Analysis

Description:

In the U.S. Census of Population and Housing, a sample of about one-in-six of the households receives a longer version of the census questionnaire called the long form. All others receive a version called the short form. Raking, using selected control totals from the short form, has been used to create two sets of weights for long form estimation; one for individuals and one for households. We describe a weight construction method based on quadratic programming that produces household weights such that the weighted sum for individual characteristics and for household characteristics agree closely with selected short form totals. The method is broadly applicable to situations where weights are to be constructed to meet both size bounds and sum-to-control restrictions. Application to the situation where the controls are estimates with an estimated covariance matrix is described.

Description:

The weighting cell estimator corrects for unit nonresponse by dividing the sample into homogeneous groups (cells) and applying a ratio correction to the respondents within each cell. Previous studies of the statistical properties of weighting cell estimators have assumed that these cells correspond to known population cells with homogeneous characteristics. In this article, we study the properties of the weighting cell estimator under a response probability model that does not require correct specification of homogeneous population cells. Instead, we assume that the response probabilities are a smooth but otherwise unspecified function of a known auxiliary variable. Under this more general model, we study the robustness of the weighting cell estimator against model misspecification. We show that, even when the population cells are unknown, the estimator is consistent with respect to the sampling design and the response model. We describe the effect of the number of weighting cells on the asymptotic properties of the estimator. Simulation experiments explore the finite sample properties of the estimator. We conclude with some guidance on how to select the size and number of cells for practical implementation of weighting cell estimation when those cells cannot be specified a priori.

Description:

When imputation is used to assign values for missing items in sample surveys, naïve methods of estimating the variances of survey estimates that treat the imputed values as if they were observed give biased variance estimates. This article addresses the problem of variance estimation for a linear estimator in which missing values are assigned by a single hot deck imputation (a form of imputation that is widely used in practice). We propose estimators of the variance of a linear hot deck imputed estimator using a decomposition of the total variance suggested by Särndal (1992). A conditional approach to variance estimation is developed that is applicable to both weighted and unweighted hot deck imputation. Estimation of the variance of a domain estimator is also examined.

Description:

One of the main objectives of a sample survey is the computation of estimates of means and totals for specific domains of interest. Domains are determined either before the survey is carried out (primary domains) or after it has been carried out (secondary domains). The reliability of the associated estimates depends on the variability of the sample size as well as on the y-variables of interest. This variability cannot be controlled in the absence of auxiliary information for subgroups of the population. However, if auxiliary information is available, the estimated reliability of the resulting estimates can be controlled to some extent. In this paper, we study the potential improvements in terms of the reliability of domain estimates that use auxiliary information. The properties (bias, coverage, efficiency) of various estimators that use auxiliary information are compared using a conditional approach.

Description:

This article studies the use of the sample distribution for the prediction of finite population totals under single-stage sampling. The proposed predictors employ the sample values of the target study variable, the sampling weights of the sample units and possibly known population values of auxiliary variables. The prediction problem is solved by estimating the expectation of the study values for units outside the sample as a function of the corresponding expectation under the sample distribution and the sampling weights. The prediction mean square error is estimated by a combination of an inverse sampling procedure and a re-sampling method. An interesting outcome of the present analysis is that several familiar estimators in common use are shown to be special cases of the proposed approach, thus providing them a new interpretation. The performance of the new and some old predictors in common use is evaluated and compared by a Monte Carlo simulation study using a real data set.

Description:

Multilevel models are often fitted to survey data gathered with a complex multistage sampling design. However, if such a design is informative, in the sense that the inclusion probabilities depend on the response variable even after conditioning on the covariates, then standard maximum likelihood estimators are biased. In this paper, following the Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PML) approach of Skinner (1989), we propose a probability weighted estimation procedure for multilevel ordinal and binary models which eliminates the bias generated by the informativeness of the design. The reciprocals of the inclusion probabilities at each sampling stage are used to weight the log likelihood function and the weighted estimators obtained in this way are tested by means of a simulation study for the simple case of a binary random intercept model with and without covariates. The variance estimators are obtained by a bootstrap procedure. The maximization of the weighted log likelihood of the model is done by the NLMIXED procedure of the SAS, which is based on adaptive Gaussian quadrature. Also the bootstrap estimation of variances is implemented in the SAS environment.

Description:

The Canadian Labour Force Survey (LFS) was not designed to be a longitudinal survey. However, given that respondent households typically remain in the sample for six consecutive months, it is possible to reconstruct six-month fragments of longitudinal data from the monthly records of household members. Such longitudinal micro-data - altogether consisting of millions of person-months of individual and family level data - is useful for analyses of monthly labour market dynamics over relatively long periods of time, 25 years and more.

We make use of these data to estimate hazard functions describing transitions among the labour market states: self-employed, paid employee and not employed. Data on job tenure, for employed respondents, and on the date last worked, for those not employed - together with the date of survey responses - allow the construction of models that include terms reflecting seasonality and macro-economic cycles as well as the duration dependence of each type of transition. In addition, the LFS data permits spouse labour market activity and family composition variables to be included in the hazard models as time-varying covariates. The estimated hazard equations have been incorporated in the LifePaths microsimulation model. In that setting, the equations have been used to simulate lifetime employment activity from past, present and future birth cohorts. Simulation results have been validated by comparison with the age profiles of LFS employment/population ratios for the period 1976 to 2001.

Description:

Combining response data from the Belgian Fertility and Family Survey with individual level and municipality level data from the 1991 Census for both nonrespondents and respondents, multilevel logistic regression models for contact and cooperation propensity are estimated. The covariates introduced are a selection of indirect features, all out of the researchers' direct control. Contrary to previous research, Socio Economic Status is found to be positively related to cooperation. Another unexpected result is the absence of any considerable impact of ecological correlates such as urbanity.

Description:

In this Issue is a column where the Editor biefly presents each paper of the current issue of Survey Methodology. As well, it sometimes contain informations on structure or management changes in the journal.

Description:

This study examines variation among Canadian schools and provinces in their reading performance. It uses data from the 2000 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD).

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: Release published in The Daily – Statistics Canada’s official release bulletin

Description: This infographic provides estimates on health care workers' stress, alcohol consumption and positive health behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic. Estimates are provided across three primary health care worker groups: nurses, physicians, and Personal Support Workers/Care Aides (PSWs/CAs).

Description: Many aspects of Canadian society affect and are affected by climate change. This presentation synthesizes recent research examining the impact of climate change on Canadian society (economy, labour, and health) as well as adaptation and mitigation measures to combat climate change.

Description:

This report is an examination of the annual police-reported crime in Canada. Data are presented within the context of both short and long term trends. The analysis focuses on trends in violent crime, property crime, impaired driving offences, drug offences and youth crime. Crime rates are examined at the national and provincial/territorial level, as well as for major metropolitan areas. The trend in Canada's crime rate is put into perspective by comparing it with crime trends in some other industrialized countries. Detailed information on incidents, accused and victims is also presented when appropriate. This is an annual periodical of great interest to those who work within the criminal justice system or anyone who is interested in crime in Canada.

Description:

The boom in the cruise industry is causing a surge in visitation to Atlantic Canada as cruise lines establish new destinations along the Eastern Seaboard.

Description:

Overall, the number of foreign travellers to Canada rose 2.1% in 1999, compared to a 6.6% increase in 1998. This was the seventh consecutive annual increase.

Description:

This series of reports provides detailed statistics and analysis on a variety of topics and issues concerning Canada's justice system. Annual Juristats are produced on areas such as: crime, homicide, youth and adult courts, and corrections. Additional Juristats are also produced each year on current topics of interest to the justice community. This is a unique periodical, of great interest to those who have to plan, establish, administer and evaluate justice programs and projects, or anyone who has an interest in Canada's justice system

Description:

This paper examines whether new views of the multinational that see these firms as decentralizing research and development (R&D) activities abroad to exploit local competencies accord with the activities of multinationals in Canada. The paper describes the innovation regime of multinational firms in Canada by examining the differences between foreign- and domestically owned firms. It focuses on the extent to which R&D is used; the type of R&D activity; the importance of R&D relative to other sources of innovative ideas; whether the use of these other ideas indicates that multinationals are closely tied into local innovation networks; the intensity of innovation; and the use that is made of intellectual property rights to protect innovations from being copied by others.

We find that, far from being passively dependent on R&D from their parents, foreign-owned firms in Canada are more active in R&D than the population of Canadian-owned firms. They are also more often involved in R&D collaboration projects both abroad and in Canada. As expected, foreign subsidiaries enjoy the advantage of accessing technology from their parent and sister companies. While multinationals are more closely tied into a network of related firms for innovative ideas than are domestically owned firms, their local R&D unit is a more important source of information for innovation than are these inter-firm links. Surprisingly, foreign subsidiaries also more frequently report that they are using technology from unrelated firms. Moreover, the multinational is just as likely to develop links into a local university and other local innovation consortia as are domestically owned firms. This evidence indicates that multinationals in Canada are not, on the whole, operating subsidiaries whose scientific development capabilities are truncated - at least not in comparison to domestically owned firms.

A comparison of the extent and impact of innovation activity of domestically and foreign-owned firms shows that foreign-owned firms innovate in all sectors more frequently than Canadian-owned companies in almost all size categories. They are also more likely to introduce world-first rather than more imitative innovations. Their superiority is most pronounced in the consumer goods sector. Finally, foreign-owned firms are more likely to protect their innovations with patent protection.

The paper also compares foreign subsidiaries to Canadian corporations that have an international orientation. These additional comparisons show that the two groups of multinationals are quite similar, both with regards to the likelihood that they conduct some form of R&D and that they introduce innovations. These results indicate that it is as much the degree of globalization that the nationality of ownership that affects the degree of innovativeness.

Overall, the survey results suggest that foreign-owned firms make a significant contribution to technological progress and innovation in Canadian industry.

Description:

The statistics presented in this bulletin are derived from our latest survey of research and development activities in Canadian industry. In 1997, a decision was made to reduce response burden by eliminating the short survey forms in favour of using administrative data. Biotechnology data are not currently available from administrative data. Therefore, only those research and development performers with over one million dollars of intramural research and development expenditures are included in these statistics. Based on 1995, the last year of full coverage, 87.6% of biotechnology research and development expenditures were made by these large performers, which represented 24% of all companies reporting biotechnology research and development activities.

Description:

Using a comprehensive micro-database of Canadian firms in conjunction with industry-level data on commodity flows, we develop a profile of corporate diversification within the Canadian economy. Our analysis has two major objectives.

First, we decompose corporate diversification into horizontal and vertical components based on the degree to which industries are linked by inter-industry trade flows. Horizontal and vertical decompositions serve as useful proxies for the strategic factors that underlie diversification strategies.

Our second objective is to ascertain whether diversification patterns are closely associated with certain industry characteristics. Here we consider industry-level factors that are generally posited to affect the level of diversification (e.g., growth, concentration, knowledge-intensity) along with other variables designed to evaluate whether diversified ownership structures are associated with inter-industry commodity flows. Our regression analysis draws on three empirical measures of diversification: first, the amount of total entropy (i.e., diversification) within an industry; second, the average entropy per firm; and last, the percentage of firms within an industry that diversify.

Description:

This report contains some basic answers to recurring questions that Statistics Canada receives on small business. It is also a reference to other Statistics Canada data sources and analytical products where more detailed information can be found.

Description:

This article provides a brief overview of the major developments in the evolution of the labour force during the 20th century.

Description:

This article considers the degree to which organized activities in youth may influence community involvement in adulthood.

Description: The series covers environment accounts and indicators, environmental surveys, spatial environmental information and other research related to environmental statistics. The technical paper series is intended to stimulate discussion on a range of environmental topics.

Description: This bulletin presents the most up-to-date available information extracted from all of the Aviation Statistics Centre's surveys. Regular features include releases on principal statistics for Canada's major air carriers, airport data, fare basis statistics and traffic data for Canada's most important markets.

Description: This series of analytical articles provides insights on the socio-economic environment in rural communities in Canada. New articles will be released periodically.

Description: Statistics Canada is committed to sharing our knowledge and expertise to help all Canadians develop their data literacy skills by developing a series of data literacy training resources. Data literacy is a key skill needed in the 21st century. It is generally described as the ability to derive meaning from data. Data literacy focuses on the competencies or skills involved in working with data, including the ability to read, analyze, interpret, visualize data, as well as to drive good decision-making.

Description: Reports on Special Business Projects is an occasional series that focuses primarily on the results of special surveys or special projects conducted by the Centre for Special Business Projects. The reports cover a wide range of topics, which include business performance and trends, custom tabulations of business data, economic impact studies, new measurement frameworks and indicators to support program development, monitoring and performance assessment, territorial economic indicators and other special studies.

Description: The fact sheets in this series provide an "at-a-glance" overview of particular aspects of education in Canada and summarize key data trends in selected tables published as part of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program (PCEIP).

The PCEIP mission is to publish a set of statistical measures on education systems in Canada for policy makers, practitioners and the general public to monitor the performance of education systems across jurisdictions and over time. PCEIP is a joint venture of Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC).

Description: Statistics Canada's Quality of Employment in Canada publication is intended to provide Canadians and Canadian organizations with a better understanding of quality of employment using an internationally-supported statistical framework. Quality of employment is approached as a multidimensional concept, characterized by different elements, which relate to human needs in various ways. To cover all relevant aspects, the framework identified seven dimensions and twelve sub-dimensions of quality of employment.

Description:

The articles published in EnviroStats use statistics to illustrate topical environmental issues. The publication is intended for a general readership rather than an expert audience.

Description:

This publication presents annual estimates of population for subprovincial areas of Canada, such as census metropolitan areas (CMAs), census agglomerations (CAs), economic regions (ERs) and census divisions (CDs). The following components of population change are also presented: births, deaths, immigration, emigration, returning emigration, net temporary emigration, net non-permanent residents and interprovincial and intraprovincial migration. The estimates are based on the most recent census of population results available at the time of publication, which have been adjusted for census net undercoverage (including adjustment for incompletely enumerated Indian reserves). This publication also contains highlights and an analysis of the most recent demographic trends, as well as a description of the concepts, methods and data quality of the estimates.

Description:

Environment fact sheets will include short, focused, single-theme analysis on key issues within the changing environment with regards to all Canadians. Over the course of the series, analysis will include topics on: air and climate, pollution and waste, environmental protection and quality, and natural resources.