Friday, February 28, 2014

Court Spending

Question

A researcher is looking for raw data for criminal justice spending from 198? - present. We are have been able to find: POLICE - Table 254-0003 : Trends in police personnel and expenditures for Canada, provinces and territories, annual, ADULT CORRECTIONAL SERVICES - Table 251-0007 : Operating expenditures for provincial, territorial and federal programs 1978/1979 - 2008/2009, and also LEGAL AID - Table 258-0002 - Legal aid plan expenditures, by type of expenditure, but are having trouble finding COURT(S) expenditures and don't seem to be making any headway. This issue of Juristat has great looking info, but it is OLD, i.e. 1997 -- Justice Spending in Canada Stats Can 85-002 (vol. 19, #12). We Have tried Public Accounts and the Annual Report of the Ministry of Justice.

According to a StatsCan Summary Table: "Courts Personnel and Expenditure Survey and the Prosecutions Personnel and Expenditure Survey have been discontinued. 2002-2003 represents the last available data for these surveys. Both surveys are biennial surveys, therefore, figures are not available immediately preceding and following the reference period." I think current numbers will be very large given that in the Juristat vol. 22, no. 11 issue of 2002,, the figure quotes Expenditures on courts to just over $1 billion in 2000/01.Total court spending increased 4% since 1998/99 (the last year for which courts data were available).

Is there anywhere else that I could find information on court spending?

Answer


Try the Expenditure Analysis of Criminal Justice in Canada <http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/files/files/Crime_Cost_EN.pdf>
Court expenditures pertaining to federal courts is mandated by Courts Administration Service Act which came into force in July 2003 (passed by Parliament in 2002) and covers the Federal Court of Appeal, the Federal Court, the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada and the Tax Court of Canada. Annual reports covering the time period 2005/2006 to present can found at <http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/portal/page/portal/CAS/RPP_eng>. There are also some early reports by individual court for earlier timeframe on this site. The information is presented at a very high level without any major breakdown in specific areas of expenditure. But the links on the web page lead to the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat web page where are more granular breakdowns of the expenditures data for the time period 2006/2007 to present see <http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rpp/2006-2007/cas-satj/cas-satjtb-eng.asp> can be found.

Supreme Court of Canada Financial Statements covering the time period 2007/2008 to present can be found at <http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/about-apropos/rep-rap/fin/index-eng.aspx>
One of the issues is that most of these Financial Statement indicate that they are “Unaudited.”

There are also Departmental Performance Reports, for example: <http://cas-ncr-nter03.cas-satj.gc.ca/portal/page/portal/CAS/DPR-RMR_eng/dpr-rmr-2012-2013_eng>

I assume that there are earlier Financial Statements but I have never invested the time to track them down. My gut feeling is that the Courts Administration Service Act was brought in to try and resolve a problem with financial reporting in the courts. So financial information pre-Courts Administration Service Act may be more involved (aka difficult) to find.

Accessing PCCF Files

Question

I am looking for the PCCF files on the DLI EFT site and cannot see them.

Where do I find them so I can download them for a client? (She has signed the licence.)

Answer

You have to be at the /<root> level where you will find the MAD_DLI_PCCF directory.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Use of PCCF Files

Question

Our Advancement office is doing prospect research. The following is a description of their work:

"We conduct research to find potential prospects and donors for the university. For this project, we will need to match certain dissemination areas with their corresponding postal codes. Then use the postal codes to find out who, among our constituents, live in these areas. However, we would not append any data to our database."

They want to know if they can use the PCCF file as their purpose is research.

Answer

This would be acceptable under Appendix A of the End-use licence agreement for postal code data products. Approved Postal Code data Matching uses is allowed for planning purposes.

SLID Health Measure

Question

Is the data from the Preliminary, Labour and Income interview questionnaires for waves for SLID files, included in the Master files at the RDCs? I have been unable to access the codebook for the master SLID.

The researcher is specifically looking for a self-rated health measure (DI_Q005 as part of the DI Module) that is only available in the preliminary questionnaire.

Answer

The variable is CRHLT26 and yes, it is included in the master files at the RDC. See the following link for the SLID data dictionary: <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75f0026x/75f0026x20 13000-eng.htm>

Indexing on Statistics Canada Web Site

Question

I was recently looking for “How to Cite Statistics Canada Products” <http://www.statcan. gc.ca/pub/12-591-x/2009001/steps-etapes-eng.htm>, having somehow lost my bookmark to it. I searched on the main StatCan page for “cite”<http://www76.statcan.gc.ca/stcsr/query. html?style=emp&qt=cite&la=en&qm=1&st=1&oq=&rq=0&rf=0>, and much to my surprise didn’t find it. Is this an aberration, or are only materials meeting the current standards searchable?

Answer

When you search, ensure to select “All content”... by default “Latest content” is selected. When I searched “cite” and selected “all content” it is in the results:<http://www.statcan.gc. ca/pub/12-591-x/12-591-x2009001-eng.htm>.

It's also available more directly on a Google search. Google is a much more effective and efficient search engine for discovering content on the Statistic’s Canada web site than their native search engine. Especially when you use Google Advanced search.


Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Investor Immigrants

Question

Where can I find out how many Investor Immigrants came to Canada between 1986 and 2013?

I found a table that has this date from the years 2007 to 2011. I need to get data from 1986 (when the investor class started) to the most recent data if possible. The four categories of immigrants I am looking for: Entrepreneurs – principal applicants, Entrepreneurs – spouses and dependents, Investors – principal applicants, Investors – spouses and dependents.

Answer

This information would be available from CIC, you must contact them directly.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Sudbury Hospital Data

Question

I have a researcher looking for stats on: number of patients going to Emerg. per year at Health Sciences North (HSN - the hospital in Sudbury), number of patients going to Emerg. per year in Ontario and/or Canada, number of Emerg. patients at HSN by triage level (CTAS 1-5, or urgent/non-urgent) and number of people with/without primary care providers in Sudbury. 

It does not look like the CIHI DAD PUMFs can be used for the required data. Is there any other DLI data that might be useful here? Or are you CIHI contacts able to provide anything? For the last variable, I suspect that I should follow up with the Ontario Ministry of Health - unless anyone has another suggestion?

Answer

CIHI forwarded your inquiry to Decision Support Services (DSS). Our program area produces customized reports and data sets derived from the Discharge Abstract Database (DAD), the Hospital Morbidity Database (HMDB), and the National Ambulatory Care Reporting System(NACRS).

The following provides information about the statistics the researcher is interested in:

- Number of patients going to Emerg. per year at Health Sciences North (HSN - the hospital in Sudbury) -This information is available from the NACRS database, but please note that our current policy does not allow us to release hospital-specific information without prior written consent/authorization from the hospitals. Depending on the intended use of the data, the researcher may need to obtain authorization from HSN before we canprovide facility-specific counts.

- Number of patients going to Emerg. per year in Ontario and/or Canada - I would like to point you to an online resource that the researcher may find to be helpful. Please go to CIHI’s Quick Stats where you can find the latest ED stats (fiscal year 2012/13). Please note that these stats provide information on number of Emergency Department visits and not number of patients going to Emergency Departments. I should also note that although the NACRS database does not have national coverage of ED data, it does provide 100% coverage for the province of Ontario.

- Number of Emerg. patients at HSN by triage level (CTAS 1-5, or urgent/non-urgent) - Similar to the first question, although the information is available from our database we may not be able to release the information unless an authorization is obtained from HSN.

- Number of people with/without primary care providers in Sudbury. - Unfortunately, this information is not captured in our databases.

If the researcher would like to request the above information, please have the researcher complete and submit a “Data Inquiry Form” available from CIHI’s website . Our team will then follow up with the researcher regarding the detailed custom data request process.

Deaths Publication

Question

There is a publication called Deaths (cat. no.84F0211XWE).The page at <http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=84F0211XWE&lang=eng> states that it is an ongoing annual publication, but the last release was in July 2012. Is this in fact still an ongoing publication?If there are newer data available, why has the publication not been updated?

Answer

The “Deaths” publication has been discontinued.There is new data available. Cause of Death data was just updated last month to include 2010 and 2011.Deaths (please see the links in the Daily announcement for more information on tables and analysis available):

Daily:
<http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dai-quo/index-eng.htm?HPA>

Death:
<http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130925/dq130925a-eng.htm>

Causes of death (please see the links in the Daily announcement for more information on tables and analysis available)
<http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/140128/dq140128b-eng.htm>

Monday, February 24, 2014

Nunavut Census Data

Question

I have a researcher looking for census data (various education/labour force/income numbers, by sex) for Nunavut back to 1991. Obviously it only became a territory in 1999, so that poses a problem for the 1991 and 1996 censuses. Is there any accurate way to reconstruct the current Nunavut boundaries using smaller census geography areas? Or has StatCan done any retrospective work in this area? I know that the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics has some excel tables with census data going back to 1996 (and there is comparative data for 1996 in the 2001 Community Profiles), so is it possible?

Answer

Prior to 1999, Nunavut was geographically part of the eastern portion of the Northwest Territories. The creation of the Nunavut territory was delineating using the same boundaries – Enumeration Areas (currently referred to Dissemination Blocks). Please note that smaller EA areas “roll-up” into the larger FED area – Nunavut only has one FED.

The relationship between geographies for the current census cycle can be seen below – just as reference:
<http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/92-195-x/2011001/other-autre/hierarch/h-eng.htm>

Any type of “retrospective work” will appear as already described below – showing previous Census years data in the same table, similar to the comparative data for 1996 in the 2001 Community Profiles.

One of the Excel tables mentioned below has the following source notes in it – searching for those specific catalogue numbers might be of assistance.

Sources: Statistics Canada, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006 and
2011 Censuses of Population,
Catalogues #97-550-XWE2006002 - #93F0050XDB01003 and #98-310-XWE2011002 and Special Tabulations File prepared by Nunavut Bureau of Statistics, February 8, 2012

There also is mention on the other Excel table of Demography Division and CANSIM table providing earlier census data – perhaps getting in touch with them might also help. I would also suggest as well that the researcher contact the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics - particularly if they created “special tabulations”.

In summary those smaller levels of geography would be the researcher’s best bet for the previous census years. They can likely be run by the Montreal Regional Office, but would likely incur a cost-recoverable charge.

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Labour Force Survey - Immigrant and Aboriginal Identity

Question

Am I right in concluding that the variables relating to immigrant status and aboriginal identity are suppressed from the LFS PUMF, at all levels of geography? I’ve also looked at the Aboriginal People and the Labour Market, but it doesn’t provide the derived data that we need.

The student wants to correlate minority status population (aboriginal identity, immigrant status, and women) with NAICS code employment data. Can you suggest any other resource(s) that would provide this kind of analysis?

Answer

The Aboriginals identity are not available in the PUMF files. The Aboriginals data are produced with a different weight than the regular LFS data. A custom tabulation is available.

Have you considered data from the National Household Survey?

In order to provide a comprehensive overview of an area this product presents data from both the NHS and the 2011 Census. NHS data topics include: Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity; Aboriginal Peoples; Education and Labour; Mobility and Migration; Language of work; Income and Housing. 2011 Census data topics include: Population and dwelling counts; Age and sex; Families, households and marital status; Structural type of dwelling and collectives; and Language.

There are also data tables from NHS that may be of interest in the Education and Labour topic, which have aboriginal identity, immigration status and NAICS.

There is also the Aboriginal Labour Force Analysis Series that could be of interest.

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Company Level Data from Canadian Business Patterns

Question

A student here is looking for the numbers of employees by province for companies listed on the TSX; would this be possible from CBP as a custom tabulation, or is company-level data impossible under any circumstances?

Answer

You are correct - Business data such as operating or legal names are confidential and are not available in any custom data tabulation.

Friday, February 14, 2014

2011 Census PUMF

Question
Will data for dissemination areas (besides the basic demographic data that is now covered in the shorter Census) ever be made available? Is the NHS large enough to provide data on that small of a scale?

Also, is there a PUMF expected for the 2011 Census? I see the NHS PUMF is due in December, but I can’t find mention of a census PUMF.

Answer


Previous census PUMFs were from the long-form Census, therefore there will not be a PUMF for the short form Census. On the Tentative Release Dates of DLI Products, you have information pertaining to the release of the NHS PUMF. DA level data will not be disseminated on the Statcan website. But we have acquired the NHS profile by DA for the DLI.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Longitudinal Employment Analysis Program

Question

I see from the web page: <http://www23.statcan.gc.caimdb/p2SV.plFunctiongetSurvey&SDDS=8013&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2> that no public access to these data is provided. Does that restriction hold true for access through RDCs? If not in the RDCs, could a deemed employee be able to use these data at Statistics Canada? Are there other mechanisms for obtaining access to these data? Are they part of the Business Statistics program (who presented at the last EAC, I believe), or are data available through Real Time Remote Access?

Answer

As noted on the IMDB page that you reference – Data release – The data is not available to the public because the individual observations are confidential under the Statistics Act. Summary tabulations can be found on CANSIM summary tables: <http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/COR-COR/COR-COR/objList?lang=eng&srcObjType=SDDS&srcObjId=8013&tgtObjType=ARRAY> Custom tabs are available through the Economic Analysis Division.

The data from LEAP is business data and would not be found in the RDCs or RTRA. It is available through the Canadian Centre for Data Development and Economic Research (CDER) that you mentioned. CDER is located within Statistics Canada's Ottawa facilities. Access to Statistics Canada's holdings of business microdata is available only at this facility subject to approval of a project proposal. CDER operates on a cost-recovery basis. All costs associated with undertaking the project must be covered by the researchers. For more information on Access see their site: <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cder-cdre/index-eng.htm>

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Area Codes and Corresponding Exchange Numbers

Question

A researcher is looking for a data set containing phone numbers in Ontario. More specifically, the researcher wants to be able to identify correct area codes and the corresponding exchange numbers. The researcher believes that there are exchange numbers only associated to specific area codes for e.g. the phone number 647-XXXX may only have the 905 area code and not the 289 area code. Does such a data set exist? If so, where can we access it?

Answer

The exchange numbers that you are referring to were once known as Central Office (CO) codes but now are referred to as NPA NXX codes (Numbering Plan Areas NXX).

The Canadian Numbering Administrator website:<http://www.cnac.ca/co_codes/co_code_status.htm#notes> has up-to-date listings for NPA NXX in Canada. It allows you to search based on area code then produces a .txt file that uses commas to parse the data, so you can save the various txt documents and then import them into a spreadsheet, database, etc.

The other option is commercial NPA NXX databases software <http://www.area-codes.com/area-code-database.asp>

The entire NPA NXX is available in a CSV format at <http://www.cnac.ca/data/COCodeStatus_ALL.zip>

Workplace Abuse and Bullying Stats

Question

Where can I get stats on the amount of workplace bullying in particular and maybe general workplace abuse? I couldn't find anything specific about this in the DLI collection.

Answer

You can use ODESI.CA to search for ‘bully* AND work*’. I found the following variable that addresses ‘cyber-bullying’ and context/location – in this variable, ‘school’ and ‘work’ are combined. Presumably you could find these separately in the Master File in an RDC.

You may also want to have a look at the General Social Survey victimization data. The GSS provides data on incidents that are both reported and not reported to the police. In the past the GSS has reported on Workplace violence which includes harassment which is the category under which bullying will probably be found.

Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics Profile Series has produced reports on Criminal Victimization in the Workplace based on the GSS from 2004 and published in 2007 <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85f0033m/85f0033m2007013-eng.pdf>

Friday, February 7, 2014

Canadian Survey on Disability

Question

Is there a PUMF for the Canadian Survey on Disability, or will one be released?

Answer

I confirmed that there will not be a PUMF for the survey due to a shortage of funding, but it will be available through the RDCs.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

CIUS 2012

Question

I had a look at the files from the CIUS, and I am quite disappointed in the quality of the SPSS setup files supplied for this survey. There's many variables that haven't even been given the courtesy of a variable name, let alone value labels. I also had a quick look at the SAS setup and it looks to be the same, and I'm going to go on the assumption that it holds true for Stata.

Here's a list:
Household file:
G_URBRUR
G_FAMTYPE
G_HHSIZE
G_HEDUC
G_STUD
HA_02G
G_HQUINT
WTHP

Person file:
PUMFID_P
G_URBRUR
GCAGEGR6
CSEX
G_CEDUC
G_CSTUD
G_CLFSST
GFAMTYPE
G_HHSIZE
G_HEDUC
G_HSTUD
CU_G07
CU_11G
CU_12G
HA_02G
G_HQUINT
WTPP

I'm not sure why variable names and value labels haven't been supplied as this has never been the case with Statcan setup files before.

Answer

Regarding CIUS 2012, we have been supplied with an updated codebook and syntax cards as indicated to the list yesterday. For more information, the author division advised that:

"A review of the codebooks’ metadata indicated that some concept fields (descriptions) were possibly truncated due to the limited characters allowance. Accordingly, this would also impact the value label in the syntax cards.

We are able to provide updated codebooks that address the variable labels for CU_G07 and G_HQUINT. As for the variable G_CLFSST, the description provided is based on the groupings of answer categories to protect the confidentiality of the information. Thus, “able to work but not in the labour force” is the correct assumption."

The updated versions of the syntaxes for the Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS), 2012 can be found on the EFT site:

EFT: /MAD_DLI/Root/other-products/Canadian Internet Use Survey - cius/2012/doc/cius_ecui_2012sas-spss-statav2.zip

Marriage Between Immigrants and Native-Born Individuals

Question

I have a researcher who would like to know what percentage of the native-born population is married to an immigrant spouse and what percentage of the foreign born population is married to native-born individuals using the 2006 Census.

She writes: "from my previous experience using microdata files at other universities, the census of families and households had information about whether the respondent was an immigrant and had also a variable for the immigrant status of the spouse.”

I have checked the PUMF and see that there are variables for place of birth of respondent, of father, and of mother, but not spouse. May I confirm that I am not missing something? And if I am not missing something, is it possible to get a custom tab for this? Or is it one for the RDC?

Answer

This Special Interest Profile on the web maybe be useful in getting some of the information you are looking for.

Immigrant Status and Place of Birth (38), Immigrant Status and Period of Immigration (8A), Age Groups (8), Sex (3) and Selected Demographic, Cultural, Labour Force, Educational and Income Characteristics (277), for the Total Population of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/censusrecensement/2006/dppd/tbt/Lpeng.cfmLANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=0&PRID=0&PTYPE=88971,97154&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2006&THEME=72&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=>

All of our topic based tabulations for Immigration are available here:<http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/censusrecensement/2006/dppd/prof/sip/Lpeng.cfmLANG=EAPATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1PID=0&PRID=0&PTYPE=97154&S=0SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2006THEME=72&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=>

If you require a more specific tabulation, you would need to contact your closest Region Office (in this case Toronto) to obtain a custom tabulation.

APS Comparisons

Question

Is data from the 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey comparable to data collected in other surveys, including the 2006 Aboriginal Peoples Survey?

Answer

The 2012 Aboriginal Peoples Survey, or APS, questionnaire used many of the same questions that had been asked in previous cycles of the APS and in other Statistics Canada Surveys. However, due to a number of differences in methodology between the 2012 APS, previous Aboriginal Peoples Surveys and other Statistics Canada surveys, comparisons of data between sources should be undertaken with caution. For more information on data comparability with respect to the 2012 APS, please refer to the Aboriginal Peoples Survey, 2012: Concepts and Methods Guide which will be released on February 20, 2014.

Census Comparisons

Question

Only people who first participate in the NHS were included in the APS [sic]. Given the switch to voluntary in the last Census, do you have any idea how comparable the current results are to previous APS results?

Answer

In short, comparisons can be made but with caution. Not only is the frame different (Census vs. NHS), but the questions that are the same are placed in a different order in the questionnaire. All of this plays a factor in the comparability across time, however, at times, an analyst would find that this is the best/only way to do comparison across time for an indication of change.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

NHS Data Quality Question

Question

I'm trying to encourage our students and researchers to use the NHS User Guide to consider the quality of NHS data for a given community. I feel that this is especially important for researchers at UNBC, as they tend to study small communities. However, I'm confused with a statement at <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/nhs-enm_guide/guide_4-eng.cfm#A_5_4> under "Discrepancy between 2011 Census counts and 2011 NHS estimates."

Quote from that section: "For a given census subdivision (CSD) or any other geographic area, users are invited to compare the 2011 Census count with the NHS estimate for the same target population to get an idea of the quality of the NHS estimates."

Where does one find the NHS estimate for a given CSD? The only figure given in the NHS profiles is the "Total population in private households by citizenship."”

First question:

As this is the "total population in private households," this wouldn't include those not in private households. So this isn't the actual population estimate, is it?

Second question:

I'm sure that I'm not understanding something. Can you, or someone, help me to connect the dots?

Third question:

I do see another statement in that same section ("Discrepancy between 2011 Census counts and 2011 NHS estimates") that seems useful:

"A similar analysis comparing the NHS estimates and the 2011 Census counts for common questions would also provide an idea of the quality of the NHS estimates."

I see that there is a figure in the Census Profiles under Housing and dwelling characteristics" for "Total number of persons in private households," so I'm assuming that this figure could be compared to "Total population in private households by citizenship" to work out a ratio. Is that correct?

Answer

There are two main measures for the quality of the NHS data. The first compares the 2011 Census count with the NHS estimate and the second uses the global non-response rate (GNR) that is published for the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS) estimates.

First, it is important to keep in mind these main differences that exist between the 2011 Census count and the NHS estimate:

The definition of the population of each data source: the target population for the 2011 Census includes usual residents in collective dwellings and persons living abroad, whereas the target population for the NHS excludes them.
The variability of the estimates for the NHS: the NHS estimates are derived from a sample survey and are therefore subject to sampling error; they are also subject to potentially higher non-response error than in the census due to the survey's voluntary nature.

So when comparing the 2011 Census and the 2011 NHS tables you can only compare the tables that have the universe containing the population in private households.

Also keep in mind that with a sampling rate of about 3 in 10 and a response rate of 68.6%, it is estimated that only about 21% of the Canadian population participated in the NHS.

This is why users are cautioned to pay close attention to the potential differences between the 2011 Census counts and the NHS estimates for common characteristics. Where there are differences, users should consider the 2011 Census counts to be of higher quality and give preference to them since they are not affected by the NHS's sampling variance or non-response error.

When comparing the 2011 Census count and the 2011 NHS estimate the discrepancy between these counts is the difference between the NHS estimate and the 2011 Census count divided by the 2011 Census count.

Whether there is a discrepancy or not is an indication of the quality of the NHS estimates. For a given census subdivision (CSD) or any other geographic area, users are invited to compare the 2011 Census count with the NHS estimate for the same target population to get an idea of the quality of the NHS estimates.

The larger the discrepancy is, the greater the risk of having poor-quality NHS estimates.
For CSDs with a population of 25,000 or more, the census count and the NHS estimate are practically identical. That is not always the case for smaller CSDs.

The global non-response rate is also an important measure of the quality of NHS estimates. It combines household and item non-response. This measure is used for the 2011 Census, just as it was in 2006 for dissemination of the Census, including the long form.

In the specific case of the NHS, the global non-response rate is weighted to take account of the initial sample and the subsample used in non-response follow-up. It is calculated and presented for each geographic area.

As noted in Section 3.1 <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/nhs-enm_guide/guide_2-eng.cfm>, there is non-response bias when a survey's non-respondents are different from its respondents. The higher the non-response is, the greater the risk of non-response bias. For the NHS, a number of measures were taken to mitigate the potential effects of non-response bias. Despite those efforts, the risk of non-response bias remains.

The global non-response rate is also used as a main dissemination criterion associated with the quality of the NHS estimates. For example, the NHS estimates for any geographic area with a global non-response rate greater than or equal to 50% are not published in the standard products. The estimates for such areas have such a high level of error that they should not be released under most circumstances.

A smaller GNR indicates a lower risk of non-response bias and as a result, lower risk of inaccuracy.

2011 Census Coverage Technical Report

Question

When is the technical report on coverage planned for the 2011 Census of Population, as was released for 1996, 2001 and 2006 Censuses?

Answer

The 2011 Census Coverage Technical report is scheduled to be released in December 2014.

Comparing NHS and Census Data

Question

Is it appropriate to compare “unweighted” response rates for the 2011 National Household Survey and the 2011 Census with the “net undercoverage estimates from the technical reports (net undercoverage being a reflection of both undercoverage and overcoverage link) for 1996-2006?

Answer

We never compare the Census response rates and the net undercoverage rates estimates. These are two different concepts. Census response rates are calculated at the dwelling level based on the estimated number of occupied dwellings while undercoverage is estimated at the person level. Net undercoverage includes people missed in enumerated households (dwellings) and will also take into consideration the overcoverage. They are very different.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

2008 and 2006 Census Coverage Technical Report

Question

Could the 2008 technical report on 2006 Census coverage be made more findable, e.g., a link to the 2006 report be available from the Daily article that highlights it ?

Answer

This appears to be a demography product as indicated by the contact information at the bottom so if a link is being requested it may be best to consult them. The report is accessible via the 2006 Census web site and also through the generic search engine if typing in 2006 Census technical report from the generic site search.

2011 NHS Technical Coverage Report

Question
Is a technical report on coverage planned for the 2011 National Household Survey and if so, is there a release date for the report?

Answer


There is no Coverage Technical report planned for the NHS.

Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance

Question

How can I gain access to microdata from the Canadian Chronic Disease Surveillance System (CCDSS)? It was formerly known as the Diabetes Surveillance System (NDSS).

Answer
The following site might be useful. It does contain contact people as well. <http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/cdic-mcbc/33-4/index-eng.php>

National Household Survey Questionnaires

Question

At <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/dict/a1-1-eng.cfm> there are two NHS questionnaires: N1 and N2. What is the difference between the two?

Answer

"Most 2011 National Household Survey respondents received the 2011 National Household Survey Form N1 questionnaire, while respondents living on Indian reserves, in Indian 
settlements, in Inuit regions and in other remote areas received the 2011 National Household Survey Form N2 questionnaire. On both questionnaires, questions 18, 20 and 21 were identical.

In Question 17 (Ethnic origin), the examples were different on the N1 and N2 questionnaires. The N1 examples were: Canadian, English, French, Chinese, East Indian, Italian, German, Scottish, Irish, Cree, Mi'kmaq, Salish, Métis, Inuit, Filipino, Dutch, Ukrainian, Polish, Portuguese, Greek, Korean, Vietnamese, Jamaican, Jewish, Lebanese, Salvadorian, Somali and Colombian.
In comparison, the N2 questionnaire examples were more specific to the Aboriginal population: Cree, Ojibway, Mi'kmaq, Salish, Dene, Blackfoot, Inuit, Métis, Canadian, French, English and German.

For the most part, the N1 questionnaire examples were based on the most frequent single origins reported in the 2006 Census and were arranged in descending order of size as reported in 2006, beginning with the largest group. Examples were also included to reflect Aboriginal peoples living in Canada. Similarly, on the N2 questionnaire, the most frequently-reported Aboriginal origins were included as examples, with an effort being made to ensure that Aboriginal examples from different regions of Canada were included. Non-Aboriginal examples in the list included the most frequently-reported origins in the 2006 Census."

You will find the answer to your question on the following page: <http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/ref/guides/99-011-x/99-011-x2011006-eng.cfm>