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Statistics Canada’s proposed Household Survey Strategy. Sylvie Michaud, Statistics Canada Mannheim, Germany November 14, 2007. Why a household survey strategy. Too costly and too slow
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Statistics Canada’s proposedHousehold Survey Strategy Sylvie Michaud, Statistics Canada Mannheim, Germany November 14, 2007
Why a household survey strategy • Too costly and too slow • Labour Force Survey – our traditional platform for ad hoc survey work -- is “maxed out”, restricting our ability to take on new surveys at reasonable cost • Increasing use of cell phones casts doubt on the future of Random Digit Dialing (RDD) surveys… • …as do declining response rates • Need to increase capacity to conduct surveys is a cost-effective way
Context : Budget review • Likely every four year for every department • STC in the first phase review • Actual target is not final yet • Direct impact on us; may be on cost recovery ?
Collection infrastructure • Three infrastructures for social surveys; most interviews done with computer assisted interviewing • Decentralised field collection (CAPI) • Centralised under 3 Regional Offices (CATI) • Ottawa (small) • Collection done using Blaise • Different management systems for different environments
Research to add efficiency on collection process : outside HSS
Stock-taking: overview of existing survey program • Study in 2005 on size, scope, cost of household survey program • Based on about 15 surveys • All used samples drawn from households • Either base funded or recurring cost-recovery
Scope: 5 monthly surveys • Labour Force Survey (LFS) • Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) • General Social Survey (GSS) • Travel Survey of Residents of Canada (TSRC) • Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS)
Scope: annual and other surveys • Annual • Survey of Household Spending (SHS) • Canadian Internet Use Survey (CIUS) • Residential Telephone Services Survey (RTSS) • Less frequent (examples) • Survey of Financial Security (SFS) • Adult Education and Training Survey (AETS) • Survey of Household Energy Use (SHEU) • Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID)
Some facts about these surveys • To collect the data, we contact about 300,000 households per year • Once selected, some households are contacted repeatedly (LFS) • About one third of budget comes from external sources • About two thirds of budget goes to data collection activities
Foundations for the strategy • Efficient use of field capacity • Frames for social surveys • Governance • Flexibility for contacting respondents
Spreading interviewing workload and response burden • Uneven interviewing workload increases cost – annual cycle of hiring, training, releasing interviewers to cope with peaks • Also between-year fluctuations • Over-burdened respondents cannot realistically be recontacted – and this is key to increasing capacity • Measures already taken: • Redesign of Survey of Household Spending • Uniform monthly workload for Canadian Community Health Survey
Frames for supplements • Proposal to remove TSRC from LFS, to increase capacity • TSRC is constant LFS companion: • Every month 1/3 of LFS sample gets TSRC • One person per household, non-proxy • Feeds SNA (inter-provincial flow tables of domestic travel expenditures), TSA, provincial monitoring of tourism trends • Since inception in 1979, survey has consumed growing share of LFS capacity: • Biennial annual • Quarterly monthly • One sixth of LFS sample one third
Issues with frames • Costly to run supplements because no capacity for supplements to LFS • RDD may not be viable in medium term • Difficult to select specific sub-populations • Frames updates are costly and might not be efficient
TSRC removed from LFS supplement should bring capacity • TSRC as a LFS supplement hinders capacity to quickly and efficiently conduct supplements related to Labour Market and synergy in topic not there • Pilot project May 2008 • Fresh sample for TSRC • Varying recall periods • Longitudinal design • If this was done, this would re-establish capacity to conduct supplements • Timing of the redesign is an issue
Integrated household survey platform Core content LFS & Supplements Core content CCHS Core content SHS & Supplements Core content GSS Core content TSRC Master Sample (Approx 260K hhlds per year, with standard core content) Ad hoc/ smaller survey Ad hoc / smaller survey Ad hoc / smaller survey Ad hoc / smaller survey
Survey integration • Identical core questions for all surveys (demographics, etc) • Create a master sample using households exiting from “1st phase” surveys • Draw on master sample for other (2nd phase) surveys • Harmonized content modules (18 groups of variables) for new surveys
Master sample integration • Pilot project April – May 2008 • Conducted on an on-going survey currently done with RDD • Targetting population people aged 45 and over • Test logistics but also impact on estimates from the two methodologies
Sampling frames • Address Register becomes frame for selecting dwellings in urban areas (~65% of sample) • Dual frame in rural areas • Telephone list frame • Area frame • Dual frame combines quality of area frame with cost-effectiveness of telephone list frame • All innovations already partially in use: • LFS has used Address Register • CCHS has used telephone list frame in a dual frame context
Links frames Updates (admin, listing) NEW AR permanent GEO (NGD) LFS, etc. permanent
Governance - internally • Standards • Content • system • Interactions with collection • Links with Census • Organisationnal impact ?
Governance – • Testing tripartite governance for longitudinal surveys • Statistics Canada, policy departments, researchers • Across surveys ?
Northern strategy • Opportunity to examine options for best approach in North • Aim is to manage burden and yield data that are as useful as possible • Co-development approach, involving territorial governments, other stakeholders and Statcan
Contact strategy • Need to be multi-mode • Mode of choice varies depending on the age of respondents • Trends are changing • Cell phone only is increasing, along with Voice over IP
Which way would like to be contactedenvironics survey n=1965
Survey methods most preferred: respondents who prefer more than one wayenvironics
Future Census completion – mode preference By ageenvironics n=1965
Internet option for respondents • Build on success of Census Internet option • Assumptions: • 1st interview is interviewer-administered • Respondent can opt for Internet after that • Fallback to CATI • Short supplements (with proxy) still viable • Two pilots with internet in November • Need to build a more robust master control system
Use of other information • Administrative files: • How far and what is respondents perception ? • How does it impact on access ? • Use of Census • Geographic information • As a frame • As a data source for longitudinal analysis ?
Summary • We started two years ago • We wanted to position our strategic thinking for the next five years • Likely not be finished in year 5 however • Starting to see some cost savings with load levelling but it’s more than costs savings
Survey of Household Spending • Monthly collection • Key variables collected from all households (30 minutes) • Sample then divided into two subsamples, to respond to a subset of more detailed spending questions • Recall periods defined according to the type of expenditure • Capacity for rotating supplementary content (wealth, health, environment…)
Lining up activities and directions with original objectives • Increased capacity • Master sample • More monthly surveys • LFS capacity freed up • Improved cost-effectiveness • Increased use of AR & new sampling strategies • Interviewer workload more uniform • Harmonized content modules • Faster turnaround times • Harmonized content modules
Lining up activities and directions with original objectives • Increasing prevalence of cell phones • Dwelling-based approach • Rising non-response rates • Multi-modal approach: more options for respondents • Burden spread more uniformly (and managed)
declining response rates : Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics
Context :Households with cell phone only • Nationally, 90% have a land line • Households with cell phones only increased from 1.9% to 5% in past 3 years • 10.6% use voice over IP • Rate for low income household almost twice that of other households
Household survey strategy • Spread interviewer and response burden • Survey integration • Increase response options • Greater use of list frames for sampling