ESTAT & CANSIM DLI Equinox <odesi> ICPSR Data Retrieval at UOIT ESTAT & CANSIM DLI Equinox <odesi> ICPSR

Data Retieval The following power point presentation will walk you through data retrieval at UOIT. The presentation will cover: ESTAT / CANSIM DLI – Data Liberation Initiative Equinox – Data Library Service from UWO <odesi> ICPSR - Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research All available on the Statistics Subject Guide: http://library.wlu.ca/uoit/eResources/index.cfm?report=subOUdat

Data Collection in Canada

Canadian surveys The Canadian government requires in-depth and reliable data on conditions in the country in order to make decisions. Therefore Statistics Canada exists to provide that data. Statistics Canada runs approximately 350 active surveys on different topics.

Canadian surveys Examples of surveys include: 2425: Annual Survey of Arts, Entertainment and Recreation 2920: Provincial Wage and Salary Survey 3315: Homicide Survey The frequency of surveys vary. Some were done once and never repeated, some are done annually, some biannually, some quinquennially.

Methodology The methodology of surveys varies. The General Social Survey involves 30 to 45 minute telephone interviews with approximately 25 000 Canadians. The Uniform Crime Reporting Survey involves every police force in the country submitting their local numbers on murders, car thefts etc to Stats Canada.

How does Stats Canada publish it’s findings? A lot is offered on the web for free. For example, you can get information from the annual Uniform Crime Reporting Survey from Juristat at http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=85-002-XIE

Some is on the web through CANSIM CANSIM is the “Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System” The general public can search CANSIM, but have to pay to get CANSIM statistics. Universities subscribe to E-Stat and their students therefore get free access.

Raw data available through DLI What ESTAT/CANSIM make available are statistics generated from the raw data collected by the surveys. Advanced researchers who need to work with the raw data can get the data through the Data Liberation Initiative.

ESTAT / CANSIM

ESTAT / CANSIM Think of ESTAT as being Statistics Canada’s internet portal. Think of CANSIM as being the user friendly repository of the statistics collected by those 350 surveys. You do a search, find a table which will have the needed information, and choose the variables that you want.

General Search for “cocaine”

List of tables involving cocaine Choosing the Crime Stats Table

This data came from the UCRS Click “View checklist” to pick and choose these variables on one page.

Choose needed locations Compare Toronto.. To.. Regina, Saskatoon And Vancouver

Needed variables Cocaine offences Cannabis and (just for Interest’s sake) Cannabis

Choose dates and retrieve table

Beyond 20/20 To display your tables in a more fancy way, you could download the Beyond 20/20 browser from ESTAT. Beyond 20/20 is like an easy Microsoft Excel program, and most of the Cansim files can be downloaded for use in Beyond 20/20.

Beyond 20/20 Download Beyond 20/20 browser on ESAT, the link is on the Statistics Subject guide.

DLI – Data Liberation Initiative

Raw Data from the DLI The data from some surveys are available to researchers through the Data Liberation Initiative (DLI). These are raw data files which the user would work with in a program such as SPSS. Many surveys are not available through DLI, due to confidentiality issues.

Confidentiality Under the Statistics Act, Statistics Canada must protect the confidentiality of respondents’ data and identity. Therefore, much of the data we can get through DLI has been “stripped” so that it is impossible to identify individuals who responded to the survey.

How does it work? Basically, you identify a data file that you want, and ask the data librarian to download it and send it to you. (Stats Canada only allows one person per institution to use the DLI password).

Another option – click here Unfortunately, the data files on the DLI site aren’t really that searchable. Some of the files do cover “senior abuse,” but performing this search comes up with 0 hits. Another option – click here and browse.

Browsing Survey Titles Browse titles and click (DLI) for more information, such as survey overview and the questionnaire used in the survey.

DLI’s limitations… The DLI site is not really searchable. Generally a researcher would already know what file he/she needs before entering. THIS is why UOIT signed onto Equinox from the University of Western Ontario.

What it is Equinox is basically an index and database at the University of Western Ontario. It contains many of the data files available on DLI, plus various files from other sources.

Why it exists Although it’s great that numerous Canadian surveys are available through DLI, DLI has certain problems. It’s not truly searchable. The DLI license states that only ONE person (usually the data librarian) at each university can retrieve the data, which can be problematic.

Why Equinox exists The people at Western created Equinox to address these problems. It is easier to search for data files through Equinox than it is through DLI. If you find what you need through Equinox you can have the data emailed to yourself immediately, rather than asking the data librarian to do it for you when he/she has time.

As well You take (a possibly huge!) data file from DLI all in one piece. Before you have a data file emailed to yourself from Western’s Equinox, you choose which variables you want – excluding all the ones you don’t care about. Therefore you end up with a more manageable file to use.

The one catch Not all DLI surveys/files are on Western’s Equinox, though the most popular ones certainly are.

Equinox Steps Search files for the required data. Select a data file. Select the variables that you need. Restrict data retrieval. Retrieve the data. Analyze the data on your own computer.

What you can and can’t get File type – want Raw Data. However, if you find a file in Beyond 20/20 or some other format, ask your professor if it is okay to use. Access restrictions – if you find anything that says free or public, you’ll be able to get them, otherwise you can ONLY get files from DLI.

Access Restrictions If Access Restriction reads “UWO only” that file is limited to students at UWO. If Access Restriction reads “ICPSR” you can not get it through Equinox – BUT you can get it through the ICPSR database.

ICPSR: Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research

ICPSR Based out of the University of Michigan, ICPSR is a vast archive of social science data - fields covered include sociology, political science, history and economics. ICPSR also has seven special topic archives in the fields of gerontology, substance abuse and mental health, criminal justice, child care, health and medical care, education, and demography. ICPSR contains primarily American data. Like Equinox, ICPSR allows researchers to search, retrieve and download data sets onto their own computers without going through the Data Librarian, which is the case with retrieving files from the DLI.