Friday, November 28, 2008

Synthetic Files for the CCHS

Question

This question is in regards to the new synthetic files announced for the CCHS:

Canadian Community Health Survey 2007 - Synthetic Files

The central objective of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is to gather health-related data at sub-provincial levels of geography (health region or combined health regions).

Note: It is important to note that these synthethic files do not contain real data and should never be used for analytical purposes. Their only purpose is to assist users in developing and testing the computer programs that are to be submitted by remote job submission.

FTP: /dli/cchs/Synthetic_files-Dummy_files/cchs-2007-synthetic_files-dummy_files.zip
WEB: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/cchs-escc-eng.htm


I am confused by this latest synthetic file for the CCHS. Other synthetic files were identified by an associated Cycle. What is the CCHS 2007 synthetic file all about?

Also, I think the web link for this 2007 synthetic file may inadvertently be conjoined with the web link for Cycle 1.1?

Answer
I had asked Health Division about the Cycle number when they sent us the data, and they provided the following explanation:
"Effective starting this cycle, the CCHS team made a decision to drop the .1 in the naming convention and simply state the year- (because CCHS has gone to continuous collection, the term CCHS 4.1 is not quite accurate anymore). Therefore, the CD is correctly named CCHS 2007."
Also, you are correct about the web link problem. There is an error in the web link for Cycle 1.1 on our English site (the links on the French site are correct). I will have our team fix that today.

Thanks for letting us know.

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