CANSIM A look at 3 interfaces Ontario DLI Training University of Guelph April 12, 2006 Suzette Giles Data, Map and GIS Librarian Ryerson University Library

A look at Stat. Can. website, E-Stat and CHASS  Where?  What?  Access  Content  Searching  Results  Visualization  Manipulation  Output formats  Which to use?

“Imitation is the sincerest flattery” Sources:  Statistics Canada: About CANSIM:  Statistics Canada E-STAT:  University of Toronto CHASS CANSIM information: tml tml  University of Toronto Data Library Services: cansim.htm cansim.htm cansim.htm

Where is CANSIM??  Statistics Canada home page: Click on Advanced search Click on Advanced search Search CANSIM is in left hand menu Search CANSIM is in left hand menu OR Click on Our Products and Services OR Click on Our Products and Services CANSIM is under “ Access our Online databases” CANSIM is under “ Access our Online databases”  E-STAT: Left hand menu of Table of Contents page Left hand menu of Table of Contents page  CHASS: Google or go via University of Toronto’s Data Library Service page “CHASS interface to selected databases”

What is CANSIM?  “CANSIM is Statistics Canada's key socio- economic database.” (Stat Can website)  “CANSIM: Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System.” (CHASS)  “CANSIM is a multidimensional database containing more than 26 million time series regrouped in over 2,400 tables” E-STAT April 4, 2006

CANSIM I and CANSIM II  CANSIM I : Original CANSIM database consisting of 908,879 time series in 9,380 matrices. Contains matrices and time series not in CANSIM II. Series start with a letter followed by numbers (called a label) Last updated June 1, (CHASS)  CANSIM II (CANSIM). Reorganized database. Matrices called Tables. Time series all start with a V, sometimes called a vector or a label (CHASS)

Timing!!  NOTICE: The CANSIM service will be unavailable most of this coming weekend, from 7PM (Eastern time) Friday April 7 to approximately 7PM Sunday April 9, because of a major database reconfiguration.

Access ProductSupplierUseCost CANSIM Statistics Canada Unrestricted Fee ($3.00 to $5,000) CANSIME-STAT Restricted – DSP “Free” via IP Address CANSIM I CHASS Restricted – DLI “Free” via IP Address CANSIM II CHASS Restricted – DLI “Free” via IP Address

Content Stat. Can E-STATCHASS Number of Tables 2,400+2,400+2,541 Number of Series 25 million + 26 million+ 28 million+ Terminated series YesYesYes UpdatesDailyYearlyWeekly CANSIM I data NoNoYes CANSIM II data YesYesYes ConcordancesNoNoYes

NOTES  When a method of measurement or definition or an attribute or concept changes, the old series is terminated, and a new series with a new series identifier is begun. (CANSIM – the many faces, UT/DLS)  When SIC 1980 was changed to NAICS 1997 series were terminated and new ones begun. This explains the limited time line of the NAICS series

Content (CANSIM II) Stat. Can E-STATCHASS User Guide YesYesLimited Table directory YesYesNo Terminated Series YesYesYes IMBD/Survey lists YesYesYes Numerical list of Series NoNoYes Vector (series) listing YesNo(Yes) Link to publications & tables YesNoNo

Searching Stat.CanE-STATCHASS By Keyword /Text YesYesYes By Subject (Browse) YesYesYes By Table number YesYesYes By Series number YesYesYes Survey number - get Tables YesYesNo

Searching Stat.CanE-STATCHASS Advanced /Boolean search YesYesNo By Dimension member desc. YesYesNo IMDB (surveys) by keyword NoNoYes Frequently requested series NoNoYes

NOTES – Searching/ Results  CHASS - get listing of series unless search by Table number  Stat Can - get listing of Tables unless search by Series number  Therefore difficult to compare retrieval  PETS – CHASS got 60 series (82 with carPETS)  PETS – Stat Can got 5 tables – did not include carpets  Important to check “Match full keyword” in CHASS

Results Text /Keyword search Stat. Can E-STATCHASS 1 st level - Tables YesYesNo 1 st level - Series NoNoYes Subject (browse) 1st level - Tables YesYesYes Survey (browse) 1st level – Tables YesYes-

Results Text /Keyword search Stat. Can E-STATCHASS 2 nd level get: Link to Survey inform. YesYesYes Related subjects, categories YesYesNo Vector directory YesNo(Yes) Link to publicat. & tables YesNoNo

Results Stat. Can E-STATCHASS Selection of series-pick list YesYesNo Date selection - series MultipleMultipleSingle Retrieve as individ. series YesYesYes Retrieve as a table YesYesNo Retrieve series from different tables YesYesYes

NOTES Notes from Chris Leowski’s presentation in 2002:  CANSIM II: vector numbers not recycled when a series terminated. In CANSIM I they were.  No frequency conversion in the CHASS CANSIM II, this is not a CHASS priority.  Badly need a way of pointing users to series that replace terminated series and vice versa.

Visualisation of results Visualisation of results Individual Time Series E-STATCHASS Line(s) graph YesYes Bar(s) graph YesYes Lines graph with regression line No? Pie chart YesNo Scatter chart YesNo HistogramYesNo Box and whisker YesNo

Manipulation of Results E-STATCHASS Change of frequency Multiple CANSIM I Convert to annual - sum Yes CANSIM I Convert to annual -average Yes CANSIM I Percent changes YesNo Year to date sums & averages YesNo Moving averages YesNo Centred moving averages YesNo

Output formats E-STATCHASS HTML table YesNo Comma separated (CSV) Yes*Yes SpreadsheetYes*Yes RATS, SAS, Shazam NoYes SPSS, TSP, TSPterse NoYes PRN (tab separated) Yes*No * Choice of time as columns or rows

Choosing which to use  Currency – Daily vs. weekly vs. yearly  Ease of searching – pick lists in Stat. Can. helpful  Sophistication of user – list of series can make finding data difficult with CHASS interface  Frequently used series are fast – in CHASS  Could use Stat Can interface to find series # and then go to CHASS to get most recent data  Output required – CHASS has more formats for statistical packages  Data manipulation required  Data visualisation required

Statistics Canada: Search page

Statistics Canada: Search results

Statistics Canada: Series selection

Statistics Canada: selecting Dimension members and dates

CHASS: Selection options

CHASS: Keyword search

CHASS: Results page

CHASS: Series information

CHASS: Retrieval, date and output selection

CHASS: Display of data

E-STAT: Search CANSIM

E-STAT: Text search

E-STAT: Advanced search

E-STAT: Search results

E-STAT: Series selection

E-STAT: selecting Dimension members and dates

E-STAT: output options

E-STAT: HTML table, time as rows

Search done on topic Pets in CANSIM II, CHASS interface