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ECO 425/2807: finding data

ECO 425/2807: finding data. 2006/03/01 Laine Ruus laine.ruus@utoronto.ca University of Toronto. Data Library Service. Three main points:. A lot of data are available, but not where you expect to find them

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ECO 425/2807: finding data

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  1. ECO 425/2807: finding data 2006/03/01 Laine Ruus laine.ruus@utoronto.ca University of Toronto. Data Library Service

  2. Three main points: • A lot of data are available, but not where you expect to find them • Don’t pay for anything from Statistics Canada without checking with the Data Library Service first • Key to surviving data assignments: find the data first, then formulate your research question based on available data

  3. A lot of data are available, but not where you expect to find them • Information is a commodity • Data producers want to sell their commodities • The University has already purchased access for you to large amounts of priced data • Usually, you can’t access the University’s copy on the producers web-site • The University’s copy is usually accessible only via the Data Library Service web-site: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/

  4. Three main types of data products: • Aggregate statistics from specific data collection activities • Time-series statistics: aggregate statistics repeated over time • Microdata • Available in different places

  5. Canadian aggregate statistics and time-series statistics US and international aggregate and time-series statistics Canadian census of population Canadian, US and international microdata

  6. CANSIM • over 28.5 million time-series of Canadian socio-economic data • Includes selected statistics from almost all STC data collection efforts • Available • for $$$ at www.statcan.ca • ‘free’ (restricted) at estat.statcan.ca • ‘free’ (restricted) at www.chass.utoronto.ca

  7. Census of population (Canadian) • Conducted every 5 years since 1901 • Products include: • Aggregate statistics for small & large geographies • Time-series statistics for selected characteristics • Microdata

  8. and then there’s microdata… • Microdata consist of one record per respondent and contains all the answers each respondent gave to eg a survey or census • Aggregate statistics are limited to the tables the data producer is interested in • Microdata allow you to • Produce any multivariate tables constrained only by the variables (and their coding) in the data • Perform other types of analyses that are impossible with aggregate data

  9. Endnotes: • This ppt file is available at: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/classes/ • The Data Library home page is at: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/datalib/

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