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Description:

Canada's economic story owes much to its bountiful natural resources. The December edition of Canadian Megatrends examines the role these assets have played in the growth and development of this country.

Description:

This report examines Canadians’ social connections, using the 2013 General Social Survey on Social Identity. Three aspects are examined 1) size of social networks (number and type of social connections), 2) frequency and types of communication, and 3) characteristics of friends. The report ends with a short discussion of the possible impact of social connections on Canadians’ overall quality of life.

Description:

This manuscript describes the use of multiple imputation to combine information from multiple surveys of the same underlying population. We use a newly developed method to generate synthetic populations nonparametrically using a finite population Bayesian bootstrap that automatically accounts for complex sample designs. We then analyze each synthetic population with standard complete-data software for simple random samples and obtain valid inference by combining the point and variance estimates using extensions of existing combining rules for synthetic data. We illustrate the approach by combining data from the 2006 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).

Description:

When studying a finite population, it is sometimes necessary to select samples from several sampling frames in order to represent all individuals. Here we are interested in the scenario where two samples are selected using a two-stage design, with common first-stage selection. We apply the Hartley (1962), Bankier (1986) and Kalton and Anderson (1986) methods, and we show that these methods can be applied conditional on first-stage selection. We also compare the performance of several estimators as part of a simulation study. Our results suggest that the estimator should be chosen carefully when there are multiple sampling frames, and that a simple estimator is sometimes preferable, even if it uses only part of the information collected.

Description: Parametric fractional imputation (PFI), proposed by Kim (2011), is a tool for general purpose parameter estimation under missing data. We propose a fractional hot deck imputation (FHDI) which is more robust than PFI or multiple imputation. In the proposed method, the imputed values are chosen from the set of respondents and assigned proper fractional weights. The weights are then adjusted to meet certain calibration conditions, which makes the resulting FHDI estimator efficient. Two simulation studies are presented to compare the proposed method with existing methods.

Description:

Survey methodologists have long studied the effects of interviewers on the variance of survey estimates. Statistical models including random interviewer effects are often fitted in such investigations, and research interest lies in the magnitude of the interviewer variance component. One question that might arise in a methodological investigation is whether or not different groups of interviewers (e.g., those with prior experience on a given survey vs. new hires, or CAPI interviewers vs. CATI interviewers) have significantly different variance components in these models. Significant differences may indicate a need for additional training in particular subgroups, or sub-optimal properties of different modes or interviewing styles for particular survey items (in terms of the overall mean squared error of survey estimates). Survey researchers seeking answers to these types of questions have different statistical tools available to them. This paper aims to provide an overview of alternative frequentist and Bayesian approaches to the comparison of variance components in different groups of survey interviewers, using a hierarchical generalized linear modeling framework that accommodates a variety of different types of survey variables. We first consider the benefits and limitations of each approach, contrasting the methods used for estimation and inference. We next present a simulation study, empirically evaluating the ability of each approach to efficiently estimate differences in variance components. We then apply the two approaches to an analysis of real survey data collected in the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). We conclude that the two approaches tend to result in very similar inferences, and we provide suggestions for practice given some of the subtle differences observed.

Description:

In order to obtain better coverage of the population of interest and cost less, a number of surveys employ dual frame structure, in which independent samples are taken from two overlapping sampling frames. This research considers chi-squared tests in dual frame surveys when categorical data is encountered. We extend generalized Wald’s test (Wald 1943), Rao-Scott first-order and second-order corrected tests (Rao and Scott 1981) from a single survey to a dual frame survey and derive the asymptotic distributions. Simulation studies show that both Rao-Scott type corrected tests work well and thus are recommended for use in dual frame surveys. An example is given to illustrate the usage of the developed tests.

Description:

When monthly business surveys are not completely overlapping, there are two different estimators for the monthly growth rate of the turnover: (i) one that is based on the monthly estimated population totals and (ii) one that is purely based on enterprises observed on both occasions in the overlap of the corresponding surveys. The resulting estimates and variances might be quite different. This paper proposes an optimal composite estimator for the growth rate as well as the population totals.

Description:

In developing the sample design for a survey we attempt to produce a good design for the funds available. Information on costs can be used to develop sample designs that minimise the sampling variance of an estimator of total for fixed cost. Improvements in survey management systems mean that it is now sometimes possible to estimate the cost of including each unit in the sample. This paper develops relatively simple approaches to determine whether the potential gains arising from using this unit level cost information are likely to be of practical use. It is shown that the key factor is the coefficient of variation of the costs relative to the coefficient of variation of the relative error on the estimated cost coefficients.

Description:

Rotating panel surveys are used to calculate estimates of gross flows between two consecutive periods of measurement. This paper considers a general procedure for the estimation of gross flows when the rotating panel survey has been generated from a complex survey design with random nonresponse. A pseudo maximum likelihood approach is considered through a two-stage model of Markov chains for the allocation of individuals among the categories in the survey and for modeling for nonresponse.

Description:

This topic presents data on the language composition of Canada and illustrates the linguistic characteristics of the Canadian population, including mother tongue, knowledge of official languages, first official language spoken and languages spoken at home.

This topic also presents data on language retention and language transmission by the parents to the child by other demographic characteristics. Data on languages are presented at the person level.

Description:

This topic presents data on the language composition of Canada and illustrates the linguistic characteristics of the Canadian population, including mother tongue, knowledge of official languages, first official language spoken and languages spoken at home.

This topic also presents data on language retention and language transmission by the parents to the child by other demographic characteristics. Data on languages are presented at the person level.

Description:

Using 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) data, this profile provides a statistical overview of variables describing immigration and ethnocultural diversity, Aboriginal peoples, education, labour, mobility and migration, income and earnings, and housing and shelter costs.

In the National Household Survey product line, groups of related variables are referred to as 'release components of profiles.' These are made available with the major releases of variables of the NHS cycle, starting with the Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity, and Aboriginal Peoples releases. Together, they will form a complete NHS Profile of all the variables for each level of geography. Profile-component data are available at the Canada, province and territory, census division and census subdivision levels, at the census metropolitan area and census agglomeration levels, census tract level, and at the federal electoral district (based on the 2013 Representation Order) level.

Description: The census is designed to provide information about the demographic and social characteristics of the people living in Canada and the housing or dwelling units they occupy.

'Age and sex' data are presented in a variety of different data products and analytical products which illustrate the age group structure of the Canadian population, and are used to calculate indicators of aging for each province and territory.

Analytical products

The analytical document provides analysis on the key findings and trends in the data, and is complimented with highlight tables which present key indicators for various levels of geography, and the short articles found in Census in Brief and the Focus on Geography series.

Data products

The Census Profile is one data product which provides a statistical overview of user selected geographic areas based on a number of detailed variables and/or groups of variables. Other data products include topic-based tabulations which are a series of cross-tabulations ranging in complexity and are available for various levels of geography, as well as the Visual census which provides a visual representation of selected variables accompanied by their tabular source data.

Description:

The census is designed to provide information about the demographic and social characteristics of the people living in Canada and the housing or dwelling units they occupy.

Data for 'Families, households and marital status' are presented in a variety of different data products and analytical products, which illustrate the living arrangements and structure of family units across Canada, along with the household's characteristics.

Analytical products

The analytical document provides analysis on the key findings and trends in the data, and is complemented with highlight tables which present key indicators for various levels of geography, and the short articles found in 'Census in Brief' and the 'Focus on Geography Series.'

Data products

The Census Profile is one data product which provides a statistical overview of user selected geographic areas based on a number of detailed variables and/or groups of variables. Other data products include topic-based tabulations which are a series of cross-tabulations ranging in complexity and are available for various levels of geography, as well as the Visual Census which provides a visual representation of selected variables accompanied by their tabular source data.

Description:

This table is part of the topic 'Age and sex', which provides age and sex distributions for the entire population of Canada. The 2011 Census data show the age group structure of the Canadian population and are used to calculate indicators of aging for each province and territory.

Description:

This topic presents data on census families, including the number of families, family size and structure. The data also include persons living in families, with relatives, with non-relatives and living alone. Family structure refers to the classification of census families into married couples or common-law couples (including opposite-sex or same-sex), and lone-parent families. Data are also presented on household characteristics. The household type refers to the number and types of census families living in a household. The household size refers to the number of people in the household. This topic also presents data on marital status and common-law relationships, by age and sex, for the entire Canadian population. These data show the number of persons who never-married, are married, separated, divorced or widowed, and those who are not married, whether they are living common-law or not.

Description:

Using 2011 Census data, this profile provides a statistical overview of the age and sex as well as families, households, marital status, structural type of dwelling and collectives and language characteristics for census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations. In the census product line, groups of related variables are referred to as 'release components of profiles.' These are made available with the major releases of variables of the census cycle, starting with age and sex. Together, they will form a complete Census Profile of all the variables for each level of geography, plus one cumulative profile for the dissolved census subdivisions. Starting with the age and sex major day of release, and on major days of release thereafter, profile component data are available at the Canada, province and territory, economic region, census division and census subdivision levels, at the census metropolitan area, census agglomeration, population centre, and census tract levels, designated places, and at the federal electoral district (based on the 2013 Representation Order) level. Profile component data for all other standard geographic areas, including dissemination areas, dissolved census subdivisions, and forward sortation areas, will be available after the major days of release.

Description:

This topic presents data on the language composition of Canada and illustrates the linguistic characteristics of the Canadian population, including mother tongue, knowledge of official languages, first official language spoken and languages spoken at home. This topic also presents data on language retention and language transmission by the parents to the child by other demographic characteristics. Data on languages are presented at the person level.

Description:

This application is designed to give quick access to the latest health-related data for a selected health region or census metropolitan area, providing the corresponding provincial data by default, but users can easily select a different area for comparison. The Health Profile features sub-provincial data from a number of sources including Statistics Canada's vital statistics, Canadian Cancer Registry, the Canadian Community Health Survey, and Census of Population, as well as hospitalization data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

Description:

Canada's economic story owes much to its bountiful natural resources. The December edition of Canadian Megatrends examines the role these assets have played in the growth and development of this country.

Description:

This report examines Canadians’ social connections, using the 2013 General Social Survey on Social Identity. Three aspects are examined 1) size of social networks (number and type of social connections), 2) frequency and types of communication, and 3) characteristics of friends. The report ends with a short discussion of the possible impact of social connections on Canadians’ overall quality of life.

Description:

This manuscript describes the use of multiple imputation to combine information from multiple surveys of the same underlying population. We use a newly developed method to generate synthetic populations nonparametrically using a finite population Bayesian bootstrap that automatically accounts for complex sample designs. We then analyze each synthetic population with standard complete-data software for simple random samples and obtain valid inference by combining the point and variance estimates using extensions of existing combining rules for synthetic data. We illustrate the approach by combining data from the 2006 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS).

Description:

When studying a finite population, it is sometimes necessary to select samples from several sampling frames in order to represent all individuals. Here we are interested in the scenario where two samples are selected using a two-stage design, with common first-stage selection. We apply the Hartley (1962), Bankier (1986) and Kalton and Anderson (1986) methods, and we show that these methods can be applied conditional on first-stage selection. We also compare the performance of several estimators as part of a simulation study. Our results suggest that the estimator should be chosen carefully when there are multiple sampling frames, and that a simple estimator is sometimes preferable, even if it uses only part of the information collected.

Description: Parametric fractional imputation (PFI), proposed by Kim (2011), is a tool for general purpose parameter estimation under missing data. We propose a fractional hot deck imputation (FHDI) which is more robust than PFI or multiple imputation. In the proposed method, the imputed values are chosen from the set of respondents and assigned proper fractional weights. The weights are then adjusted to meet certain calibration conditions, which makes the resulting FHDI estimator efficient. Two simulation studies are presented to compare the proposed method with existing methods.

Description:

Survey methodologists have long studied the effects of interviewers on the variance of survey estimates. Statistical models including random interviewer effects are often fitted in such investigations, and research interest lies in the magnitude of the interviewer variance component. One question that might arise in a methodological investigation is whether or not different groups of interviewers (e.g., those with prior experience on a given survey vs. new hires, or CAPI interviewers vs. CATI interviewers) have significantly different variance components in these models. Significant differences may indicate a need for additional training in particular subgroups, or sub-optimal properties of different modes or interviewing styles for particular survey items (in terms of the overall mean squared error of survey estimates). Survey researchers seeking answers to these types of questions have different statistical tools available to them. This paper aims to provide an overview of alternative frequentist and Bayesian approaches to the comparison of variance components in different groups of survey interviewers, using a hierarchical generalized linear modeling framework that accommodates a variety of different types of survey variables. We first consider the benefits and limitations of each approach, contrasting the methods used for estimation and inference. We next present a simulation study, empirically evaluating the ability of each approach to efficiently estimate differences in variance components. We then apply the two approaches to an analysis of real survey data collected in the U.S. National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). We conclude that the two approaches tend to result in very similar inferences, and we provide suggestions for practice given some of the subtle differences observed.

Description:

In order to obtain better coverage of the population of interest and cost less, a number of surveys employ dual frame structure, in which independent samples are taken from two overlapping sampling frames. This research considers chi-squared tests in dual frame surveys when categorical data is encountered. We extend generalized Wald’s test (Wald 1943), Rao-Scott first-order and second-order corrected tests (Rao and Scott 1981) from a single survey to a dual frame survey and derive the asymptotic distributions. Simulation studies show that both Rao-Scott type corrected tests work well and thus are recommended for use in dual frame surveys. An example is given to illustrate the usage of the developed tests.

Description:

When monthly business surveys are not completely overlapping, there are two different estimators for the monthly growth rate of the turnover: (i) one that is based on the monthly estimated population totals and (ii) one that is purely based on enterprises observed on both occasions in the overlap of the corresponding surveys. The resulting estimates and variances might be quite different. This paper proposes an optimal composite estimator for the growth rate as well as the population totals.

Description:

In developing the sample design for a survey we attempt to produce a good design for the funds available. Information on costs can be used to develop sample designs that minimise the sampling variance of an estimator of total for fixed cost. Improvements in survey management systems mean that it is now sometimes possible to estimate the cost of including each unit in the sample. This paper develops relatively simple approaches to determine whether the potential gains arising from using this unit level cost information are likely to be of practical use. It is shown that the key factor is the coefficient of variation of the costs relative to the coefficient of variation of the relative error on the estimated cost coefficients.

Description:

Rotating panel surveys are used to calculate estimates of gross flows between two consecutive periods of measurement. This paper considers a general procedure for the estimation of gross flows when the rotating panel survey has been generated from a complex survey design with random nonresponse. A pseudo maximum likelihood approach is considered through a two-stage model of Markov chains for the allocation of individuals among the categories in the survey and for modeling for nonresponse.

Description:

The Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) is a national survey on the social and economic conditions of First Nations people living off reserve, Métis and Inuit aged 6 years and over. The 2012 APS represents the fourth cycle of the survey and focuses on issues of education, employment and health.

The 2012 APS Concepts and Methods Guide is designed to assist data users by providing relevant information on survey content and concepts, sampling design, collection methods, data processing, data quality and product availability. Chapter 1 introduces the survey's background and objectives; Chapter 2 gives important definitions and describes the survey's themes; Chapters 3 through 5 explain the APS design and outline the data collection and processing steps; Chapter 6 describes the weighting method used; Chapters 7 and 8 review data quality and address comparability of the 2012 APS data with data from other sources; Chapter 9 lists survey products including analytical articles, data tables and reference material; Appendices provide additional definitions and links to other relevant documentation.

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 2012 CSD Concepts and Methods Guide is designed to assist data users by providing relevant information on survey content and concepts, sampling design, collection methods, data processing, data quality and product availability. Chapter 1 of this guide provides an overview of the 2012 CSD by introducing the survey's background and objectives. Chapter 2 explains the key concepts and definitions and introduces the indicators measured by the CSD questionnaire modules. Chapters 3 to 6 cover important aspects of survey methodology, from sampling design to data collection and processing. Chapters 7 and 8 cover issues of data quality, including the approaches used to minimize and correct errors throughout all stages of the survey. Users are cautioned against making comparisons with data from previous Participation and Activity Limitations Surveys. Chapter 9 outlines the survey products that are available to the public, including data tables, a fact sheet and reference material. Appendices provide more detail on survey indicators as well as a glossary of terms.

Description:

This report describes the quality indicators produced for the 2012 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.