of the variable of interest, the vector of the auxiliary variable will be updated using the observed values of the variable of interest to approximate the exact selection probability proportional to size. For the without-replacement version, first, using an initial sample, we model the relationship between the variable of interest and the auxiliary variable. Then, utilizing this relationship, we estimate the unknown (unobserved) population units. Finally, on these estimated population units, we select a new sample proportional to size without-replacement. These approaches can significantly improve the efficiency of designs not only in the case of a positive linear relationship, but also in the case of a non-linear or negative linear relationship between the variables. We investigate the efficiencies of the designs through simulations and real case studies on medicinal flowers, social and economic data.

Description: Microdata files are unique among census products in that they give users access to unaggregated data. This makes the public use microdata files (PUMFs) powerful research tools. Each file contains anonymous individual responses on a large number of variables. The PUMF user can group and manipulate these variables to suit his/her own data and research requirements. Tabulations not included in other census products can be created or relationships between variables can be analysed by using different statistical tests. PUMFs 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 the microdata files. However, to ensure the anonymity of the respondents, geographic identifiers have been restricted to the provinces/territories and large metropolitan areas. Microdata files have traditionally been disseminated on magnetic tape, which required access to a mainframe computer. For the first time, the 1991 PUMFs will also be available on CD-ROM for microcomputer applications. This file contains data based on a 3% of the population enumerated in the 1991 Census. It provides information on the demographic, social and economic characteristics of the Canadian population. The Individual File allows users to return to the base unit of the census, enabling them to group and manipulate the data to suit their own data and research requirements.

This product provides two basic tools to assist users in accessing and using the 1991 Census Public Use Microdata File - Individuals CD-ROM.

Description: Microdata files are unique among census products in that they give users access to unaggregated data. This makes the public use microdata files (PUMFs) powerful research tools. Each file contains anonymous individual responses on a large number of variables. The PUMF user can group and manipulate these variables to suit his/her own data and research requirements. Tabulations not included in other census products can be created or relationships between variables can be analysed by using different statistical tests. PUMFs 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 the microdata files. However, to ensure the anonymity of the respondents, geographic identifiers have been restricted to the provinces/territories and large metropolitan areas. Microdata files have traditionally been disseminated on magnetic tape, which required access to a mainframe computer. For the first time, the 1991 PUMFs will also be available on CD-ROM for microcomputer applications. This file contains data based on a 3% of the population enumerated in the 1991 Census. It provides information on the demographic, social and economic characteristics of the Canadian population. The Households and Housing File allows users to return to the base unit of the census, enabling them to group and manipulate the data to suit their own data and research requirements.

This product provides two basic tools to assist users in accessing and using the 1991 Census Public Use Microdata File - Households and Housing CD-ROM.

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

Description:

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

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

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

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

Description:

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

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

Description:

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

Description:

This publication presents a comprehensive overview of the Canadian trucking industry, both for-hire and private (own account). Principal information includes statistics on revenues and expenses, equipment operated, investment, employment, and commodities transported from point of origin to point of destination. Also included are special studies, a glossary and an explanation of data quality measures and methodology.

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: Ethnic minorities are often underrepresented in survey research, due to the challenges many researchers face in including these populations. While some studies discuss several methods in comparison, few have directly compared these methods empirically, leaving researchers seeking to include ethnic minorities in their studies unsure of their best options. In this article, I briefly review the methodological and ethical reasons for increasing ethnic minority representation in social science research, as well as challenges of doing so. I then present findings from ten studies which empirically compare methods of sampling and/or recruiting ethnic minority individuals. Finally, I discuss some implications for future research.

Description: We present design-based Horvitz-Thompson and multiplicity estimators of the population size, as well as of the total and mean of a response variable associated with the elements of a hidden population to be used with the link-tracing sampling variant proposed by Félix-Medina and Thompson (2004). Since the computation of the estimators requires to know the inclusion probabilities of the sampled people, but they are unknown, we propose a Bayesian model which allows us to estimate them, and consequently to compute the estimators of the population parameters. The results of a small numeric study indicate that the performance of the proposed estimators is acceptable.

Description: To overcome the traditional drawbacks of chain sampling methods, the sampling method called “network sampling with memory” was developed. Its unique feature is to recreate, gradually in the field, a frame for the target population composed of individuals identified by respondents and to randomly draw future respondents from this frame, thereby minimizing selection bias. Tested for the first time in France between September 2020 and June 2021, for a survey among Chinese immigrants in Île-de-France (ChIPRe), this presentation describes the difficulties encountered during collection—sometimes contextual, due to the pandemic, but mostly inherent to the method.

Description: This article discusses and provides comments on the Ardilly, Haziza, Lavallée and Tillé’s summary presentation of Jean-Claude Deville’s work on survey theory. It sheds light on the context, applications and uses of his findings, and shows how these have become engrained in the role of statisticians, in which Jean-Claude was a trailblazer. It also discusses other aspects of his career and his creative inventions.

Description: In this paper, with and without-replacement versions of adaptive proportional to size sampling are presented. Unbiased estimators are developed for these methods and their properties are studied. In the two versions, the drawing probabilities are adapted during the sampling process based on the observations already selected. To this end, in the version with-replacement, after each draw and observation of the variable of interest, the vector of the auxiliary variable will be updated using the observed values of the variable of interest to approximate the exact selection probability proportional to size. For the without-replacement version, first, using an initial sample, we model the relationship between the variable of interest and the auxiliary variable. Then, utilizing this relationship, we estimate the unknown (unobserved) population units. Finally, on these estimated population units, we select a new sample proportional to size without-replacement. These approaches can significantly improve the efficiency of designs not only in the case of a positive linear relationship, but also in the case of a non-linear or negative linear relationship between the variables. We investigate the efficiencies of the designs through simulations and real case studies on medicinal flowers, social and economic data.

Description:

Conceptual arguments and examples are presented suggesting that the Bayesian approach to survey inference can address the many and varied challenges of survey analysis. Bayesian models that incorporate features of the complex design can yield inferences that are relevant for the specific data set obtained, but also have good repeated-sampling properties. Examples focus on the role of auxiliary variables and sampling weights, and methods for handling nonresponse. The article offers ten top reasons for favoring the Bayesian approach to survey inference.

Description:

Periodically, income statistics are updated to reflect the most recent population estimates derived after the census. Accordingly, with the release of the 2020 data from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS), Statistics Canada has revised estimates for 2012 to 2019 using totals from population estimates based on the 2016 Census. This paper presents a comparison between revised and unrevised estimates for key income series, and describes other modifications made to CIS variables.

Description:

We combine weighting and Bayesian prediction in a unified approach to survey inference. The general principles of Bayesian analysis imply that models for survey outcomes should be conditional on all variables that affect the probability of inclusion. We incorporate all the variables that are used in the weighting adjustment under the framework of multilevel regression and poststratification, as a byproduct generating model-based weights after smoothing. We improve small area estimation by dealing with different complex issues caused by real-life applications to obtain robust inference at finer levels for subdomains of interest. We investigate deep interactions and introduce structured prior distributions for smoothing and stability of estimates. The computation is done via Stan and is implemented in the open-source R package rstanarm and available for public use. We evaluate the design-based properties of the Bayesian procedure. Simulation studies illustrate how the model-based prediction and weighting inference can outperform classical weighting. We apply the method to the New York Longitudinal Study of Wellbeing. The new approach generates smoothed weights and increases efficiency for robust finite population inference, especially for subsets of the population.

Description:

Panel surveys are frequently used to measure the evolution of parameters over time. Panel samples may suffer from different types of unit non-response, which is currently handled by estimating the response probabilities and by reweighting respondents. In this work, we consider estimation and variance estimation under unit non-response for panel surveys. Extending the work by Kim and Kim (2007) for several times, we consider a propensity score adjusted estimator accounting for initial non-response and attrition, and propose a suitable variance estimator. It is then extended to cover most estimators encountered in surveys, including calibrated estimators, complex parameters and longitudinal estimators. The properties of the proposed variance estimator and of a simplified variance estimator are estimated through a simulation study. An illustration of the proposed methods on data from the ELFE survey is also presented.

Description:

Many studies conducted by various electric utilities around the world are based on the analysis of mean electricity consumption curves for various subpopulations, particularly geographic in nature. Those mean curves are estimated from samples of thousands of curves measured at very short intervals over long periods. Estimation for small subpopulations, also called small domains, is a very timely topic in sampling theory.

In this article, we will examine this problem based on functional data and we will try to estimate the mean curves for small domains. For this, we propose four methods: functional linear regression; modelling the scores of a principal component analysis by unit-level linear mixed models; and two non-parametric estimators, with one based on regression trees and the other on random forests, adapted to the curves. All these methods have been tested and compared using real electricity consumption data for households in France.

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

Description:

This report describes sampling, weighting and estimation procedures used in the Census of Population. It provides operational and theoretical justifications for them, and presents the results of the evaluations of these procedures.

Description: This report provides data quality information pertaining to the Agriculture–Population Linkage, such as sources of error, matching process, response rates, imputation rates, sampling, weighting, disclosure control methods and data quality indicators.

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:

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.

Description:

The Canadian Labour Force Survey (LFS) is the official source of monthly estimates of total employment and unemployment. Following the 2011 census, the LFS underwent a sample redesign to account for the evolution of the population and labour market characteristics, to adjust to changes in the information needs and to update the geographical information used to carry out the survey. The redesign program following the 2011 census culminated with the introduction of a new sample at the beginning of 2015. This report is a reference on the methodological aspects of the LFS, covering stratification, sampling, collection, processing, weighting, estimation, variance estimation and data quality.

Description:

In over 70 years, the methodology and questionnaire, as well as the collection and processing techniques of the Canadian Labour Force Survey have undergone major changes. This document summarizes these changes chronologically and provides references to more detailed information sources. Among the most significant changes were two questionnaire redesigns, which occurred approximately 20 years apart, in 1976 and 1997.

Description:

This report describes sampling and weighting procedures used in the 2011 National Household Survey. It provides operational and theoretical justifications for them, and presents the results of the evaluation studies of these procedures.

Description:

This report describes the quality indicators produced for the 2004 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 report describes the quality indicators produced for the 2005 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.