DLI PRESENTATION University of Victoria December 4, 2002 Raymond Roy Special Surveys Division Statistics Canada

PUMF Creation Not all surveys require a PUMF Sometimes costly to produce Survey teams disbanded Outputs are scrutinized by the Microdata Release Committee Generally try to produce a PUMF. Impossible for confidentiality reasons for longitudinal surveys. May be impossible for cost reasons (client may not be able to pay). Increased concern about confidentiality. Microdata Release committee more demanding. When we do produce a PUMF, difficult to support since our project teams are disbanded once the survey is complete.

PUMF Creation – Cycle One of the factors tending to increase cost of PUMF's is our effort to maximize PUMF content and detail. If we backed off on content and detail, the costs would go down. Some files are being reviewed upto 3 times at the Microdata Release committee, which has made the PUMF creation too costly.

PUMF Alternatives Include PUMF in cost-recovery contracts Reduced PUMF content No PUMF There isn’t really 3 mutually exclusive alternatives. We realize the importance of PUMF’s to the researchers and the the RDC’s do not support all students. We have been including PUMF’s in cost estimates for cost-recoverable projects. However cost pressures are making us look at this practice particularly in light of RDC’s. We have to ask ourselves, “do we really need to produce a PUMF?”, and if so, are there strategies such as reduced content to get the costs down. The issue will be handled on a project by project basis rather than a more global approach.

Use of SPSS SPSS not widely used at Statistics Canada Statistics Canada has signed a corporate license with SAS SPSS cards may have to be generated by someone else Unless the cost of including the SPSS cards is trivially small, we are not going to be able to do it. Perhaps the SPSS cards can be generated by someone else after the PUMF is delivered. DLI may be able to produce the SPSS cards from an Excel spreadsheet or another output format. We need to conserve our funds for those things only we can do in Special Surveys Division.

Remote Job Submissions Remote job submissions handled only as part of initial survey contracts $80 per request No plans in place to expand service in Special Surveys Division We would like to see a general Statistics Canada facility for remote job submissions. If is existed, we would collaborate with it. We can’t afford to create this type of service ourselves but we have promoted its development. We are not there yet.

Production of Legacy Survey Files Committed to producing survey files back to October 1998 Pre-October 1998 files may be generated (on a fee for service basis) If we do not have sufficient documentation, we will not support pre-1998 files. We are looking at removing survey references from the dissemination catalogue, if it will be too costly to reproduce. Additional funds have been requested through the long-term planning process, but Statistics Canada has other priorities.

Dissemination Budget DLI provides some financial support each year Additional funds are required to continue PUMF creation, documentation and support of legacy files DLI transfers $25,000 each year to Special Surveys Division. These funds are meant to offset loss of revenue and for after sales support. These funds do not offset the cost of producing even a single PUMF file and documentation.

Upcoming Survey Releases

DLI Requirements/Feedback Need to know your priorities Continued communication with DLI Require feedback on files produced It is very important that we receive feedback on the files that you are using from Special Surveys Division. We will continue to work closely with the DLI community to produce a PUMF that is both cost effective to produce and remains meaningful to use.