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Unlocking non-official statistics

2009 Winter Institute on Statistical Literacy for Librarians

Angie Mandeville :: Librarian :: University of Alberta

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Non-official statistics

• What are they? • Who publishes them?• Classification standards?• Tools & search strategies• Exercise(s)

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What are they?

• Non-official statistics are produced by a range of non-governmental bodies or publishers.

• Dissemination: $• So…Who publishes them?

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Associations

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Associations

• Industry statistics & economic indicators:– Sales figures– Production rates– Export/import facts– Market share rankings– Demographics– Consumer spending habits– Surveys

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Consulting/Professional service firms

84% of Canadians feel that Canada has one of the strongest banking systems in the world, and 85% have complete confidence

in them.

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Market research agencies

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Market research reports

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Charities

“Caregivers have experienced the following physical changes since they began taking care of someone with Alzheimer’s disease: fatigue (47 per cent), difficulty sleeping (36 percent), headaches (23 per cent), back pain (21 per cent), weight gain (19 per cent) and worsening of existing conditions (15 per cent)”

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Survey/polling firms

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Financial institutions

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Chambers of Commerce/Economic Development Organizations

• Canadian Chamber of Commerce

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Research Institutes/Think tanks

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Classification standards

• NAICS• SIC• Others?

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SIC

• Developed late 1930’s –> last revised 1987

• Analyze U.S. economy, manufacturing dominated

• 10 divisions -> grouping establishments engaged in producing/handling same product or rendering same service

• Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) System Search

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NAICS (nakes)• Developed 1997 by U.S., Canada and Mexico• New comparability in statistics about business

activity across North America• 20 industry sectors production-oriented

that groups establishments into industries based on activity, “like processes to produce goods or services”

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Non-official statistics: Stocking your tool belt

• Print & Web-based• Free & Fee-based• Acquisition decisions

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Tools - Print

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Tools - Print

• Basic demographic info (age, gender, marital status, etc.)

• Consumer psychographic profiles by community– E.g. Professional Duets– E.g. Urban Bohemia

• U.S. tool - MyBestSegments

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Tools - Free

• Alacrawiki• Winspear Canadian

Industry Database (WCID)• Pathfinders (UA)• Google (or any other

search engine)

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Tools – Fee-based

• Global Market Information Database– Keyword search– Menu search– Browse

Photo: ksawyer on flickr • Use Global Market

Information Database to find a market report statistics about pet food and/or pet care in Canada.

• What statistics are included in this report?

GMID: Your turn

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Tools – Fee-based

• Print Measurement Bureau (PMB)

• Superdemographics

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PMB: Your turn

• Use PMB to find statistics on numbers of pets in Canadian households

• Use PMB to determine Edmonton’s top three coffee shops

• What worked? What didn’t work?

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Tools – Fee-based

• TableBase

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Tools – Fee-based

• Association directories– Associations Canada– Associations Unlimited

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Search strategies• Basic questions:

– Who would collect this? Publish it?– Why?

• Mine bibliographic indexes• Pathfinders (HBS, UA, etc.)• Google

– phrase searching– Kw: statistics (percent, per cent, billion, million, unit you’re

measuring), market share, market size, industry overview, financial data, expenditures, costs

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• “Official statistics have to be compiled according to international guidelines and principles, but they cannot be considered the only reliable source of statistics. Relevant and reliable data are also produced by other bodies, such as international organisations, central banks, research institutes and non-governmental organisations. What matters is not necessarily the institutional position of the source, but the quality of data.”

(Enrico Giovannini, Chief Statistician - OECD)

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Gauging quality• Producer’s reputation• Gap between collection

and publication• Secondary?

– Sources identified• Primary? • Text of document• Do results make sense?• Confirmed in other

sources?

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To spend or not spend

• Audience• Potential usage• Positive reviews from

others• Cost (deal breaker?)• Electronic or print

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To spend or not to spend

• Access: Simultaneous users? Compatible with proxy server?

• Technical issues: Compatibility with web browsers? Usage stats?

• Price: Is consortia pricing an option?

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Exercise

• Your turn to unlock!