1. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Census and CANSIM data: Comparison of providers Presentation for OLA Conference 2004 “Discovering the World of Numbers: Statistics Canada’s E-STAT” Suzette Giles Data, Map and GIS Librarian Ryerson University, Toronto

2. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Objectives Look at 3 providers of Census and CANSIM data Compare: Levels of Access to the data Content Searching and ease of use Output type and formats

3. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Census and CANSIM sources Statistics Canada’s web site: http://www.statcan.ca http://www.statcan.ca E-STAT: http://estat.statcan.ca/http://estat.statcan.ca/ University of Toronto, CHASS (Computing in the Humanities And Social Sciences). Search interfaces to Statistics Canada data: http://datacentre.chass.utoronto.ca/ http://datacentre.chass.utoronto.ca/

4. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Levels of Access Different groups get access to different data depending on their affiliation and subscription to Statistics Canada services: General Public: Most limited access. Access from home or business Depository Services Program (DSP)members. IP or password access. Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) members. Local or IP address access.

5. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Access status - continued General Public Public Libraries High Schools Academic (DLI) Statistics Can Website Yes Statistics Can Website -DSP No*YesNo*Yes E-STATNo*Yes CHASSNo Yes * If institution has registered for the program

6. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Content by provider Content Statistics Canada E-STATCHASS Canadian StatisticsYesNo (Links) No Community ProfilesYesNo (Links) No Census (Access differs) Yes Historical censusNoYesNo CANSIM dataNoYes DSP publicationsYesSomeNo

7. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Content of Census data Census data are complex and the data available vary by: Census year (2001, 1996 etc.) Type of data (Counts = Profile data, cross tabulations = Topic-based tabulations, microdata etc.) Level of Geography (size of area that data are provided for e.g. National, Census tract, etc. ) Variables (or characteristics or topics)

8. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Census Content by type of data Stat CanDSPE-STATCHASS Profile data*Yes Highlight TablesYes No Topic-based tab.*Yes No Reference mapsYes No Thematic mapsYes No MicrodataNo Yes * Level of geography available varies with provider

9. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Profile Data – Geography available Stat CanDSPE-STATCHASSDLI National & Prov.Yes FED (Federal Riding) Yes NoYes CMA (Large Urban Area) Yes CD (Regional Municipal.) Yes CSD (Municipality) Yes NoYes CT (Census Tract) NoYes EA/DA (All Canada) No Yes FSA (3 digit postal code) No Yes Postal Code (6 digit) No Yes

10. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Profile data by Year available STCE-STATCHASS Year Can/ProvEACTFEDMicro 1971Yes 1981Yes 1986Yes 1991Yes 1996Yes 2001Yes N/A 1665-1871Yes

11. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Content of CANSIM E-STATCHASS Number of Tables18181918 Number of Series18 million+ UpdatesYearlyWeekly Terminated SeriesYes Numerical list of SeriesYes Old CANSIM I dataNoYes ConcordanceNoYes User GuideYesLimited Link to publications & tablesYesNo

12. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Finding what you want We will look at the ease of searching for Census and CANSIM data in: Statistics Canada website E-STAT CHASS - Canadian Census Analyser CHASS - CANSIM

13. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Finding CENSUS data Access point can be by: Year of census By Geography (Place) By “Subject” (Topic, characteristic, variable) By type of data (Profile, microdata) By level of Geography (Province, Census Tract)

14. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Example of Searching for Census Data Our example will be from Census: 2001 Variable / topic: Marital Status Type: Profile data Place: Kingston, Ontario Level: Census Tract (in CMA Kingston)

15. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Census Data – Statistics Canada “Busy” page but two entry points under “Data and Analysis”: By topic: leads to list of topic groups By Geography: leads to a search box Another entry point is by Data in the Menu bar to the left: leads to list of Products or type of data (Profiles, Highlight Tables etc)

16. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Census data in E-STAT Have choice of entry points: Census Year followed by level of Geography Search for a Characteristic – “subject” search across Census, gives list of tables Search for a Geographic area (Place) – gives list of tables by topic for the place

17. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Canadian Census Analyser First choice is type of data: Profile – get “Levels of Geography” to choose from: Canada and Provinces etc. This is followed by choosing the group of variables and then the place. Microdata – only for Individuals. Choice of year and then by category (variable)

18. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Summary of Census searching Stat CanDSPE-STATCHASS “Subject” searchYes No More than one “place” at a time NoBey 20/20 Yes Checklist selectionN/A YesNo Subject search across censuses No YesNo All variables at onceNo Yes

19. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Searching CANSIM E-STATCHASS Subject searchYes Keyword searchYes Boolean searchingYes Retrieval by Table numberYes Retrieval by Series numberYes Frequently requested seriesNoYes Easy selection of seriesYesNo

20. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Output options - Census Stat CanDSPE-STATCHASS HTML TableYes Spreadsheet formatYes Statistical packagesNo Yes Beyond 20/20NoYes No Graphs -Bar, ScatterNo YesNo MapNo YesNo Manipulate dataNo YesNo Total options23147

21. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Output Options - CANSIM E-STATCHASS HTML TableYesPlain Spreadsheet formatYes Statistical packagesYes Line and bar graphsYes Scatter/ Regression graphsYes Total options1412 Retrieve multiple seriesYes Change series frequencyYesNo Produce complex tablesYesNo

22. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Conclusion - Census Decision as to which source to use would depend on: Year required Type of data, especially Highlight Tables and Topic-Based tabulations versus Profile Ease of use, E-STAT checklists easy to use Output options, E-STAT has some nice ones

23. 2004 OLA - E-STAT Conclusion - CANSIM Decision on which source to use would depend on: Currency of data required. E-STAT only updated yearly Ease of use – E-STAT Checklists make selection easy Output options available – more statistical package options in CHASS