Question:
I have a researcher who interested in doing provincial comparative analysis on diabetes prevalence between First Nations and the general population using the CCHS.
She obtained an excerpt from the CCHS 2015-2016 data dictionary which contains the variable SDC_016A (Are you First Nations, Metis or Inuk?) and is interested in acquiring either the counts or frequencies of First Nations respondents by province.
Initially I’d referred her to the 2013-2014 CCHS which is the most recent release but she reported and I confirmed this information is not in there.
I suspect this won’t be included in the 2015-2016 release either due to low counts.
Can she get this information via the RDC? If not, are there recommendations for alternative data sources?
Answer:
We have received the following response from subject matter regarding your inquiry:
“The researcher should be made aware that “Excluded from the survey's coverage are: persons living on reserves and other Aboriginal settlements in the provinces”. Those answers are only available on the master file.”
“The researcher can request access to the 2015-2016 CCHS data through the RDC where they will be able to look at the raw counts.
We are not able to provide raw counts but after looking at the frequencies for 2015-2016, by combining First nation, Métis and Inuit that have been diagnosed with diabetes, estimates in PEI, New-Brunswick or Yukon will not be releasable due to low frequencies (less than 10 respondents).
A suggestion for the researcher could be to combine 4 years of data (2011 to 2014) to have enough sample to be able to do a provincial comparative analysis. This could be achieved through the RDC proposal.
The CCHS annual component was redesigned for the 2015 reference period and onward cycles. Please note that as a result of the changes from the 2015 CCHS redesign, combining cycles of CCHS data from before and after the redesign (e.g., combining 2014 (and earlier files) with 2015 annual files) is not recommended, and caution should be taken when comparing estimates across those years.
Please be aware that the CCHS survey coverage excludes persons living on reserves and other Aboriginal settlements in the province.”
The CCHS team did inform us that a custom request (at cost) is possible based upon the requirements you’ve provided. If you would like to proceed with this option, please let us know.
