1. The Winter Institute on Statistical Literacy for Librarians
Day 2
The Winter Institute on Statistical Literacy for Librarians
University of Alberta

2. Anna Bombak WISLL 9, February 19, 2015
Official Statistics
Anna Bombak
WISLL 9, February 19, 2015
University of Alberta

3. Official vs. non-official statistics
Official statistics are those produced by government bodies (such as Statistics Canada) and some international or inter-governmental agencies (such as the U.N.).
Non-official statistics are produced by other bodies, including trade associations, professional organizations, banks, consultants, marketing companies, academic institutions, etc.

4. Unofficial Statistics

5. Official statistics -- official definition
Section 2 of the Statistics Act 1975 defines official statistics as "statistics derived by Government Departments from:
1. Statistical surveys as defined in this section; and
2. Administrative and registration records and other forms and papers the statistical analyses of which are published regularly, or are planned to be published regularly, or could reasonably be published regularly".
'Statistical survey' means "a survey of undertakings, or of the public of New Zealand, whereby information is collected from all persons in a field of inquiry or from a sample thereof, by a Government Department pursuant to the authority of this Act or any other Act, or without specific provision in any Act, wholly or primarily for the purpose of processing and summarising by appropriate statistical procedures and publishing the results of the survey in some statistical form" Statistics New Zealand

6. Official statistics -- objectives
“Official statistics are statistics produced by government agencies to:
• shed light on economic and social conditions
• develop, implement and monitor policies
• inform decision making, debate and discussion both within government and the wider community
Government and its administrative arms need official statistics for policy development, implementation and evaluation. The public at large have similar information needs in order to evaluate government policy, to ensure public accountability, and to be adequately informed about social and economic conditions.”
-- Statistics New Zealand

7. Official statistics -- context
“Official statistics” can mean different things to different people. There are three broad ways of defining it:
First, it may be defined in terms of people providing the service (e.g., the Government Statistical Service).
Second, it may be defined in terms of activities (e.g., collecting data, publishing statistics, providing statistical advice to support policy work).
Third, it may be defined in terms of outputs, or products of statistical work (e.g., the published statistics on the labour market, on crime, on health, etc).
-- U.K. Command Paper no. 3882, Statistics: A Matter of Trust

8. Official statistics -- quality
“There is no standard definition among statistical agencies for the term official statistics. There is a generally accepted, but evolving, range of quality issues underlying the concept of 'fitness for use'. These elements of quality need to be considered and balanced in the design and implementation of an agency's statistical program.”
-- Statistics Canada

9. Official statistics -- assessment
Attributes of quality that make statistics “fit for use”:
Relevance
Accuracy
Timeliness
Accessibility
Interpretability
Coherence
-- Statistics Canada

10. Official statistics -- standards
Official statistics must go through a formal process in their creation and release. Definitions of concepts are a critical aspect of the process, as are the methodologies for collecting and producing the statistics. This relates directly to the accuracy, coherence, and interpretability aspects of quality assessment described by Statistics Canada.
Ideally, should conform when applicable to international cooperative standards (e.g., classification systems such as NAICS).

11. Official statistics -- sources
Official statistics can be created from administrative databases, such as birth or death certificates, or from national surveys, such as the Labour Force Survey, which is used to determine Canadian employment statistics.

12. Administrative Records
Surveys
Administrative Records
Census
Canadian Community Health Survey
Labour Force Survey
General social survey
National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth
Business Register
Survey of Household Spending
Survey of Giving, Volunteering, and Participating
Participation and Activities Limitation Survey
Ethnic Diversity Survey
Vital Statistics
Hospital Morbidity Database
National Health Expenditure Database
Crime reports
Court reports
Education reports
Longitudinal Administrative Data System National Accounts
LIDS (Landed Immigrant Data System)
Income Statistics (Canadian Revenue Agency)

13. Federal official health statistics
Report of the Auditor General of Canada, 2002

14. Health Indicators: one title, many data sources
Statistics Canada:
vital statistics and cancer registry (administrative data)
health surveys: NPHS, CCHS, other
census
labour force surveys
crime statistics
Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI):
provincial health ministries,
Health Canada administrative data
hospital morbidity database
discharge abstract database,
other health care system statistics

15. Finding Canadian Official Statistics
Anna Bombak
WISLL 9, February 19, 2015
University of Alberta

16. Finding statistics

17. Finding statistics -- perspectives
“Data” perspective: to identify a data source from which the statistics could be produced. This approach relies on knowledge of surveys and data collected by agencies.
“Government Publications” perspective: to identify an agency which produces such a statistic. This approach relies on knowledge of governmental structure and the content for which agencies are responsible.

18. Statistics Canada -- an essential source
In Canada, as in many other Commonwealth countries, there is a central statistical body responsible for gathering, processing, and publishing statistics. Statistics Canada is the first place to look when trying to find statistics about Canada or Canadians. Statistics Canada not only provides statistics at the national level, but may also provide data unavailable elsewhere at the provincial/territorial, municipal, or even sub-municipal level.

19. Statistics Canada -- the “Greatest Hits”
The Statistics Canada website encompasses many, many, important statistical databases, publications, and other sources of statistical information.
It would be outside the scope of any presentation to list them all, but some of the more useful places to look when searching for Canadian statistics on the Statistics Canada website are:

20. Statistics Canada -- the “Greatest Hits”
“Browse by Subject”
Summary Tables
Community/Census Profiles
Census/National Household Survey (NHS)
CANSIM
The Daily

21. Statistics Canada – Browse by Subject
This entry on the Statistics Canada homepage groups together all Statistics Canada resources on a subjects such as “Aboriginals”, “Children & Youth”, “Crime & Justice”, “Government”, etc.
In addition to statistical tables, Browse by Subject provides information from The Daily, Publications, and other Statistics Canada resources, as well as links to relevant external sources.

22. Statistics Canada -- Summary Tables
The Summary Tables, formerly called Canadian Statistics, provide an short overview of statistical information on Canada’s people, economy and governments.
Tables are indexed by subject, by province/territory/metropolitan area, or by an alphabetical list of topics. Also provides a link to related sources.

23. Statistics Canada -- Census Profiles
The Census Profiles (formerly Community Profiles) provide community-level information from the 2011 Census of Population. Users can search for an area of interest by typing its ‘place name’, by browsing a list, by entering a postal code, or by using a geographic code.

24. Statistics Canada -- Census
The Census of Population provides a snapshot of Canada's demographic, social, and economic characteristics every five years.
The Census provides population and dwelling counts not just at the national level, but also for each province/territory, and for smaller geographic units such as cities or districts within cities.
The Census of Agriculture provides statistics on farm operators, land use and land practices, farm finances, crops and horticulture, and livestock, for most Canadian communities.

25. Statistics Canada -- CANSIM
CANSIM is Statistics Canada’s key socioeconomic database. Updated daily, CANSIM provides fast and easy access to a large range of the latest statistics available in Canada. With more than 43 million time series, CANSIM contains data on almost all aspects of Canadians' lives. As of February 1, 2012, all CANSIM data are available free-of- charge to all users.

26. Statistics Canada -- The Daily
The Daily is Statistics Canada's official release bulletin. The Daily issues news releases on current social and economic conditions, announces new products, and provides a comprehensive one-stop overview of new information available from Statistics Canada. The Daily can be searched within its own separate index.

27. Statistics Canada -- other resources
Printed publications:
Pre-mid-90’s publications available in Depository Libraries
Censuses from
Historical Statistics of Canada (printed and online)
Canada Yearbook (up to 2012 ;1867–1967 are available online)
Studies, research papers, technical papers: containing statistics and analysis in the form of survey results, research reports, technical papers, periodicals, census products, and research compendia.
Definitions, data sources and methods
Citation Guide
Enquiries line and other contact information

28. Government of Canada -- website
The Government of Canada website serves as a comprehensive information and portal site to all federal government departments, crown corporations, and other federal-government-associated agencies. This is a good place to start when seeking specific statistics not available or easily found through Statistics Canada.

29. Canadian Federal Departments
Canada Revenue Agency
some taxation statistics
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
immigration, refugees, international adoption
Dept. of Finance
National Budget, Public Accounts, Estimates
Dept. of National Defense & the Canadian Forces
some expenditure statistics
Health Canada
disease occurrence statistics
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada
Northern expenditures, etc.

30. Other federal statistical sources
Bank of Canada
Canadian financial statistics, rates, inflation calculator, etc.
Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)
statistics on the Canadian health care system -- hospitals, health care providers, health indicators, etc. PRO TIP: click on site map (bottom of page) to navigate website.
Open Data Canada
The Government of Canada developed the Open Data Portal to create a central location for making government data freely available in computer format.

31. Provincial statistical sources
Many Provinces/Territories may lack a centralized statistical bureau. However, provincial government web sites often contain much useful statistical information, particularly in the areas of employment, tourism, small business and other economic data, as well as statistics embedded in provincial departments’ annual reports.
E.g., Government of Alberta homepage;
Office of Statistical Information sub-page.

32. Municipal statistical sources
City, town, and village government web sites often contain statistical information, including:
civic censuses
police crime reports
taxation and municipal expenditure
economic and small business data
housing and construction

33. Anna Bombak WISLL 9, February 19, 2015
Questions? Comments?
Anna Bombak
WISLL 9, February 19, 2015
University of Alberta

34. Anna Bombak WISLL 9, February 19, 2015
Exercise
Anna Bombak
WISLL 9, February 19, 2015
University of Alberta