Friday, June 30, 2006

Number of children affected by divorce

Question

How many children (0 to 18) in Canada have been affected by divorce? (so this could include children living in lone-parent
families, or children now living in blended families et cetera).

I can get from the shelf tables number of children for a year, but that doesn't tell me a total for Canada over time. I'm sure the
answer is in either in the Census, GSS or Kids, but I can't seem to find a number. I can also find things like "one-third of marriages end in divorce" and "one-half of divorces involve children". But not a total number.

Answer

Census Family PUMF with the following variables:

CFSTRUC - census family structure
PRESCF - presence of children in female household
PRESCM - presence of children in male household
NUCHILD - number of children in household
MARSTLF - legal marital status of female
MARSTLM - legal marital status of male
MARSTHF - historical marital status of female
MARSTHM - historical marital status of male

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

GSS cycle 09 1994

Question

A researcher wants to have the distribution of frequence for variable M6 of GSS (cycle 09). In the record layout, we can read.."the write-in information contained in M6 and M7 was coded to the 3 digit level and subsequently collapsed for this presentation". Is it possible to obtain the original distribution of answers for this variable? Does it exist anywhere?

Answer

Due to confidentiality regulations we are unable to release any data captured for question M6.

For the variable M7 we have variable DVM7SIC available on the PUMF file and M7SIC (expanded codes) available on the analytical file through the RDC.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Survey 2425

Question

We have had a request for Survey 2425: Annual Survey of Arts, Entertainment and Recreation.

There are tables available on CANSIM but is there a public-use microdata file that can be added to the DLI collection?

Response

A microdata public use file was not created for this survey.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

1981 and 1991 BST

Question

I can't find these tables. I didn't find them on the FTP site. Could someone tell me where those are?

Census of Canada, 1981. User Summary Tape
EAC81A10: Population by Mother Tongue (Short form, Enumeration area level)
EAC81B10. Population by Sex and Home Language, Official Language, Ethnic Origin, and Religion (Long form, Enumeration area level)

Census of Canada, 1991. Basic Summary Tabulation
L9101: Population by Mother Tongue, Showing Age Groups (Short form, Enumeration Area level)
L9102: Population by Home Language (27), Showing Age Groups (13b) (Long form, enumeration area level)
L9103: Population by Mother Tongue (27), Showing Home Language (8) and Sex (3) (Long form, enumeration area level)
L9104: Population by Knowledge of Official Languages, Showing Age Groups (Long form, Enumeration Area level)
L9105: Population Able to Speak Various Non-official Languages, Showing Age Groups (Long form, Enumeration Area level)
L9106: Population by Mother Tongue (27), Showing Knowledge of Official Languages (5) and Sex (3) (Long form, enumeration area level)

Answer

1. Easiest suggestion I have for you is to go directly to Laine. She's got all the census stuff, all electronically.

http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/cc91/cc91bsts.htm
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/cc81/cc81bsts_ea.htm

2. These were also uploaded to the DLI.

Monday, June 5, 2006

ITS 2000 vs. ITS 2001-2005

Question

I'm looking at the ITS data - the new files - so 2000-2005. For the Canadian Resident, trips to overseas and trip to abroad(US) files.. the labels for Activities of Travelling Party.

In 2000 we have the following variables and labels:

ACT 1 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-FRIEND/RELATIVE
ACT 2 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-FESTIVALS/FAIRS
ACT 3 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-CULTURAL EVENTS
ACT 4 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-SPORTS EVENTS
ACT 5 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-SHOPPING
ACT 6 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-SIGHTSEEING
ACT 7 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-NIGHTLIFE
ACT 8 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-5 STAR RESTAURANT
ACT 9 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-VISIT THEME PARK
ACT 10 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-VISIT ZOO,MUSEUM
ACT 11 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-NATL,PROV PARK
ACT 12 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-SPORTS/OUTDOORS
ACT 13 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-SWIMMING
ACT 14 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-WATER SPORTS
ACT 15 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-HUNTING/FISHING
ACT 16 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-C.COUNTRY SKIING
ACT 17 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-DOWNHILL SKIING
ACT 18 ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-OTHER SPORT
ACT 19
ACTIVITY OF TRAVEL PARTY-OTHER

And in 2001-2005 we have:

act1 visit friends or relatives
act2 attend a festival or fair
act3 attend a cultural performance (a play, a concert, etc)
act4 visit a museum or art gallery
act5 visit a historic site
act6 visit a zoo, aquarium or botanical garden
act7 attend a sports event
act8 go shopping
act9 go sightseeing
act10 go to a bar or night club
act11 go to a casino
act12 visit a theme or amusement park
act13 visit a national or provincial nature park
act14 participate in sports or outdoor activities
act15 boating - motor boat, sail boat, kayak, canoe or other
act16 golfing
act17 downhill skiing or snow boarding
act18 hunting
act19 fishing

Are the labels for 2000 correct? or should they be the same as 2001-2005. From what I understand in 2002 when the New Initiatives for the ITS took place - both the 2000 and 2001 files were revised so users could compare back to 2000.

Answer

The labels for 2000 is correct but the are not the same as 2001-2005. Therefore some activities cannot be compared.

Act 4 is now activity 7
Act 5 is now activity 8
Act 6 is now activity 9
Act 7 is now activity 10
Act 8 is no longer on the questionnaire
Act 9 is now activity 12
Act 11 is now activity 6
Act 12 is now activity 14
Act 13 & 14 deleted and replaced
Act 15 is now activity 18 & 19
Act 16 & 17 is now activity 17
Act 18 & 19 is now activity 40

Friday, June 2, 2006

Several questions re: NPHS and CCHS

Questions

NPHS

1. The IMDB entry explains that "The NPHS Cycle 3 (1998-1999) cross-sectional sample contains all members of the NPHS longitudinal sample and 2 top-up samples." So does this mean that the cross-sectional data from each cycle is gathered from the same "longitudinal" respondents each time (plus the top-up, and minus the longitudinal non-respondents, during the 2nd and 3rd cycles)?

2. Am I correct in understanding that the NPHS cross-sectional data is available for three cycles, 94/95 to 98/99, only? And that this is what I'm able to access through the DLI ftp server?

3. Is the longitudinal data available only through the RDCs?

4. Is the NPHS still an active survey? From what I've read it seems the cross-sectional part was conducted for 3 cycles, but I see reference to Cycle 4 and 5 in the longitudinal description in the IMDB. Cycle 5 was 2002/2003, and I don't see any reference to the survey being administered since then. I also read that "These same persons will be interviewed every two years over a period of 18 years i.e. 10 cycles." So should I be expecting to see Cycles 6-10 in the future? Or has something changed for this survey?

CCHS
1. What is the main difference between these two surveys? I once thought that the CCHS was the successor of the NPHS but I'm not sure where I got that idea, as I haven't seen it anywhere in the documentation. The objectives of the surveys seems very similar though.

2. The IMDB says that "only cross-sectional data are available on such files [the PUMFs], because longitudinal information can lead to the identification of respondents." I don't see any other references to longitudinal data for the CCHS - is there a longitudinal component? The description of sampling methods for 2.1 appears to be the same type of sampling as for 1.1, and doesn't say that it's using the same respondents as 1.1. Am I missing something? And if there is longitudinal data, is that only available through the RDCs?

Answer

Answer to NPHS Question 1:
The best way to understand the samples is to look at the table found in IMDB:
http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3236&lang=en&db=IMDB&dbg=f&adm=8&dis=2
Go under the section: SAMPLING.

Answer to NPHS Question 2&3:
Yes.

Answer to NPHS Question 4:
Yes it is still active, will publish results of cycle 6 longitudinal in September. Still cycles 7, 8, 9 , 10 to do.

Answer to CCHS Question 1:
Yes, the CCHS took the cross-sectional component of the NPHS. So the CCHS is cross-sectional only, and has small geography and a big sample, NPHS is strictly longitudinal, has a small sample of a panel of respondents, and is provincial. They complement each other.

Answer to CCHS Question 2:
CCHS is strictly cross-sectional. Having the same sampling methods from one cycle to the other does not mean it is longitudinal. The big difference is the people: are they the same or not? In NPHS it is the SAME respondents every cycle, for CCHS they are always DIFFERENT.

Thursday, June 1, 2006

Residential Mobility

Question

A researcher at McMaster is looking for information at the census tract level on residential movement for the Halifax CMA. That is, how many households from each CT moved to each other CT (or out of the CMA) during a time period. In addition, data on vacancy rates and new dwelling constructions per CT would be extremely helpful as well.

Answer

Referring to CT mobility, all data at that level of geo seems to be available by custom order only - no standard products exist. This seems consistent with STC's approach to confidentiality - I doubt the numbers are very high and the division more than likely would have to ensure that the cell values meet the confidentiality thresholds.

In terms of vacancy rates, the Census does not collect this information, therefore, the possibility of getting the data at the CT level is very low. I performed a search in CANSIM and you can get some vacancy rates at the CMA level - which is the closest I believe you will find. The same holds true for new housing construction - nothing available at the CT level.

Perhaps contacting the municipality of Halifax would reap better results?