Friday, November 19, 2010

Wilcox, SK - Religion in 1991 and 2001

Question

A researcher is studying the village of Wilcox, SK. He thinks that there may be an error with the number reported in the 1991 Census pertaining to the religion question.

In 1991, there were 75 Catholics and 165 Protestants (and no other groups).
In 2001, there 215 Catholics and 75 Protestants.
(Looking down the road to 2011, I am expecting there won't be a number to compare.)

Because Wilcox is home of Notre Dame College, it would be easy to think that he is correct in his hypothesis. Is it possible that the numbers in 1991 were flipped?

Answer

Subject matter experts have looked into the researcher's question about the religion data for Wilcox, SK for 1991 and have provided the following response:

"We have compared the religion data for Wilcox, SK for 1981, 1991 and 2001 and found no indication of any errors made during processing. No change was made to the data from the load stage to the unimpute stage to the final disseminated Religion data.

One possible explanation for the difference between the 1991 and 2001 data is the fact that the 2001 Census was conducted in mid-May, three weeks earlier than it was done in 1991. It is possible that by early June, school residences (i.e. Notre Dame College) would essentially be empty but in mid-May there would still be students in the school residence as well as in private dwellings. So many years after collection, there is no way we can confirm this for sure."

If you or the researcher have any other questions, please not hesitate to contact us.

Farm Workers

Question

A researcher is trying to estimate the exposure of farm workers in Canada to pesticides. That is the big question and we have been trying to figure out what data would help to provide some answers. So far she is stymied by the lack of appropriate data even on the number of farm or agricultural workers.

The Census of Canada has the most detail about occupations. The Census of Agriculture has the most information about farm operations . Files provided by the DLI are helpful, particularly 2006 CEAG Farm Data as it has information on the numbers of farms using herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides; but neither census gets to the heart of the question at the level of detail the researchers would like.

She is wondering whether it is possible to find the following from any source, including a custom tabulation (this is one part of a larger research project with funding):

- Number of farm workers (farm operators plus paid workers)
- By province, or even better by region within each province
- By type of farming operation (livestock, field crops, fruits, berries, hay, etc.)

Her further question is why it is easy to find a CANSIM table with information about the greenhouse, nursery and sod industries but so hard to find information about employees in the other types of agricultural operations.

Answer

The Census of Agriculture unfortunately does not collect data on farm workers or the number of farm workers on an agricultural operation. Our agriculture contacts described the closest data they could offer as follows:

"Unfortunately the Census of Agriculture does not collect data about farm workers, or even the number of farm workers on an agricultural operation. Our questionnaire really focuses only on Operations and Operators.

The only data we could offer is the number of weeks of paid work – yearly and seasonal - by region, and by farm types.

The following link to our released data shows the number of weeks by region: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/95-629-x/2007000/4182411-eng.htm#paid

If you are interested in having the data classified by farm types, this would be a custom request. Our custom tabulation start at $300, and vary according to the level of complexity of the request."

The CEAG Farm Data file in the DLI collection also appears to include variables on paid work.

Additional Information

Another agriculture contact sent me some additional information a few minutes ago explaining that it is easier to find information about workers in the greenhouse, nursery and sod industries because these labour data are collected through the Annual Greenhouse, Sod and Nursery Survey which includes the following questions:

"Please include owners and family workers in the following labour questions:

25. How many seasonal workers did your greenhouse employ (less than 8 months) in 2009?
26. How many permanent workers (full-time and part-time) did your greenhouse employ (8 months and more) in 2009?
27. What was your total payroll (including owners' salaries) in 2009?"

Number of Students by Subject of Study Broken Down by Actual Universities in Canada

Question

I have a researcher looking for the number of students (headcount) in individual Universities in Canada (e.g. St. Mary's, Dalhousie, University of Toronto, St. FX, etc, etc.). The researcher is also looking for number of students in these Universities broken down by the faculty they are studying in (e.g. Biology, History, Medicine, etc, etc.).

If anyone knows where I can find this information, please let me know.

Thank-you,

Answer

The FTE enrolments by university figures that are in the publications on the Canadian Association of University Teachers website (see their Almanac) may be of interest to the researcher.

We have university enrolments by province in the Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) tables in the DLI collection (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/psis-siep-eng.htm) and StatCan can produce university enrolments by institution as a custom tabulation. I have asked our education consultants to confirm if enrolments by field and by university are also available and will let you know as soon as this is confirmed.

Additional Information

We have a Postsecondary Student Information System (PSIS) table in the DLI collection that provides University enrolments, by province of study and by field of study, annual (number), 1992-1993 to 2008-2009 (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/psis-siep-eng.htm). It doesn't include data by institution however.

University enrolments by institution and by field of study can be produced on a custom basis. The minimum cost for one year of data (2008-2009) would be $150. If this is of interest to your client, I will refer you to an Account-Executive in the Western region who can provide an official quote for these custom data.

I hope that these sources and the ones suggested below are helpful.

Census Tract Maps with Information on Neighbourhoods

Question

I am trying to locate a map of Saskatoon at the census tract level that includes information on neighbourhoods for Census 2006. See attached file for an example from Census 1996. I have been unable to locate one. The reference map at the census tract level available at http://geodepot.statcan.gc.ca/2006/13011619/03130120_05-eng.jsp has census tract codes but does not have matching information on neighbourhoods.

Answer

Our geography contacts have confirmed that similar CT level maps weren't produced for 2006. It may be possible to produce similar maps for 2006 as a custom products on request but there would be a cost to produce them.

Our contacts directed us to the following neighbourhood maps in Saskatoon(available free) and indicated that they may help your users determine on their own which Census Tracts are within each neighbourhood:

Generalized map:
http://www.saskatoon.ca/DEPARTMENTS/Community%20Services/PlanningDevelopment/Documents/Mapping/Wall_maps/index_nhoods_key_map.pdf

Detailed map:
http://www.saskatoon.ca/DEPARTMENTS/Community%20Services/PlanningDevelopment/Documents/Mapping/Wall_maps/index_nhoods_map.pdf

I hope that this is helpful.

Type 2 Diabetes in Children since 1970’s

Question

I have a student looking for the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in children going back to the 1970's to date or whatever she can find. Anything we are finding is not specific to type 2. Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer

This information doesn't appear to be readily available in CANSIM, on the StatCan website or in the DLI collection. I have therefore asked our health contacts to advise. I will be sure to get back to you through the dlilist as soon as I receive their recommendations.

The third reference in the Diabetes section of Healthy People, Healthy Places (82-229-XWE; http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-229-x/2009001/status/dia-eng.htm#n3) refers to a non-StatCan publication on Type 2 diabetes in children and may also be of interest to the student:
American Diabetes Association. Type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents. Diabetes Care 2000;23(3)381-389.

Additional Information

Some data on diabetes by type for the 12-19 age group may be available as a custom tabulation from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS). They unfortunately aren't available for children under 12.

Our contacts provided the following information about the custom CCHS data that may be available:

"We don't ask diabetes type to respondents and also our target population is 12+. We did create a derived variable in the CCHS for 2009 to derive the type of diabetes a respondent has. It is based on the series of questions in the chronic conditions module that we ask respondents who answer yes to having diabetes. It's called CCCDDIA. (...) Any tabulation by age group would be a custom tabulation. Unfortunately given that the national estimates for 2009 for the age group 12-19 are suppressed, this tabulation would not be feasible. It might be possible to use the two year data (...)." The division can look into the feasibility of producing this if these data are of interest to the student.

Our contacts also directed us to the following article from Health Reports http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2008001/article/10533-eng.htm which may be of interest.

Please let me know if the student is interested in the custom tables and I will refer you to an Account-Executive who can work with the author division to investigate this further and confirm what tables could be produced, for what years and at what cost.

GSS Cycle 23 PUMF: Release Date

The General Social Survey (GSS) cycle 23 public use microdata file (PUMF) is scheduled to be released in December 2010.

Data for GSS cycle 23 were released on September 28th 2010 (see: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/100928/dq100928a-eng.htm) but the PUMF is scheduled to be released in December.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any other questions.

Financial Performance Indicators

Question

The FPI product - on the main product page http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=61-224-XCB&lang=eng it states at the bottom:

"Free access
This product may also be accessible for free at these libraries.

These data are available at no additional charge to Canadian educational institutions participating in the Data Liberation Initiative."

Does this mean that I can hand over this product to someone outside of the University community?

What has happened - an employee of a company not associated in any way with the University called StatCan talked to a representative who in turn gave them my name and contact information. I'm a little confused - can I give it to her or not?

Answer

External clients may use the DSP copy of Financial Performance Indicators but they are not authorised to use the DLI copy of this product. The DSP copy has national level data whereas the DLI copy also includes lower levels of geography. The DLI copy is covered under the DLI licence and may therefore only be used by authorised users.

Thank you for letting us know that an external user was referred to you by the National Contact Centre, we will look into this. Generally, only members of the academic community would be referred to the DLI Contact in a member institution for information about a DLI product. I suspect that in this case the intention was to refer the user to a DSP library.

Economic Regions

Question
We would like to request descriptions please for the Economic Regions in the Postal Code Conversion File, if available. For your information, please find below* background geography documentation on Economic Regions.

If there are no descriptions per se for the (18) Economic Regions, are there are characteristics that distinguish the 18 Economic Regions from each other at the provincial level and at the national level, e.g., do the 13,592 Economic Regions designated as “10” in Nfld/Labrador resemble each other and the other 198,216 in the rest of Canada, and if so, how?

*background documentation from STC:

The PCCF reference guide (p.20) indicates:
Economic Regions: This identifies an economic region within a province/territory. This field must be combined with the province/territory code to uniquely identify an economic region.

From the Census Dictionary: An economic region (ER) is a grouping of complete census divisions (CDs) (with one exception in Ontario) created as a standard geographic unit for analysis of regional economic activity.

Within the province of Quebec, economic regions (régions administratives) are designated by law. In all other provinces and territories, economic regions are created by agreement between Statistics Canada and the province/territory concerned. Prince Edward Island and the three territories each consist of one economic region. In Ontario, there is one exception where the economic region boundary does not respect census division boundaries: the census division of Halton is split between the ER of Hamilton - Niagara Peninsula and the ER of Toronto.

Answer
Our geography contacts have provided us with the following information in response to your questions about the Economic Region codes in the Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF):

Question:
We would like to request descriptions please for the Economic Regions in the Postal Code Conversion File, if available.

Answer:
"Economic region code

An economic region (ER) is a grouping of complete census divisions (CDs) (with one exception in Ontario) created as a standard geographic unit for analysis of regional economic activity.
Source: December 2009 Postal codes Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF), Reference Guide p. 28)

Each economic region is assigned a two-digit code. In order to uniquely identify each economic region in Canada, the two-digit province/territory code must precede the ER code.
Source: 2006 Census Dictionary http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/ref/dict/geo022a-eng.cfm

An Economic Region is a standard unit created in response to the requirement for a geographical unit suitable for the presentation and analysis of regional economic activity. Such a unit is small enough to permit regional analysis, yet large enough to include enough respondents that, after data are screened for confidentiality, a broad range of statistics can still be released.

The regions are based upon work by Camu, Weeks and Sametz in the 1950s. At the outset, boundaries of regions were drawn in such a way that similarities of socio-economic features within regions were maximized while those among regions were minimized. Later, the regions were modified to consist of counties which define the zone of influence of a major urban centre or metropolitan area. Finally, the regions were adjusted to accommodate changes in CD boundaries and to satisfy provincial needs.
Source: Standard geographical classification, 2006 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/sgc-cgt/2006/2006-intro-fin-eng.htm"

Question:
If there are no descriptions per se for the (18) Economic Regions, are there are characteristics that distinguish the 18 Economic Regions from each other at the provincial level and at the national level, e.g., do the 13,592 Economic Regions designated as "10" in Nfld/Labrador resemble each other and the other 198,216 in the rest of Canada, and if so, how?

Answer:
"No, there are no characteristics that distinguish one ERcode from another ERcode.

An ER is a geographical unit, smaller than a province, except in the case of Prince Edward Island and the Territories. The ER is made up by grouping whole census divisions, except for one case in Ontario, where the city of Burlington, a component of Halton (CD 35 24), is excluded from the ER of Toronto and is included in the Hamilton–Niagara Peninsula ER, which encompasses the entire CMA of Hamilton.
There were 76 ERs in 2006.
Source: Standard geographical classification, 2006 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/sgc-cgt/2006/2006-intro-fin-eng.htm"

Question:
Do provinces and territories all assign these numbers independently of each other?

Answer:
"ERs may be economic, administrative or development regions. Within the province of Quebec, economic regions are designated by law ("les régions administratives"). In all other provinces, economic regions are created by agreement between Statistics Canada and the provinces concerned.
Source: Standard geographical classification, 2006 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/sgc-cgt/2006/2006-intro-fin-eng.htm"

Question:
Is there any kind of common reason why the provinces and territories use "10" and in decreasing numbers "20", "30", etc.? Does 3510 (Ontario) have any relation to 2410 (Québec) or "3590" and "2490"?

Answer:
"No, there is no methodological reason why the provinces and territories use the numbers that they do, there is no relation between 3510 (Ontario) and 2410 (Québec) or 3590 and 2490. They are simply sequential numbers, no relationship between numbers and provinces."

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Place of Work Statistics

Question

I have a question from a team of graduate students and faculty member. These patrons are looking to do some modelling based on place of work information (DA level); however, rather than household-based statistics, they're hoping for something which is industry-based. That is, they do not want to know how many people who live in DA1 work in retail vs. manufacturing occupations, but what the concentration of retail companies or manufacturing companies is in DA1 (for example). Similarly, they don't care how many residents of DA2 take the bus to work, but are interested in how many people who work in DA2 took the bus to get there.

I have explained to them that the Census is household based, but they wanted to know if anyone might know of another way of obtaining information about DAs from the perspective of businesses (up to and including custom files). In fact, I think they want to try to link to link DAs if they can (ie, connect commuters from their home DAs to their work DAs). As you can see from the list of variables they require, about half of them are easily answered by the profile series. Alas it is the latter half which is problematic (at least as the team would like it).

Total Population
Total Private Dwellings
Total Private Dwellings occupied by usual residents
Land Area (km²)
Total Population Density/km²
Total Number of Households
Average Household Size (HH)
Median HH Income ($)
Auto Ownership (Average Autos per HH)
Total Employment
Total Employment by Industry
Retail Trade Employment
Non-Retail Trade Employment
Place of Work (POW) Status
Mode of transportation to work
Average Trip Length for Home Based Work (HBW) Trip
Average Trip Length for Home Based Non-Work (HBNW) Trip
Average Trip Length for Non-Home Based (NHB) Trip

Does anyone have any suggestions? Is this something that could even be requested as a custom table (or tables)? To add to the interesting situation, this team is also working with the RDC, so there are questions floating around about whether or not the RDC might be able to get this dream file in the long run.

Thank you for any help you can provide (even if it's verifying that it is not possible to get the data in the form they'd like).

Answer

I have received a description of a DA level place of work based custom product that could be produced for the students. I will send you the description of the product off-list and the contact details of an Account-Executive in Halifax who is available to discuss this product with you or the students.

DLI National Training Day

Dear DLI Contacts,

We are pleased to inform all DLI Contacts that the following DLI training events are being planned for May 2011. Mark your calendars!

DLI National Training Day 2011 - Monday, May 30, 2011
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC

DLI Bootcamp - Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC

Please visit the official DLI 2011 website for registration and program information.

These DLI training events are taking place before the start of IASSIST 2011 main conference which is being in Vancouver BC from June 1st to 3rd, 2011. IASSIST pre-conference workshops are also being held on Tuesday May 31, 2011.

Additional information regarding the DLI National Training Day and the DLI Bootcamp will be sent out in the near future. Should you have any questions regarding these DLI training events, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS) 2009 - Cycle 2 and Annual

The Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS) 2009 - cycle 2 and annual public use microdata file (PUMF) is now available on the DLI FTP and website.

"This survey tracks changes in smoking status, especially for populations most at risk such as the 15- to 24-year-olds. It allows Health Canada to estimate smoking prevalence for the 15- to 24-year-old and the 25-and-older groups by province and by gender on a semi-annual basis." (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=82M0020X&lang=eng)

FTP:
/DissFTP/dli/DLI Coll._Other prod/Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey - ctums/2009/annual /Diss
FTP/dli/DLI Coll._Other prod/Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey - ctums/2009/cycle2

WEB:
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/ctums-esutc/2009survey-tobacco-enquete-tabac-eng.htm
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/ctums-esutc/2009c2survey-tobacco-enquete-tabac-eng.htm

Staged Versus Unstaged

Question

I wonder if someone can help me with some terminology. I have a student who is interested in analyzing Canadian Health Measures Survey data at an RDC. I asked one of our regional RDC analysts when this data would be available. He said that the unstaged wave 4 data will be available sometime in November, with a staged version released to the RDCs a week or two after that.

Can anyone please explain staged vs. unstaged?

Also, I am not getting a clear answer about the availability of this data. Are Waves 1 and 2 already available to the RDCs if they have an approved researcher waiting for that data? Or are all four waves being made available to the RDCs at the same time?

Answer

We consulted our RDC colleagues about your questions they described "staging" as follows:

"Staging involves preparing the SAS, SPSS and STATA files as well as the metadata to adhere to certain standards. We reduce the workload of the RDC Analysts by minimizing the multiple reproductions of data files and associated applications at each RDC. We also improve data quality by minimizing the number of reproductions of data files and associated applications; and by verifying the data files produced by the Survey Focal Point (SFP,. A.k.a. the Subject Matter areas responsible for each survey) before data are released for use at the RDCs."

The DLI unit tends to use "author division" or "subject matter division" when referring to the "Survey Focal Point".

Our RDC colleagues also confirmed that:

"CHMS Cycle 1 Wave 1 and Cycle 1 Wave 2 are available in the RDCs. CHMS Cycle 1 Wave 3 is currently being staged."

Census Tables by Occupation

Question

In the 2001 Census the following table was released by Census tract:

Occupation - 2001 National Occupational Classification for Statistics (60), Age Groups (10) and Sex (3) for Labour Force 15 Years and Over (20% sample data) 95F0384XCB01002.

Am I correct that NO tables that include occupation were released for 2006 at the Census Tract level? If you have a handy explanation I can pass on to the student, it would be nice. It does seem odd, as it would appear this would be a popular table.

Answer

The 2006 Census topic-based tabulations on occupation don't seem to include tables with data at the Census Tract level but labour force by sex by occupation at the Census Tract level are available in the 2006 Census complete cumulative profile: http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2006/dp-pd/prof/rel/Lp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=0&PRID=0&PTYPE=89103&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=81&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=

For 2006 these data would unfortunately only be available as a custom table. If this is of interest to the student, I will refer you to an Account-Executive in our Montreal Regional Office who can give you a cost estimate for such a table.

Our census contacts have looked into why this table wasn't produced for 2006 and sent us this explanation: "There are a few reasons why this table was not reproduced for 2006. First, a cross-tabulation this size at the CT level had a lot of empty cells, so this table would have come under review from a data perspective. Also the content for the entire 2006 Census dissemination cycle was reviewed and streamlined across all topics. It was decided not to apply the standard geographic hierarchies to the basic cross-tabulations and so the CT level was not applied to all tables."

I hope that this information is helpful. If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

1953 Canadian Weight Height Survey

Question

We have had a request from a researcher here for the data from the 1953 Canadian Weight Height Survey. This survey was conducted by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics (Statistics Canada's predecessor) and one of the articles we found stated that the tables and the report were issued by the Department of National Health and Welfare. The records were apparently transcribed to punch cards. I know this is a real long shot, but by any chance does anyone know if the data is available in a digital medium?

Answer

I would be surprised if this is available on digital media as this was well before the DBS had much in the way of computing power. The first major survey processed on the computer was the 1958 Survey of Farm Income and Expenditures. Those tapes have not been preserved although we did migrate them a few times, but they rusted out and were abandoned.

Additional Information

Our health contacts have confirmed that, as was suspected, these data unfortunately no longer exist here at Statistics Canada. They thought that the following articles about the 1953 survey could be of interest to your researcher:

http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v10/n7/full/oby200290a.html
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_11/sr11_008.pdf

As I mentioned off list earlier this week, I consulted the UofT Data Library website and the 1953 survey doesn't appear to be listed there either.

I hope that this confirmation is helpful.

Portrait of Official-Language Minorities in Canada: Anglophones in Quebec

A Portrait of Official-Language Minorities in Canada: Anglophones in Quebec is being released today. This study paints a general statistical portrait of the official-language minority in Quebec based on data from the Census of Population and the Survey on the Vitality of Official-language Minorities in Canada, conducted in 2006. The purpose of such a portrait is to present a set of characteristics, behaviours and perceptions of the official-language minority population, exploiting the analytical opportunities contained in the data.

This demolinguistic portrait of the English-speaking population in Quebec was undertaken with the financial support of Canadian Heritage's Official Languages Secretariat, Human Resources and Social Development Canada and Justice Canada. It is one of eleven such portraits of official-language minorities in Canada, prepared by the Statistics Canada's Language Statistics Section.

Enclosed is the link to the Spotlight on the Census web page http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/index-eng.cfm