Transcript Surviving Statistics - University of Alberta

The Winter Institute
on Statistical
Literacy for
Librarians
University of Alberta
Outline






Introductions
A framework for understanding published
statistics
Census geography and small area statistics
Official statistics
Sources, finding tools, and search strategies
Non-official statistics
Official Statistics
Anna Bombak
WISLL III, February 19, 2009
University of Alberta
Official vs. non-official statistics


Official statistics are those produced by
government bodies (such as Statistics
Canada) and some international or intergovernmental 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, and so on.
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
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
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, 1998. Statistics: A Matter of Trust
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
Official statistics -- assessment
Attributes of quality that make statistics
fit for use:






Relevance
Accuracy
Timeliness
Accessibility
Interpretability
Coherence
-- Statistics Canada
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.
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 employment statistics.
Surveys










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
Administrative
Records









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)
Federal official health statistics
Report of the Auditor
General of Canada, 2002
Health Indicators: integrating 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
Finding Canadian
Statistics
Anna Bombak
WISLL III, February 19, 2009
University of Alberta
Finding statistics
Finding statistics -- perspectives


“Data” perspective: to identify a data source
from which the statistics could be produced.
This approach relies on knowledge of data
sources 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.
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 submunicipal level.
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:
Statistics Canada -- the “Greatest Hits”
 Summary Tables
 Statistics by Subject
 Community Profiles
 Census
 E-Stat
 The Daily
 Internet Free Publications
Statistics Canada -- Summary Tables
The Summary Tables, formerly called
Canadian Statistics, provide an 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.
Statistics Canada – Statistics 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 data tables, Statistics by
Subject provides information from The Daily,
Publications, and other Statistics Canada
resources, as well as links to relevant
external sources.
Statistics Canada -- Community Profiles
The Community Profiles provide community-level
information from the 2006 Census of
Population. Users can search for an area of
interest by typing its 'place name' in a search
box or by clicking on a province/territory from
a list and then selecting the desired
community area.
New for 2006: Census Tract (CT) Profiles provide
2006 Census data for census tracts.
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.
Statistics Canada -- E-STAT

E-STAT is an interactive database containing
statistical time-series about society and the
economy in Canada, and is free online to
educational institutions. E-STAT contains
Canada-wide community information, current
and historical population and agricultural
census data, and data from the Human Activity
and the Environment and Aboriginal Peoples
surveys. Data tables may be downloaded in a
variety of formats as well as transformed into
colour maps and graphs. This makes it an
excellent resource for student papers.
Statistics Canada -- The Daily

The Daily is Statistics Canada's official
release bulletin, the Agency's first line
of communication with the media and
the public. The Daily issues news
releases on current social and economic
conditions and announces new
products. It provides a comprehensive
one-stop overview of new information
available from Statistics Canada.
Statistics Canada -- Free Internet Publications

Statistics Canada provides Free Internet
Publications containing statistics and
analysis in the form of survey results,
research reports, technical papers,
periodicals, census products, and
research compendia. Online
publications date from 1996 to the
present.
Statistics Canada -- other resources
 Printed publications
 Pre-mid-90’s publications available in Depository Libraries
 Censuses from 1871-1996
 Historical Statistics of Canada (printed and online)
 Canada Yearbooks (some years available online as eBook)
 Definitions, data sources and methods
 Citation Guide
 1-800-263-1136 - Enquiries line and other contact
information
Government of Canada -- web site
The Government of Canada web site 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.
Canadian Federal Departments
 Canada Revenue Agency

some taxation statistics

immigration, refugees, international adoption

National Budget

some expenditure statistics

disease occurrence statistics

Northern expenditures, etc.
 Citizenship and Immigration Canada
 Dept. of Finance
 Dept. of National Defense & the Canadian Forces
 Health Canada
 Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
Some other federal statistical sources
 Aboriginal Canada Portal

comprehensive portal site to all statistics and topics
relating to Canadian First Nations
 Bank of Canada

Canadian financial statistics, rates, etc.
 Canadian Institute for Health Information
(CIHI)

statistics on the Canadian health care system (hospitals,
health care providers, health indicators, etc.)
Provincial statistical sources

Most (all?) Provinces/Territories now regrettably
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
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
Finding Tools &
Exercise
Anna Bombak
WISLL III, February 19, 2009
University of Alberta
Some tools for finding statistics

Catalogues




Guides




NEOS Libraries’ Catalogue
Statistics Canada Online Catalogue
Data Library Webpage
Guide to Statistical Sources
Resource Guide to Health Statistics
Canadian Economic Statistics Research Guide
Databases




Statistical
Bibliographic -- Fulltext, Indexes+abstracts, etc.
Google
Statistics Canada web site (The Daily, Census, etc.)