I have a student working with the 2015 HES survey and asked about the weights available for the PUMF. The user guide states: "The sample design used for the HES 2015 was not self-weighting. When producing simple estimates including the production of ordinary statistical tables, users must apply the proper survey weights."
The only weight variable available in the PUMF is the WTHP: PUMF, survey weight of household. Am I correct that this is what the user guide refers to as the “proper survey weights” and that there are no other weights variables for this PUMF?
Answer:
The client interpretation is correct.
Follow-up Question:
The student has asked why there is a difference between the HES CANSIM tables and the HES PUMF with the weights applied. Can Subject Matter provide any information on this?
Follow-up Answer:
“The Households and the Environment Survey reports on many values in terms of “all households”, as in “x% of Canadian households that had a thermostat indicated it was programmable”. In general, this is calculated as follows:
In other words, all of the households that are in-scope to be asked a question appear in the denominator (in this example households that had a thermostat). That a household might have said “don’t know” (DK) or refused to answer the question (RF) doesn’t change the fact that they were in-scope for the question and thus should be in the denominator.
“All households” is a special case because it includes all households regardless of whether a respondent might have answered “don’t know”, refused to provide an answer to the question or was a “not stated” (was not administered the question for some reason other than flow), so the calculation is more like this:
However, it appears that
The households that were “don’t know”, refused to provide an answer to the question are not taken into consideration in the denominator.
This can lead to different estimates, which is what we’re seeing here. For the specific estimate that the researcher is asking about, here’s what I found:
Weighted (WTHP)
|
Reported a forced air furnace as a primary heating system (%)
| |
Reported a forced air furnace (numerator)
|
4,083,754
| |
All households (i.e. all HH in-scope for the question about primary heating systems)
|
5,280,396
|
77%
|
5,144,177
|
79%
|
