Friday, November 30, 2007

Divorce Settlements

Question

A student has been told by a professor that statistics on a given topic exist on the STC website, yet I have found no evidence of it. In this case, it's about the amounts of money people get as a result of divorce settlements. Or am I missing something? I would welcome any advice!

Answer

To the best of our knowledge, Statistics Canada does not collect data on the value of divorce settlements. Our main divorce related statistics are divorces counts from vital statistics.

The closest I found to data on money people receive as a result of divorce settlements were variables on support payments in SLID and the Maintenance Enforcement Survey and a study titled "Why Do Children Move into and out of Low Income: Changing Labour Market Conditions or Marriage and Divorce"
(http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/11F0019MIE/11F0019MIE1999132.pdf).

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Hospital Personnel

Question

I have a student who is looking for data on staffing in Ontario hospitals - her question was "Are there any data bases that list staff in hospitals by occupation?" By staff she means members of the health care team -- doctors, nurses, pharmacists etc., and she wants this by hospital if at all possible.

The Statistics Canada publication Hospital Statistics used to contain this information, but I can't find anything since the databases were turned over to CIHI. Anything I'm missing?

Answer

You are right. These data are now collected by CIHI and not by STC anymore.

Name Change - World Trade Data / Canadian Trade Data

World Trade Data is now called World Trade Analyzer
Canadian Trade Data is now called World Trade Atlas -- Canadian Edition

The content of these products has not changed, only their names have been modified.

Web:
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/worldtrade.htm
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/cantrade.htm

FTP:
/ftp/dli/trade/world-trade-analyzer
/ftp/dli/trade/world-trade-atlas-canada-edition

Survey of Canadian Attitudes Towards Learning

Question

Will the DLI be receiving the Survey of Canadian Attitudes Towards Learning 2007? It was announced in Today's Daily:

Results from the second Survey of Canadian Attitudes towards Learning will be released on Monday, November 26, 2007 in the Statistics Canada Daily. The Daily can be downloaded at no charge from the Statistics Canada website (www.statcan.ca).

The article indicates that it can be acquired via a special request from Culture, Tourism, and Centre for Educ. Stats and doesn't indicate if there would be a charge for this.

Answer

A PUMF wasn't produced for the Survey of Canadian Attitudes Towards Learning, 2007 and the author division can't provide us with any standard tables for this survey.

Some of the findings from the survey are available on the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL) website at
http://www.ccl-cca.ca/ccl/reports/SCAL/?Language=EN

Additional data is available from the Centre for Education Statistics as a special request (custom tabulation) but there would be fees for this data.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Updated products - Road Network File (RNF)

Road Network File, 2007

The 2007 Road Network File (RNF) (92-500-XWE2007001) is now available. The Road Network File (RNF) is a digital representation of Canada's national road network, containing information such as street names, types, direction and address ranges. The information comes from the National Geographic Database (NGD).

A reference guide is also included.

The 2007 Road Network File does not replace the 2006 Road Network File, which is a similar product available as part of the 2006 suite of Geography products, and used in conjunction with products and services from the 2006 Census.

FTP:
/ftp/dli/geography/2006/spatial_info_products(mapinfo-arcinfo guides)produits_d'info_spatiale/arcinfo/rnf-frr/2007
/ftp/dli/geography/2006/spatial_info_products(mapinfo-arcinfo-guides)produits_d'info_spatiale/mapinfo/rnf-frr/2007

Friday, November 16, 2007

Internet Data at Municipal Level

Question

Looking for data on use of Internet by citizens and businesses for municipalities in Ontario. Researcher wants to know: can we expect CMA level only for this kind of data from Statcan ?

1. For each geographical area, rate of Internet use for citizens.

2. For each geographical area, rate of Internet use for businesses.

3. Type of public access points available within each geographical area (library, internet cafe, etc.)

Answer

The Canadian Internet Use Survey (2005) contains variables to distinguish Toronto, and other rural versus urban areas in Ontario, as well as a number of locations of use (although not specifically internet cafes). It does not, however, cover business use, since it is a survey of households.

I suspect that, for a more specific geographic breakdown of rates of use by municipalities in Ontario, you will need to request a special tabulation.

The Survey of electronic commerce and technology (SECT) seems to attempt to collect comparable data for business - SDDS 4225.
http://www.statcan.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=
getSurvey&SDDS=4225&lang=en&db=IMDB&dbg=f&adm=8&dis=2


As far as I can tell, the aggregate stats published from this Survey are available in CANSIM, but only for Canada as a whole, not broken down by province even.

Destination port and top exporter by commodity data

Question

I have a student who wants BC forest product export data to China. She wants it broken down by type of product. I was able to help her with the Trade Analyser from CHASS, but she would like more detailed data if she can get it. What she is looking for is a breakdown by Chinese destination port as well as the top BC exporters (companies) for the different products. Does anyone have suggestions for this more detailed data?

Answer

Our International Trade Division has provided me with the following information in response to your request for export data for BC forest products.

The exporter names they have are confidential and they can not disseminate any company name and/or business number.

The information they have on ports would be for Canadian ports only and is available only as a customized tabulation (on a cost-recovery basis). None of the export documentation they capture contains the port names for the country of destination i.e., Chinese ports.

They indicated that Industry Canada's online trade data (formerly known as Strategis -
http://www.ic.gc.ca/sc_mrkti/tdst/engdoc/tr_homep.html)
would have information on exports to China originating from BC by commodity up to the 6 digit level from 1996 to present day.

The World Trade Atlas (available on this page
http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/Data/Ftp/cantrade.htm)
would provide you with exports to China for commodities at the HS10 level broken down by Province of Origin (BC) for the same timelines. Province of Origin is defined as the province the goods were grown, mined, or manufactured.

The International Trade Division has indicated that they would be available to provide you with assistance identifying the HS codes associated with forestry products if you need any help.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Benefits of Beyond 20/20

Question

I am interested in descriptions how Data Librarians offer and when they used Beyond 20/20 data.

Answers

1) The B2020 files have a great deal of value. The first thing is the interface. It is extremely intuitive and powerful - students pick it up very quickly. (the intuitiveness of B2020 has been challenged by some)

The second is the type of data and how it is indexed/presented. I find it easy to wade through census tables using B2020.

If you are looking to introduce data to non-data librarians this is a good door in.

2) Since so many commonly used resources are only available in Beyond 20/20 format, I don't see how one can avoid using it:
- Annual estimates of employment earnings and hours
- Canadian business patterns
- Labour force historical review
- Income trends in Canada
- Canada's retirement income programs
- CCJS statistics
- not to mention the cd-rom versions of some UN and pretty much all OECD products

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Beyond 20/20 Sorting Question

Question

With regard to census data, if I only want the top Province level data in any given file - how would I do that without selecting each line separately? Is there a trick here? Right now - as far as I'm aware the only way to obtain this would be to hold my Ctrl button done, scroll through the file and select each province.

Answer

1. Make the "Geography" dimension active.
2. Click on that double-arrowed "Sort" icon above.
3. Choose "Code" & "Increasing Numeric" and "Ok".

The result should be Canada, then all provinces, then all territories.

You can also find a B2020 Help Sheet at
http://www.library.carleton.ca/ssdata/surveys/b2020.html along with links to the B2020 User Guides.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Military Base Hospitals & Health Regions

Question

I have a researcher using health indicators for Health Region 3557 Renfrew County and District Health Unit who would like to confirm if this includes, as it does geographically, the Petawawa base hospital?

Answer

If you are using the health indicators from STC, it provides health information related to the population in that Health Region. This is information from respondents at the household level so it does not include information from the Petawawa base hospital. This is excluded from the universe.

If you are using health indicators provided from CIHI, it provides information from the Health sector and institutions such as Petawawa base hospital would be included.