Statistical methods

Skip to main content
Skip to footer

Language selection

Français

Search and menus

Search and menus

Search

Key indicators

Selected geographical area: Canada

Investment in new housing construction - Canada
(August 2018)

$5,106.5 million

-2.2%

(12-month change)
Residential construction investment - Canada
(Second quarter 2018)

$36,023.7 million

7.8%

(year-over-year change)

Subject

Results

All (2,299)

All (2,299) (30 to 40 of 2,299 results)

31. Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Report
Stats in brief: 11-637-X
Description: This product presents data on the Sustainable Development Goals. They present an overview of the 17 Goals through infographics by leveraging data currently available to report on Canada’s progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Release date: 2024-01-25
32. The continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: Variations in the economic integration of new immigrants
Stats in brief: 11-001-X202402237898
Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin
Release date: 2024-01-22
33. Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) Technical Report, 2022
Articles and reports: 11-633-X2024001
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 35 years.
Release date: 2024-01-22
34. Distributions of Household Economic Accounts, estimates of asset, liability and net worth distributions, 2010 to 2023, technical methodology and quality report
Articles and reports: 13-604-M2024001
Description: This documentation outlines the methodology used to develop the Distributions of household economic accounts published in January 2024 for the reference years 2010 to 2023. It describes the framework and the steps implemented to produce distributional information aligned with the National Balance Sheet Accounts and other national accounts concepts. It also includes a report on the quality of the estimated distributions.
Release date: 2024-01-22
35. Analytical Studies: Methods and References
Journals and periodicals: 11-633-X
Description: Papers in this series provide background discussions of the methods used to develop data for economic, health, and social analytical studies at Statistics Canada. They are intended to provide readers with information on the statistical methods, standards and definitions used to develop databases for research purposes. All papers in this series have undergone peer and institutional review to ensure that they conform to Statistics Canada's mandate and adhere to generally accepted standards of good professional practice.
Release date: 2024-01-22
36. Model-based stratification of payment populations in Medicare integrity investigations
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300200001
Description: When a Medicare healthcare provider is suspected of billing abuse, a population of payments X made to that provider over a fixed timeframe is isolated. A certified medical reviewer, in a time-consuming process, can determine the overpayment Y = X - (amount justified by the evidence) associated with each payment. Typically, there are too many payments in the population to examine each with care, so a probability sample is selected. The sample overpayments are then used to calculate a 90% lower confidence bound for the total population overpayment. This bound is the amount demanded for recovery from the provider. Unfortunately, classical methods for calculating this bound sometimes fail to provide the 90% confidence level, especially when using a stratified sample.
In this paper, 166 redacted samples from Medicare integrity investigations are displayed and described, along with 156 associated payment populations. The 7,588 examined (Y, X) sample pairs show (1) Medicare audits have high error rates: more than 76% of these payments were considered to have been paid in error; and (2) the patterns in these samples support an “All-or-Nothing” mixture model for (Y, X) previously defined in the literature. Model-based Monte Carlo testing procedures for Medicare sampling plans are discussed, as well as stratification methods based on anticipated model moments. In terms of viability (achieving the 90% confidence level) a new stratification method defined here is competitive with the best of the many existing methods tested and seems less sensitive to choice of operating parameters. In terms of overpayment recovery (equivalent to precision) the new method is also comparable to the best of the many existing methods tested. Unfortunately, no stratification algorithm tested was ever viable for more than about half of the 104 test populations.
Release date: 2024-01-03
37. A method for estimating the effect of classification errors on statistics for two domains
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300200002
Description: Being able to quantify the accuracy (bias, variance) of published output is crucial in official statistics. Output in official statistics is nearly always divided into subpopulations according to some classification variable, such as mean income by categories of educational level. Such output is also referred to as domain statistics. In the current paper, we limit ourselves to binary classification variables. In practice, misclassifications occur and these contribute to the bias and variance of domain statistics. Existing analytical and numerical methods to estimate this effect have two disadvantages. The first disadvantage is that they require that the misclassification probabilities are known beforehand and the second is that the bias and variance estimates are biased themselves. In the current paper we present a new method, a Gaussian mixture model estimated by an Expectation-Maximisation (EM) algorithm combined with a bootstrap, referred to as the EM bootstrap method. This new method does not require that the misclassification probabilities are known beforehand, although it is more efficient when a small audit sample is used that yields a starting value for the misclassification probabilities in the EM algorithm. We compared the performance of the new method with currently available numerical methods: the bootstrap method and the SIMEX method. Previous research has shown that for non-linear parameters the bootstrap outperforms the analytical expressions. For nearly all conditions tested, the bias and variance estimates that are obtained by the EM bootstrap method are closer to their true values than those obtained by the bootstrap and SIMEX methods. We end this paper by discussing the results and possible future extensions of the method.
Release date: 2024-01-03
38. Small area prediction of general small area parameters for unit-level count data
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300200003
Description: We investigate small area prediction of general parameters based on two models for unit-level counts. We construct predictors of parameters, such as quartiles, that may be nonlinear functions of the model response variable. We first develop a procedure to construct empirical best predictors and mean square error estimators of general parameters under a unit-level gamma-Poisson model. We then use a sampling importance resampling algorithm to develop predictors for a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) with a Poisson response distribution. We compare the two models through simulation and an analysis of data from the Iowa Seat-Belt Use Survey.
Release date: 2024-01-03
39. Bayesian small area models under inequality constraints with benchmarking and double shrinkage
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300200004
Description: We present a novel methodology to benchmark county-level estimates of crop area totals to a preset state total subject to inequality constraints and random variances in the Fay-Herriot model. For planted area of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), it is necessary to incorporate the constraint that the estimated totals, derived from survey and other auxiliary data, are no smaller than administrative planted area totals prerecorded by other USDA agencies except NASS. These administrative totals are treated as fixed and known, and this additional coherence requirement adds to the complexity of benchmarking the county-level estimates. A fully Bayesian analysis of the Fay-Herriot model offers an appealing way to incorporate the inequality and benchmarking constraints, and to quantify the resulting uncertainties, but sampling from the posterior densities involves difficult integration, and reasonable approximations must be made. First, we describe a single-shrinkage model, shrinking the means while the variances are assumed known. Second, we extend this model to accommodate double shrinkage, borrowing strength across means and variances. This extended model has two sources of extra variation, but because we are shrinking both means and variances, it is expected that this second model should perform better in terms of goodness of fit (reliability) and possibly precision. The computations are challenging for both models, which are applied to simulated data sets with properties resembling the Illinois corn crop.
Release date: 2024-01-03
40. Dealing with undercoverage for non-probability survey samples
Articles and reports: 12-001-X202300200005
Description: Population undercoverage is one of the main hurdles faced by statistical analysis with non-probability survey samples. We discuss two typical scenarios of undercoverage, namely, stochastic undercoverage and deterministic undercoverage. We argue that existing estimation methods under the positivity assumption on the propensity scores (i.e., the participation probabilities) can be directly applied to handle the scenario of stochastic undercoverage. We explore strategies for mitigating biases in estimating the mean of the target population under deterministic undercoverage. In particular, we examine a split population approach based on a convex hull formulation, and construct estimators with reduced biases. A doubly robust estimator can be constructed if a followup subsample of the reference probability survey with measurements on the study variable becomes feasible. Performances of six competing estimators are investigated through a simulation study and issues which require further investigation are briefly discussed.
Release date: 2024-01-03

Data (9)

Data (9) ((9 results))

No content available at this time.

Analysis (1,874)

Analysis (1,874) (20 to 30 of 1,874 results)

21. Integration of existing data to develop an ethnicity indicator in the LSDDP Archived
Articles and reports: 11-522-X202200100018
Description: The Longitudinal Social Data Development Program (LSDDP) is a social data integration approach aimed at providing longitudinal analytical opportunities without imposing additional burden on respondents. The LSDDP uses a multitude of signals from different data sources for the same individual, which helps to better understand their interactions and track changes over time. This article looks at how the ethnicity status of people in Canada can be estimated at the most detailed disaggregated level possible using the results from a variety of business rules applied to linked data and to the LSDDP denominator. It will then show how improvements were obtained using machine learning methods, such as decision trees and random forest techniques.
Release date: 2024-03-25
22. Probabilistic or deterministic? Linkage methods tested for the Résil program Archived
Articles and reports: 11-522-X202200100019
Description: The purpose of this article is to compare the linkage results for individuals from French tax sources with those of the 2019 Enquête Annuelle de Recensement (EAR), obtained through different methods. Such a comparison will decide whether the Répertoires Statistiques d'Individus et de Logements (Résil) program should be equipped with a probabilistic matching tool for its administrative source identification and matching engine.
Release date: 2024-03-25
23. Record linkage techniques to identify 2021 Canadian Census dwellings in the new Statistical Building Register Archived
Articles and reports: 11-522-X202200100020
Description: The reconciliation of 2021 census dwellings with the new Statistical Building Register (SBgR) presented linkage challenges. The Census of Population collected information from various dwelling types. For a large proportion of the population, mailing addresses were at the centre: they were used for reaching out to people and collected as contact info. In parallel, the register environment has been evolving. The agency is transitioning from the Address Register (AR) to the SBgR holding both mailing and location addresses, while also covering non-residential buildings. The reconciliation was conducted using a combination of systems, notably the new Register Matching Engine (RME) for difficult cases. The RME holds an interesting range of sophisticated string comparators. A deterministic linkage approach was used, while incorporating some data knowledge like the entropy. Through metadata, the matching expert could also reduce the amounts of false positives and false negatives.
Release date: 2024-03-25
24. Statistics Canada International Symposium Series: Proceedings
Journals and periodicals: 11-522-X
Description: Since 1984, an annual international symposium on methodological issues has been sponsored by Statistics Canada. Proceedings have been available since 1987.
Release date: 2024-03-25
25. Ensuring that the Labour Force Survey Remains the Cornerstone of Canada’s Labour Market Information Ecosystem
Articles and reports: 75-005-M2024001
Description: From 2010 to 2019, the Labour Force Survey (LFS) response rate – or the proportion of selected households who complete an LFS interview – had been on a slow downward trend, due to a range of social and technological changes which have made it more challenging to contact selected households and to persuade Canadians to participate when they are contacted. These factors were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in the suspension of face-to-face interviewing between April 2020 and fall 2022. Statistics Canada is committed to restoring LFS response rates to the greatest extent possible. This technical paper discusses two initiatives that are underway to ensure that the LFS estimates continue to provide an accurate and representative portrait of the Canadian labour market.
Release date: 2024-02-16
26. Market Basket Measure research paper: Applying the Market Basket Measure methodology to an administrative data source
Articles and reports: 75F0002M2024002
Description: This discussion paper describes considerations for applying the Market Basket Measure (MBM) methodology onto a purely administrative data source. The paper will begin by outlining a rationale for estimating MBM poverty statistics using administrative income data sources. It then explains a proposal for creating annual samples along with the caveats of creating these samples, followed by a brief analysis using the proposed samples. The paper concludes with potential future improvements to the samples and provides the opportunity for reader’s feedback.
Release date: 2024-02-08
27. Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Report
Stats in brief: 11-637-X
Description: This product presents data on the Sustainable Development Goals. They present an overview of the 17 Goals through infographics by leveraging data currently available to report on Canada’s progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Release date: 2024-01-25
28. The continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: Variations in the economic integration of new immigrants
Stats in brief: 11-001-X202402237898
Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin
Release date: 2024-01-22
29. Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) Technical Report, 2022
Articles and reports: 11-633-X2024001
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 35 years.
Release date: 2024-01-22
30. Distributions of Household Economic Accounts, estimates of asset, liability and net worth distributions, 2010 to 2023, technical methodology and quality report
Articles and reports: 13-604-M2024001
Description: This documentation outlines the methodology used to develop the Distributions of household economic accounts published in January 2024 for the reference years 2010 to 2023. It describes the framework and the steps implemented to produce distributional information aligned with the National Balance Sheet Accounts and other national accounts concepts. It also includes a report on the quality of the estimated distributions.
Release date: 2024-01-22

Reference (363)

Reference (363) (40 to 50 of 363 results)

41. Using data linkage to evaluate the consistency of place of residence between census data and tax data Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-522-X201700014725
Description:
Tax data are being used more and more to measure and analyze the population and its characteristics. One of the issues raised by the growing use of these type of data relates to the definition of the concept of place of residence. While the census uses the traditional concept of place of residence, tax data provide information based on the mailing address of tax filers. Using record linkage between the census, the National Household Survey and tax data from the T1 Family File, this study examines the consistency level of the place of residence of these two sources and its associated characteristics.
Release date: 2016-03-24
42. Estimating internal migration: Issues related to using tax data Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-522-X201700014726
Description:
Internal migration is one of the components of population growth estimated at Statistics Canada. It is estimated by comparing individuals’ addresses at the beginning and end of a given period. The Canada Child Tax Benefit and T1 Family File are the primary data sources used. Address quality and coverage of more mobile subpopulations are crucial to producing high-quality estimates. The purpose of this article is to present the results of evaluations of these elements using access to more tax data sources at Statistics Canada.
Release date: 2016-03-24
43. An Overview of Business Record Linkage at Statistics Canada: How to link the “Unlinkable” Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-522-X201700014741
Description:
Statistics Canada’s mandate includes producing statistical data to shed light on current business issues. The linking of business records is an important aspect of the development, production, evaluation and analysis of these statistical data. As record linkage can intrude on one’s privacy, Statistics Canada uses it only when the public good is clear and outweighs the intrusion. Record linkage is experiencing a revival triggered by a greater use of administrative data in many statistical programs. There are many challenges to business record linkage. For example, many administrative files not have common identifiers, information is recorded is in non-standardized formats, information contains typographical errors, administrative data files are usually large in size, and finally the evaluation of multiple record pairings makes absolute comparison impractical and sometimes impossible. Due to the importance and challenges associated with record linkage, Statistics Canada has been developing a record linkage standard to help users optimize their business record linkage process. For example, this process includes building on a record linkage blocking strategy that reduces the amount of record-pairs to compare and match, making use of Statistics Canada’s internal software to conduct deterministic and probabilistic matching, and creating standard business name and address fields on Statistics Canada’s Business Register. This article gives an overview of the business record linkage methodology and looks at various economic projects which use record linkage at Statistics Canada, these include projects in the National Accounts, International Trade, Agriculture and the Business Register.
Release date: 2016-03-24
44. Redesign of the longitudinal immigration database (IMDB) Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-522-X201700014747
Description:
The Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) combines the Immigrant Landing File (ILF) with annual tax files. This record linkage is performed using a tax filer database. The ILF includes all immigrants who have landed in Canada since 1980. In looking to enhance the IMDB, the possibility of adding temporary residents (TR) and immigrants who landed between 1952 and 1979 (PRE80) was studied. Adding this information would give a more complete picture of the immigrant population living in Canada. To integrate the TR and PRE80 files into the IMDB, record linkages between these two files and the tax filer database, were performed. This exercise was challenging in part due to the presence of duplicates in the files and conflicting links between the different record linkages.
Release date: 2016-03-24
45. Use of Administrative Data to Increase the Efficiency of the Sample Design for the New National Travel Survey Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-522-X201700014749
Description:
As part of the Tourism Statistics Program redesign, Statistics Canada is developing the National Travel Survey (NTS) to collect travel information from Canadian travellers. This new survey will replace the Travel Survey of Residents of Canada and the Canadian resident component of the International Travel Survey. The NTS will take advantage of Statistics Canada’s common sampling frames and common processing tools while maximizing the use of administrative data. This paper discusses the potential uses of administrative data such as Passport Canada files, Canada Border Service Agency files and Canada Revenue Agency files, to increase the efficiency of the NTS sample design.
Release date: 2016-03-24
46. Challenges Associated with Using Scanner Data for the Consumer Price Index Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-522-X201700014751
Description:
Practically all major retailers use scanners to record the information on their transactions with clients (consumers). These data normally include the product code, a brief description, the price and the quantity sold. This is an extremely relevant data source for statistical programs such as Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index (CPI), one of Canada’s most important economic indicators. Using scanner data could improve the quality of the CPI by increasing the number of prices used in calculations, expanding geographic coverage and including the quantities sold, among other things, while lowering data collection costs. However, using these data presents many challenges. An examination of scanner data from a first retailer revealed a high rate of change in product identification codes over a one-year period. The effects of these changes pose challenges from a product classification and estimate quality perspective. This article focuses on the issues associated with acquiring, classifying and examining these data to assess their quality for use in the CPI.
Release date: 2016-03-24
47. Report on Plans and Priorities
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 11-018-X
Description: Reports on Plans and Priorities (RPP) are individual expenditure plans for each department and agency. These reports provide increased levels of detail over a three-year period on an organization's main priorities by strategic outcome, program and planned/expected results, including links to related resource requirements presented in the Main Estimates. In conjunction with the Main Estimates, Reports on Plans and Priorities serve to inform members of Parliament on planned expenditures of departments and agencies, and support Parliament's consideration of supply bills. The RPPs are typically tabled soon after the Main Estimates by the President of the Treasury Board.
Release date: 2016-03-07
48. A New Survey Measure of Disability: the Disability Screening Questions (DSQ) Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 89-654-X2016003
Description:
This paper describes the process that led to the creation of the new Disability Screening Questions (DSQ), jointly developped by Statistics Canada and Employment and Social Development Canada. The DSQ form a new module which can be put on general population surveys to allow comparisons of persons with and without a disability. The paper explains why there are two versions of the DSQ—a long and a short one—, the difference between the two, and how each version can be used.
Release date: 2016-02-29
49. Revisions to 2006 to 2011 income data Archived
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 75F0002M2015003
Description:
This note discusses revised income estimates from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID). These revisions to the SLID estimates make it possible to compare results from the Canadian Income Survey (CIS) to earlier years. The revisions address the issue of methodology differences between SLID and CIS.
Release date: 2015-12-17
50. Population and Family Estimation Methods at Statistics Canada
Surveys and statistical programs – Documentation: 91-528-X
Description:
This manual provides detailed descriptions of the data sources and methods used by Statistics Canada to estimate population. They comprise Postcensal and intercensal population estimates; base population; births and deaths; immigration; emigration; non-permanent residents; interprovincial migration; subprovincial estimates of population; population estimates by age, sex and marital status; and census family estimates. A glossary of principal terms is contained at the end of the manual, followed by the standard notation used.
Until now, literature on the methodological changes for estimates calculations has always been spread throughout various Statistics Canada publications and background papers. This manual provides users of demographic statistics with a comprehensive compilation of the current procedures used by Statistics Canada to prepare population and family estimates.
Release date: 2015-11-17

Browse our partners page to find a complete list of our partners and their associated products.

Report a problem or mistake on this page

Date modified:: 2024-05-31