HLABC Statistics Bootcamp 2013

MAKING SENSE OF STATISTICS AT THE REFERENCE DESK

Write down a statistical question that you’d like help answering

MAKING SENSE OF STATISTICS AT THE REFERENCE DESK

ANDREA CAMERON CARLA GRAEBNER SYLVIA ROBERTS

Health Libraries Association of BC June, 2013

SESSION GOALS:

Increase confidence and understanding in answering statistical queries Learn the difference between data and stats Share in effective strategies and tools to find the right source Key (and free) Canadian and international statistical sources Answer actual stats questions!!!

STATISTICAL TRIVIA

Highest alcohol consumption per capita: Spain, Estonia or Canada?

Estonia! (OECD factbook)

Do more Canadians have cats or dogs as pets? Cats! (WSPA report)

How much has the value of the gluten-free retail market increased in Canada between 2011 and 2012? 2%? 5%? 10%?

10%! (Agri-foods Canada)

More people have a mobile phone than a toothbrush: True or False?

TRUE! (although difficult to verify) (MMA)

DATA VS STATISTICS

DATA •Facts or figures* from which conclusions can be drawn •Numeric files created and organized

– for analysis, or to create a new table –require processing

•Includes geographic data

–(to make maps)

STATISTICS Statistics are processed data, or data that have been analyzed in some way Generally used to support an argument or position in a study or report Presentation ready

DATA OR STATISTICS? STATISTICS OR DATA?

RAW OR COOKED?

GBD HEATMAP How do different health challenges rank across countries? Rank and compare causes and risks in different countries based on deaths, YLLs, YLDs, and DALYs by age group and sex.

CANSIM Updated continuously Free / Fee based Access via Statistics Canada Website* or licensed through CHASS @ the University of Toronto Data statistics, no analysis

JURISDICTIONS AND DIMENSIONS

THE BUILDING BLOCKS Basic methods for gathering statistics: Census: Census of Canada Survey: Canadian Community Health Survey; Twenty Years of Student Sexual Behavior (2004) Administrative data: Vital Statistics-Birth Database;

Image credit: jassijava bricks on flickr

CAN YOU TRUST THE NUMBERS?

Image credit: Wikipedia

AND MORE RECENTLY

WHO MIGHT GATHER THESE STATS?

International infant mortality

Cost of rent in Lethbridge

Drinking fountains in Vancouver

Tobacco use among Canadians

Teen Internet Gambling

Midwifery Industry

Pharmaceutical sales from drug stores

Primary school enrollment in Ghana

SOURCES BY CATEGORY Official

Inter-governmental

United Nations

World Bank

IMF

WHO

Governmental

Federal

Statistics Canada

Health Canada

Provincial

BC stats

Provincial Health

Authorities

Municipal

Metro Vancouver Statistics

Unofficial

Non-Profit

Think Tanks

Trade / Professional Associations

NGOs

Academic Research

Commercial

Euromonitor

EIU

IMS Health

FOLLOW THE DATA… Data re-use at the Provincial level

THE REFERENCE INTERVIEW

THE REFERENCE INTERVIEW

Intent

Content

Constraints

What do they want to do

with the info?

Use in a report: they

need statistics!

Can you find an existing

table/ graphic/map?

Yes? Done! No? Can one be generated

in a database?

Yes? Done! No? Perhaps someone else

can help

Analyze or map: they need data!

Can you find an appropriate,

accessible data source?

Yes? Done! No? Perhaps someone else

can help

Intent

CONTENT

CONSTRAINTS

Geography Time

Particular

Measures Outputs

YOUR TURN! A bewildered patron has been wandering the halls, asking that SOMEONE please help her find some numbers …can you?

Image credit: AlexanderDrachmann on Flickr

SECONDARY SOURCES AS SHORTCUTS

SECONDARY SOURCES AS SHORTCUTS

News articles Citations from research sources (books, articles, reports) Statistical yearbooks, abstracts, almanacs Library and organizational metaguides Organizational sites with specialized data

FAST STATS! STATISTICAL COMPENDIA

META GUIDES

Off Stats (University of Aukland) Statistics Canada’s external links Library guides, e.g. York University Finding medical / health care statistics online (Dean’s wiki)

STATISTICS CANADA – A BRIEF TOUR

WHAT CAN WE FIND IN STATISTICS CANADA

AS SUPPORT FOR OUR DISCUSSION?

STATISTICS CANADA TIPS

Another word for: Higher education? Fitness? Poverty?

Try a broad search term and scope the results Browse by subject from front page Search secondary sources for leads, e.g. The Daily Finding and Using Statistics

REALLY useful overview of Statistics Canada and statistical research in general

Google searching

CENSUS OF CANADA

CENSUS Census profiles

• I want to know everything about my province, municipality, neighbourhood

Highlight tables • How do I compare employment levels in different cities?

Topic-based tabulations • How do I examine the relationship between ethnicity and employment?

Analysis, reports, visualization tools • Instead of analyzing demographic tables myself, is there a ready-made

report I can use? Geography

• How do I create maps based on the Census? • Geographic files – ArcGIS • Subscription products: Pcensus, SimplyMap • Vancouver data Catalogue, VanMap, GeoSearch 2011

NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY NHS Profiles

• Like Census profiles, but smallest entity is Federal Electoral District (no census tract)

NHS Data Table • Like topic based tabulations

NHS Focus on Geography Series • Reports on topics by geographic areas. No map files (yet)

BEYOND STATISTICS CANADA

SOURCES BY CATEGORY

Official

Inter-governmental

United Nations

World Bank

IMF

WHO

Governmental

Federal

Statistics Canada

Health Canada

Provincial

BC stats

Provincial Health

Authorities

Municipal

Metro Vancouver Statistics

Unofficial

Non-Profit

Think Tanks

Trade / Professional Associations

NGOs

Academic Research

Commercial

Euromonitor

EIU

IMS Health

Unofficial

Non-Profit

Think Tanks

Canadian Centre for Policy

Alternatives

Fraser Institute

Trade / Professional Associations

NGOs

Canadian Institute for Health

Information

Academic Research

NBER

Research Data

OPEN DATA

“Like many others, I believe access to government information can lead to

better informed public policy debates and hopefully some improved services

for citizens...”

~ David Eaves Co-sponsor, Open Data Vancouver Initiative

eaves.ca, May 2nd, 2012

Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government

Canada’s Action Plan on Open Government: Figure 1: Our Commitments

OPEN HEALTH DATA

Research Data

“… recorded factual material commonly accepted in the scientific community as necessary to validate research findings, but not any of the following: preliminary analyses, drafts of scientific papers, plans for future research, peer reviews, or communications with colleagues. This "recorded" material excludes physical objects (e.g., laboratory samples).”

U.S. Office of Management and Budget

RESEARCH LANDSCAPE Social Science and Humanities Research Council

(SSHRC): "All research data collected with the use of SSHRC funds must be preserved and made available for use by others within a reasonable period of time. SSHRC considers "a reasoable period" to be within two years of the completion of the research project for which the data was collected.“

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR): "deposit bioinformatics, atomic, and molecular coordinate data into the appropriate public database (e.g. gene sequences deposited in GenBank) immediately upon

publication of research results." and

"retain original data sets for a minimum of five years (or longer if other policies apply)."

Andrea Cameron: amcamero@sfu.ca Carla Graebner: cgraebne@sfu.ca Sylvia Roberts: sroberts@sfu.ca