STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 SURVEY LIFECYCLE Michel B. Séguin Atlantic DLI Training

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 What the heck is a survey?

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 WHAT IS A SURVEY? The collection of information from People Businesses Organizations Farms

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 CENSUSSAMPLE TYPES OF SURVEYS Includes all units of the population Includes some units of the population Regular surveys Supplementary surveys Post-censal surveys Longitudinal surveys PROXY OR NON-PROXY

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 MAJOR COMPONENTS OF A SURVEY WHOHOWWHATWHAT ARE YOU DOING TO IT WHAT’S THE NEWS

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 WHO What is the universe Is it a census or a sample Sample Based on the geography Based on the age Based on presence of children in household Is the sample representative or not of the universe Sample size will be defined according to geography of dissemination Is the sample based on population, households families, farms

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 WHAT Questionnaire design Concepts and definitions Words of questions Closed questions – open-ended questions -Coding of open-ended questions - Single and multiple responses Measured or self-reported Flows and skip patterns – questionnaire layout Instructions for Interviewers Computer Assisted Applications Testing of questions (may take 2-3 cycles to test a question)

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 COMPONENTS OF A SURVEY

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 HOW In person – Computer assisted personal interviews (CAPI) By telephone – Computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) Mail out – Mail back Internet Visit to clinic TRAINING OF INTERVIEWERS

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 HOW Respondent relations Purpose of survey Confidentiality assurances Volunteer / mandatory aspects of survey Projects of linking data Projects of sharing of data

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO IT Processing the data Editing errors – Interviewers errors –Capture errors –Respondent errors Inter-question relationships Path and flows Coding of write-in responses Imputations for non-response or response error Creation of variables and derived variables

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 PROCESSING THE DATA Imputation of Data from Other Records on File

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 PROCESSING THE DATA The end product of processing = master file!

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 PROCESSING THE DATA Weights are added to the Master file

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 PROCESSING THE DATA Weights are added to the Master file

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 WHAT’S THE NEWS WE are now in the DISSEMINATION mode Articles in the Daily and Summary TablesDailySummary Tables Tables in CANSIMCANSIM PUBLIC USE MICRODATA FILES

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 WHAT’S THE NEWS PUBLIC USE MICRODATA FILES Subset of the Master file Variables and derived variables No personal identifiers Extremes that could lead to identify someone are removed Geographies are regrouped as required Some provinces, some CMAs, Urban/Rural Multiple revisions following visits to the Microdata Release Committee

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 WHAT’S THE NEWS PUBLIC USE MICRODATA FILES Data file Documentation Users guide Code book Record layout Questionnaire Variables and derived variables index Variance tables SPSS format file SAS format file This is ideal… you don’t always get all these files….

STATISTICS CANADA SURVEY LIFECYCLE WOLFVILLE, APRIL 2008 NOW THAT YOU HAVE THE DATA HAVE FUN…