SHS 2017 Bootstrap Weights

February 12, 2021

Question

I have a prof using the 2017 SHS. They have a question about the bootstrap weights :

"I have a question you might be able to answer about these bootstrap weights. In order to use them in Stata, I need to know whether they were produced using the 'mean bootstrap' method and if so, I would need to specify how many samples were used to produce each weight in order to adjust the variance estimates to account for mean bootstrap weights (see for example https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/12-002-x/2014001/article/11901-eng.htm under “STATA 12”; the example refers to the GSS, but I’m assuming the procedure applies as well to the SHS PUMF)."

Maybe there is some literature we missed?

Answer

The bootstrap weights created for the SHS2017 PUMF should be treated as regular bootstrap weights, and therefore, you are right that the mean bootstrap method is not used, and that the number of samples should be set to 1 (bsn=1).

Individual Remittances outside of Canada

Question:
Looking for some advice from the group here.  I have a research team who is looking for data on money sent to other countries as gifts, ideally at the individual level but aggregated would be okay.    Immigration and/or citizenship status is critical here

The SHS has a question on this, with its variable (MC_Q020) in the master file but also grouped into MG001 in the PUMF.   Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like immigration status/place-of-birth/citizenship is asked within the SHS.   (Please correct me if I’m wrong, though!)

Can anyone suggest a potential way forward for the researcher via an existing alternate dataset?   The 2013 GSS (Giving) has the socioeconomic variables but no variables on giving to people/org’s outside of Canada itself.

Answer:
This is an interesting report published by Statistics Canada.  Study on International Money Transfers. There are information about remittances as gifts, as percentages, broken down by region and countries. 
URL : https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-657-x/89-657-x2019007-eng.pdf

RTRA Extracts for SHS 2016

Question:
A few months ago, it was reported on this list that the U of Ottawa was doing RTRA extracts from SHS 2016, and would make the tables available to others.  Does anyone have any information on how this is going?

As I promised a few months ago, I am going to send the subject division cookies,  when they finally release a new SHS PUMF.

Answer:
We have completed considerable work on the RTRA SHS extracts but we are understanding now why StatCan dropped these as it involves considerable custom programming for the sheer volume of expenditure &/or equipment classes.  It is important to us to document our work and perhaps share it back with StatCan.

Can you tell [us] what expenditure or equipment classes you need and any breakdowns by province, some CMAs or major household and dwelling variables?  We can research specifics and will get back to you on list with the follow-up details.

One additional point is that the latest SHS year in RTRA is 2015.  Will that suit your needs? 

We will also ask StatCan to verify if / when 2016 will be made available.

Survey of Hhld Spending PUMFs

Question:
Will there be PMNFs made for the SHS from 2012 to 2016?

Answer:
Subject matter has simply responded saying that they are creating a PUMF for the SHS 2017 – I suspect this is meant to indicate that there are no plans to create one for 2012 to 2016.

Survey of Household Spending (SHS)

Question:
I am wondering if a recent version of the Survey of Household Spending (SHS) is available. I looked on the FTP server and the most recent data set is from 2009. But here it states there might be more current versions. 

Answer:
The 2017 SHS PUMF is expected to be released in the Fall – this would be the most current version.

Follow-up Question:
Just to confirm, there will not be a 2016 PUMF?

Follow-up Answer:
Based on the answers I’ve received from subject matter, it appears as if the 2017 will be the only one they are producing.

Most current SHS PUMF

Question
Is the PUMF for the 2015 SHS available? I’m finding loads of tables, and Nesstar has the 2009 PUMF, but that’s all I’m seeing.

Followup
I last asked this question in March. The SHS was revised and changed in 2010. No PUMF has been done since the revision. We keep asking but the author division has not had the resources to produce a PUMF.

We will keep making the case that even doing a PUMF every couple of years would be a huge benefit from or this very important and heavily used survey.

Answer
Unfortunately the last PUMF produced for this survey was in 2009, but I have passed this thread along to the author division and I’ve asked them whether they have any news on releasing a PUMF. Unfortunately there is no plan yet in the decision to produce a SHS PUMF. The more recent data remains the SHS PUMF 2009. As Peter said, we’ll continue to make the case for a PUMF to be produced and highlight its importance in the data community.

Survey of Household Spending (SHS)

Question

I have a researcher asking about Survey of Household Spending data. I see that there are 2015 tables for this survey, some released just in January. Yet a look at Nesstar and the EFT site shows that latest PUMF is 2009.

Am I missing something ? Is there a later PUMF than 2009 ? Any plans for a 2015 PUMF?

Answer

The last PUMF produced for SHS was in 2009, as SHS underwent a major redesign in 2010. A new methodology which combined the questionnaire and a diary to collect the household expenditures was introduced for the 2010 survey. There are substantial differences between pre-2010 data and those from 2010 onward due to changes in data collection, processing and estimation methods

http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb_internal/p2SV.pl?Function=getMainChange&Id=192713&dis=1

The dlilist was notified on several occasions that subject matter did not have the resources to create a PUMF after 2009. This decision has yet to be revisited.

Questions Regarding the Survey of Household Spending (SHS)

Question

A student has been looking at the terminated CANSIM Table 203-0020 and looking for more recent information on the items therein. The footnotes indicate that it has been replaced by CANSIM table 203-0027 due to changes in the methodology of this survey.

Unfortunately, however, this new Table does not include all of the same items, e.g., household appliances, that the terminated one did. So, question 1 became: can we get those numbers? I went to the questionnaire to ensure that they were still asking about these appliances and came up with question 2: the questionnaire asks about purchases of these items, but the CANSIM Table indicates that it is ownership at time of interview “households having…”. I also checked the User Guide for the 2014 SHS and it also talks about expenditures. Should the CANSIM Table actually be stating “purchased” not “having”?

Answer

There was a redesign of the survey and the questionnaire changed. Question 1- no the numbers can’t be retrieved after 2009. Question 2- the terminated CANSIM table is correct about the ownership. From 2010 on, this type of ownership information was not collected- just amounts spent on purchases.

Soda (soft drink) consumption

Question

I am seeing a reference (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2008004/article/10716/6500244-eng.htm) to the CCHS capturing soda (soft drink) consumption but even in the Masterfile codebooks am not able to find the variable.

Does anyone know if soft drink consumption is captured in the CCHS or another STC survey (either PUMF or Master)?

Is “soft drink” consumption at a national level measured through either a health or expenditure survey?


Answer

Take a look at CANSIM Table 203-0028<http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=2030028&pattern=&stByVal=1&p1=1&p2=49&tabMode=dataTable&csid=> - Survey of household spending (SHS), detailed food expenditures, Canada, regions and provinces - annual (dollars); this table lists data for 'Carbonated soft drinks' under 'Non-alcoholic beverages and other food products' at the National level.

Also the CCHS 2004 Nutrition(Focus content 2.2) survey did capture data on soft drink consumption (24 hour recall). This should be available through the RDCs, or as a custom tab.

Survey of Household Spending

Question

When will the 2011 Survey of Household Spending (SHS) be available through DLI? It appears to be available according to Statistics Canada January 30, 2013:

http://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvey&SDDS=3508&Item_Id=64678&lang=en

Answer

There are no plans to produce a PUMF in the future, including SHS-R 2010 and 2011.

There was no 2010 PUMF for Survey of Household Spending and Income Statistics Division will not produce a Public-use Microdata File of the 2010 SHS, due to resource constraints. The 2010 SHS confidential microdata file will be available to authorized researchers through the Research Data Centres as of October 2012.

Information on other releases can be found in the Daily: Home>The Daily>Wednesday, January 30, 2013
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130130/dq130130b-eng.htm

When a PUMF will be available to the DLI can be found on the follow page: Tentative release dates of DLI products http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/prod_date-eng.htm

Precription Statistics

Question

A researcher here is interested in: "the start date of and number of prescriptions given out for inhaled corticosteroid medications for asthma and allergic rhinitis in North America". Of particular interest are the specific medications: Fluticisone (Flovent, Flonase-GSK) and Budesonide (Pulmicort- Asta Zeneca) which came into use around 1990.

There are commercial publications out there, but they are pricey, and don´t give a clear indication that they´ll even have the statistics we´re after. I´ve also looked at CIHI and the US "Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services" and NIH, with no success.

Any assistance with this, on the Canadian or US aspect of this request, would be greatly appreciated.

Answer

Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, Statistics Canada does not collect these data.

We would have data on household expenditures on prescription drugs from the Survey of Household Spending, but not by brand.

FOODEX

Question

Good day everyone!

Another quick question... Is there a follow-up to the FOODEX survey? The last one available is 2001 and a student of ours is interested in more recent data - does it exist somewhere?

Answer

I asked about this in June 2008. At that time the Food Expenditure Survey was listed as an active survey. At the present time it is listed as inactive and there is no indication the survey was taken in 2009. It supplements the Survey of Household Spending.

The response given:

“When I looked into foodex last March, I was told that the author division planned on collecting data in 2009 so as to release it in 2010 or 2011. I will ask the division for an update and will follow up with more information through the dlilist. In the future, please don't hesitate to ask this type of questions through the dlilist. I am sure that they will be of interest to others!”

Additional Information

We have received the following information in response to your question below:

"Income Statistics Division has collected household spending data for 2010 using a new collection model of the Survey of Household Spending, and plans to release the main spending estimates at the end of 2011. The new model has collected greater detail for food, but the extent of the extra food detail that will be released and the exact timing of the release (simultaneous with the rest of the Survey of Household Spending data or later) is not yet finalised and will depend on the results of analysis and assessments of the data quality over this coming year."

I have asked the author division to inform us when the release plans have been finalised so that we can share this information with the DLI community.

Updated Products - Survey of Household Spending (SHS)

Survey of Household Spending (SHS) - 2009 standard tables

The following products from the Survey of Household Spending for 2009 are now available on the DLI FTP and website.

Detailed Average Household Expenditure for Canada, Provinces/Territories and Selected Metropolitan Areas 62F0031XDB

• Detailed Average Household Expenditure by Household Income Quintile for Canada and Provinces 62F0032XDB

• Detailed Average Household Expenditure by Housing Tenure for Canada 62F0033XDB

• Detailed Average Household Expenditure by Household Type for Canada 62F0034XDB

• Detailed Average Household Expenditure by Size of Area of Residence for Canada 62F0035XDB

• Dwelling Characteristics and Household Equipment for Canada, Provinces/Territories and Selected Metropolitan Areas 62F0041XDB

• Dwelling Characteristics and Household Equipment by Income Quintile for Canada 62F0042XDB

• Dwelling Characteristics and Household Equipment by Housing Tenure for Canada 62F0043XDB

• Dwelling Characteristics and Household Equipment by Household Type for Canada 62F0044XPB

• Dwelling Characteristics and Household Equipment by Size of Area of Residence for Canada 62F0045XPB

WEB: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/shs-edm/shs-edm2009-eng.htm
FTP: /DissFTP/dli/DLI Coll._Other prod/Survey of Household Spending - shs/2009/data

Thank you.

Excel Tables for the Survey of Household Spending, 2008 and Back

Question

We are receiving more demand for these tables and in the process, we have hit a couple of coverage/documentation roadblocks.

I’d like to inquire about the following please …

1. Is the “Accompanying User Guide”/« Guide de l’utilisateur en annexe» available for these tables as referred to on the Notes worksheet for the tables, or does this refer to the User Guide to the microdata? If this is available as a guide to the tables, how could we access this (in English and in French)?

2. This question may be answerable by the answer to question 1. What does the Size of Area of Residence refer to when it gives ranges like: 30,000-99,000, 100,000-249,000*, etc. (e.g., is it the “market value” of the dwelling?)?

*… as noted in 62FPY0035XDB, Detailed Average Household Expenditure by Size of Area of Residence and 62FPY0045XDB, Dwelling Characteristics and Household Equipment by Size of Area of Residence

3. Our researchers noticed a while ago that some CMA’s (e.g., Ottawa and Quebec City**) were dropped around 2007. Is there any chance of these being reinstated in the next round?

**… as noted in: 62FPY0031XDB, Detailed Average Household Expenditure - Geographic and 62FPY0041XDB, Dwelling Characteristics and Household Equipment - Geography

We’d like to answer these questions for our users and ensure that the page we’re in the process of putting up to meet demand is accurate at http://uottawa.ca.libguides.com/content.php?pid=14806&sid=695367 (French under construction) .

Answer

Answers to your three questions about the Survey of Household Spending (SHS) 2008 standard tables follow:

1- The 2008 SHS User Guide should be used. I will send you a copy of these guides (French and English) by email and we will add them to our website and FTP.

2- Size of area of residence refers to the population size of the area in which the dwellings are located. The user guide defines it as follows:

"4.6.8 Size of area of residence:
Sampled dwellings are assigned to the following groups depending on the 2001 population size (according to the 2001 census boundaries) of the metropolitan area, municipality, or area in which they are located.

– Urban
• 1,000,000 and over
• 500,000–999,999
• 250,000–499,999
• 100,000–249,999
• 30,000–99,999
• under 30,000
– Rural"

(Source: User Guide for the Survey of Household Spending, 2008, p.22)

3- Ottawa and Quebec City were not dropped, there were insufficient respondent responses to offer reliable SHS data in these tables. Data for these areas may be available in future editions.

Dwelling Characteristics and Household Equipment by Size of Area of Residence for Canada

Question

Good morning,

We would like to ask whether this product is available as a standard product through DLI (cross tabulating dwelling characteristics and household equipment and size of area of residence) http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?lang=eng&catno=62F0045X

I was able to find the following which have one other of the variables, but not together.

Summary tables:

http://www40.statcan.gc.ca/l01/cst01/famil09a-eng.htm

CANSIM tables:

Survey of Household Spending (SHS), household equipment at the time of interview, by province, territory and selected metropolitan areas, annual, 1997 to 2007 203-0020

Survey of household spending (SHS), dwelling characteristics at the time of interview, by province, territory and selected metropolitan areas, annual, 1997 to 2007 203-0019



Answer

This table is available in the Survey of Household Spending page on DLI website at  http://www.statcan.gc.ca/dli-ild/data-donnees/ftp/shs-edm/shs-edm2007-eng.htm (the last standard table in the list) and under /DissFTP/dli/shs- Survey of Household Spending/2007/data/shs2007-62f0041-45-housing-xls-tables/ on the FTP site.

SHS 2005 vs. SHS 2006

Question
Here's the silliest of silly questions - I'm looking at the SPSS syntax
provided to us for the 2005 and the 2006 SHS PUMF file.  Why is it in 2005
all the variables are coded as string and in 2006 they're coded as numeric?
I missed this the first time - but my faculty didn't

Answer

FYI - the SPSS syntax for SHS 2006 has been changed so that it is consistent
with the coding for earlier years.  I will be sending out an announcement to
this effect soon.

Survey of Household Spending

Question

I am helping an economics professor with the Survey of Household Spending and he has a question about the age of the respondent variable. He would like to know if there is any way to obtain the exact age as opposed to just an age group. I checked the questionnaire and there is indeed a question about the age so the data must be available somewhere…  As a neophyte, I would also be curious to know the rationale for providing age groups rather than the exact age figure.

Anyway, the prof in question is used to the Survey of Consumer Finance (stopped in 1998) which apparently provided the exact age. So he would like to be able to obtain the same information with the SHS. Is there a master file available from a RDC for that survey?

Answer



The author division confirmed that the exact age is available on the RDC internal file for the SHS:

"Any Research Data centre should have a copy of the Internal files for the SHS for all years, or if they don't have one should get one on request. The exact ages are on the internal file, The Pumf uses age groups for confidentiality."

They also confirmed that custom tabulations are available, provided that the sample size is sufficient and there are no confidentiality issues with the particular variables being crossed. However, the Division encourages people to use the Research Data Centres to perform their own custom tabulations, so the professor can submit a proposal to use the RDC file if he wants to avoid the cost of a custom tabulation.

Survey of Household Spending 2007

Question

Do we know when the Survey of Household Spending 2007 PUMF will be coming out?

Answer

I just found out that the author division expects to release the SHS 2007 PUMF sometime in May.  I will add this information to the expected release dates page on the DLI website.

Survey of Household Spending 2007

Question


Is there any chance of getting the SHS 2007 files available though the DLI? I see we have up to 2006 available.
Answer

The SHS 2007 data tables were released on Dec. 22. I have asked the author division to provide us with the tables and will let you know as soon as they are available on our sites.

Notes about SHS 2006

Question

1) The Data Dictionary (shs2006cbk.pdf) presents conflicting information for two variables (NMVEHONP and VEHLEASP, page 36).

The Readme file indicates that the effective date for household equipment counts was the interview date. Would you confirm that the "Long name" information is inaccurate? If it is inaccurate, the variable labels used in SPSS and SAS are also in error.

NMVEHONP
Long name: Number of vehicles owned on December 31
Description: This variable gives the number of vehicles (car, van/mini-van, truck/sport utility vehicle) owned by members of the household at time of interview completely or partially for private use, excluding those leased.

VEHLEASP
Long name: Vehicles leased on December 31
Description: This variable gives the number of vehicles (car, van/mini-van, truck/sport utility vehicle) leased by members of the household at time of interview completely or partially for private use.

I'd also point out that since the responses to VEHLEASP are "yes" and "no", the "Description inaccurately describes the variable: it's not the "number of vehicles" leased but instead is a code to reflect the presence of leased vehicles (as indicated in the "Unit of Measure").

2) I was looking at variable NETCONEP, and saw that there was no "missing" category for the variable. Instead, people who weren't asked the question (those who did not use the internet from home, from variable INTERNET) are collapsed into the NETCONEP category of "0 -- No internet connection". I think that it would be preferable to explicitly separate those who weren't asked the question from those who responded that they didn't have an internet connection. It's unlikely, but possible, that respondents have a home internet connection, but do not use it: this possibility is eliminated by the current coding, which doesn't accurately reflect the questionnaire.

Answer
I have discussed your comments and questions about the SHS 2006 with the author division. Here are the responses they have provided.

NMVEHONP and VEHLEASP
1. "The correct date is December 31 of the reference year for vehicles. And the vehleasp does indicate the presence of at least one leased vehicle on Dec 31, not the number. The definitions should be modified."

NETCONEP
2. "If the respondant says no to internet use from home we do not ask any further questions on internet access and by default assign "no access". This may not be strictly true in some rare cases, but we have to minimise questions that the respondants consider a waste of time when they have already told us "no"."
The author division will be correcting the documentation to reflect the correct reference date for vehicles. I have asked them to provide us with the corrected versions as soon as they are available.

For the NETCONEP variable, I will ask our SPSS coder to change the status of the "0 -- No internet connection" code to "missing".