1 / 25

Searching for Statistics Why can’t we find the data we need ? Where should we even start ?

Are you struggling to find the data you need? This guide will help you navigate common challenges and explore different sources to obtain the statistics you require.

barias
Download Presentation

Searching for Statistics Why can’t we find the data we need ? Where should we even start ?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Searching for Statistics Whycan’twefind the data weneed? Whereshouldweevenstart? Julie.Marcoux@umoncton.ca 858-4154

  2. So Many Obstacles! • Someverycommon challenges: • Variedproducers of data • Data versus statistics • Formats • Geography • Doesitevenexist? • Confidentiality • Even more common challenges: • Costs • Variedsources of data • HistoricalData and Longitudinal Data • StatisticsCanada’samazing maze Bonus Workflow!!!

  3. SO MANY PRODUCERS OF STATISTICS!!!

  4. WHO? WHO? WHO? • Governments: municipal, provincial, national. • Associations and non-profit organizations: local, national, international. • Researchers: publishedstatistics, un-publisheddatasets. • For profit organizations: think-tanks, analysts, businesses. • Compilers: database providers, almanachs. CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!!

  5. Experts Beginners • Mismatchbetweenusers and data or statistics. Potentialmismatch CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!! Statistics Data

  6. Data formats • Manykinds of formats: • Software: SPSS, Stata, Excel, etc. • File extensions: CSV, XML, TAB, SPS, DAT, XLSX • Geospatial data. CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!!

  7. Geography • Compare similar levels of geography for counts, but you can get away with percentages to compare different levels of geography. • Statistic Canada’s geographical hierarchy is used by a LOT of Canadian sources. • A same city might be available at many different geographical levels.

  8. Geography Hierarchy of standard geographic units for dissemination, 2011 Census

  9. Some geography resources • Clicking on provinces in the census profile. • Clicking around the Standard Geographical Classification. • GeoSuite • The census geography webpage.

  10. Some geography resources • Clicking on provinces in the census profile. • Clicking around the Standard Geographical Classification. • GeoSuite • The census geography webpage. CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!!

  11. CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!! Weekly amount of icecreampurchased for childrenaged 12 to 14 in Nunavut?

  12. Redacted statistics???

  13. Data is suppressed in smaller geographies CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!!

  14. CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!!

  15. Alphabet Soup: Which Resource for Accessing DLI Data? Beyond 20/20 Web Server? CansimMultidimensional? Census Analyzer? Chass? DLI FTP server? DLI restricted web site? Equinox? ICPSR? IVT Crepuq? Nesstar? <odesi>? SDA? RDC? Peter Webster spellsit out! CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!!

  16. Some aspects thatmight have changed over time: • Geographic boundaries. • Confidentiality restrictions. • Data collection (questions asked, answerscollected, etc.) • Oldersurveysmightbeonlyavailable in print, beimproperlydocumented, be hard to find/discover/search, or have coding issues. • StatisticCanada’s longitudinal surveys are typicallyonlyavailablethrough the RDCs : harder to access. • Longitudinal surveystypicallylose a portion of respondents over time. Historical DataLongitudinal Data CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!! Longitudinal survey? A same respondent is followed for a period of time.

  17. Statistic Canada’s Amazing Maze! CLICK TO GO BACK TO MENU!!!

  18. Suggested workflow • Quickly check sources that are alreadyfamiliar to you. • Becomefamiliarwith the Canadian census, the National HouseholdSurvey, and a few Stat Can surveys in your discipline. • Becomefamiliarwithyourlocal data portal and quickly check relevant links. If possible, do a variable search in your data discoverytool. • Search for your question in Google and explore the results. • Whensearching for Canadian data, use Google results to navigate to relevant branches of government, to the relevant Departments and/or to the relevant Stat Can surveys. • If searching for Canadian data, look at tables and sources of information in Stat Can’ssubject portal. • Askyour data librarian for help…if youare the data librarian, ask the DLI email list for help.

  19. Searching Google • AROUND(#) to find words that are close to each other. • Site:adresse of website or domain to search in a specific web site or domain. • -word to search pages that don’t have a specific word in their results. Don’t forget to check the sources of your findings!

  20. Questions???

More Related