National Boot camp

Vancouver

Heather Dryburgh and Michel B. Séguin

May 31st, 2011

Survey Life cycle

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What the heck is a survey?

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WHAT IS A SURVEY?

The collection of information from• People• Businesses• Organizations• Farms

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TYPES OF SURVEYS

CENSUS

• Includes all units of the population

SAMPLE

Includes some units of the population which represent the population Regular surveys

Supplementary surveys Post-censal surveys Longitudinal surveys

PROXY OR NON-PROXY

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MAJOR COMPONENTSOF A SURVEY

WHO WHAT HOW WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO IT

WHAT’S THE NEWS

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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

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WHAT?????

Questionnaire design Concepts and definitions Wording 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)

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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 INSTRUCTION TO INTERVIEWERS

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HOW???

Respondent relations• Purpose of survey• Confidentiality assurances• Volunteer / mandatory aspects of survey• Projects for linking data• Projects for sharing of data

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WHAT ARE WE DOING WITH THE DATA???

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

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PROCESSING THE DATA

Imputation of Data from Other Records on File

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PROCESSING THE DATAThe end product of processing = master file!

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PROCESSING THE DATAWeights are added to the Master file

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PROCESSING THE DATAWeights are added to the Master file

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WHAT’S THE NEWS??? WE are now in the DISSEMINATION mode Articles in the Daily and Summary Tables Tables in CANSIM Internet Publications Public Use Microdata Files Masterfiles/Sharefiles in the RDC

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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

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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….

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NOW THAT YOU HAVE THE DATA,HAVE FUN…