University of Alberta

The Winter Institute on Statistical Literacy for Librarians

University of Alberta

Official Statistics

Anna BombakWISLL IV, February 18, 2010

Official vs. non-official statistics

Official statistics are those produced by government bodies (such as Statistics Canada) and some international or inter-governmental agencies (such as the U.N.).

Non-official statistics are produced by other bodies, including trade associations, professional organizations, banks, consultants, marketing companies, academic institutions, and so on.

*Un*official Statistics

Official statistics -- official definition Section 2 of the Statistics Act 1975 defines official statistics as "statistics derived by Government Departments from:

1. Statistical surveys as defined in this section; and

2. Administrative and registration records and other forms and papers the statistical analyses of which are published regularly, or are planned to be published regularly, or could reasonably be published regularly".

'Statistical survey' means "a survey of undertakings, or of the public of New Zealand, whereby information is collected from all persons in a field of inquiry or from a sample thereof, by a Government Department pursuant to the authority of this Act or any other Act, or without specific provision in any Act, wholly or primarily for the purpose of processing and summarising by appropriate statistical procedures and publishing the results of the survey in some statistical form". -- Statistics New Zealand

Official statistics -- objectives“Official statistics are statistics produced by government agencies to:

• shed light on economic and social conditions• develop, implement and monitor policies• inform decision making, debate and discussion both within

government and the wider community

Government and its administrative arms need official statistics for policy development, implementation and evaluation. The public at large have similar information needs in order to evaluate government policy, to ensure public accountability, and to be adequately informed about social and economic conditions.”

-- Statistics New Zealand

Official statistics -- context“Official statistics” can mean different things to different people. There are three broad ways of defining it:

First, it may be defined in terms of people providing the service (e.g., the Government Statistical Service).

Second, it may be defined in terms of activities (e.g., collecting data, publishing statistics, providing statistical advice to support policy work).

Third, it may be defined in terms of outputs, or products of statistical work (e.g., the published statistics on the labour market, on crime, on health, etc).

-- U.K. Command Paper no. 3882, 1998. Statistics: A Matter of Trust

Official statistics -- quality

“There is no standard definition among statistical agencies for the term official statistics. There is a generally accepted, but evolving, range of quality issues underlying the concept of 'fitness for use'. These elements of quality need to be considered and balanced in the design and implementation of an agency's statistical program.”

-- Statistics Canada

Official statistics -- assessment

Attributes of quality that make statistics fit for use:

Relevance Accuracy Timeliness Accessibility Interpretability Coherence -- Statistics Canada

Official statistics -- standards Official statistics must go through a formal

process in their creation and release. Definitions of concepts are a critical aspect of the process, as are the methodologies for collecting and producing the statistics. This relates directly to the accuracy, coherence, and interpretability aspects of quality assessment described by Statistics Canada.

Ideally, should conform when applicable to international cooperative standards (e.g., classification systems such as NAICS).

Official statistics -- sources

Official statistics can be created from administrative databases, such as birth or death certificates or from national surveys, such as the Labour Force Survey, which is used to determine employment statistics.

Surveys

Census Canadian Community Health

Survey Labour Force Survey General social survey National Longitudinal Survey

of Children and Youth Business Register Survey of Household

Spending Survey of Giving, Volunteering,

and Participating Participation and Activities

Limitation Survey Ethnic Diversity Survey

Vital Statistics Hospital Morbidity Database National Health Expenditure

Database Crime reports Court reports Education reports Longitudinal Administrative

Data System National Accounts

LIDS (Landed Immigrant Data System)

Income Statistics (Canadian Revenue Agency)

Administrative Records

Federal official health statistics

Report of the Auditor General of Canada, 2002

Health Indicators: integrating many data sources

Statistics Canada: vital statistics and cancer registry (administrative data) health surveys: NPHS, CCHS, other census labour force surveys crime statistics

Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI): provincial health ministries, Health Canada administrative data hospital morbidity database discharge abstract database, other health care system statistics

University of Alberta

Finding Canadian Statistics

Anna BombakWISLL IV, February 18, 2010

Finding statistics

Finding statistics -- perspectives

“Data” perspective: to identify a data source from which the statistics could be produced. This approach relies on knowledge of data sources collected by agencies.

“Government Publications” perspective: to identify an agency which produces such a statistic. This approach relies on knowledge of governmental structure and the content for which agencies are responsible.

Statistics Canada -- an essential source

In Canada, as in many other Commonwealth countries, there is a central statistical body responsible for gathering, processing, and publishing statistics. Statistics Canada is the first place to look when trying to find statistics about Canada or Canadians. Statistics Canada not only provides statistics at the national level, but may also provide data unavailable elsewhere at the provincial/territorial, municipal, or even sub-municipal level.

Statistics Canada -- the “Greatest Hits”

The Statistics Canada website encompasses many, many, important statistical databases, publications, and other sources of statistical information.

It would be outside the scope of any presentation to list them all, but some of the more useful places to look when searching for Canadian statistics on the Statistics Canada website are:

Statistics Canada -- the “Greatest Hits”

Statistics by Subject Summary Tables Community Profiles Census E-Stat The Daily Internet Free Publications

Statistics Canada – Statistics by Subject

This entry on the Statistics Canada homepage groups together all Statistics Canada resources on a subjects such as “Aboriginals”, “Children & Youth”, “Crime & Justice”, “Government”, etc.

In addition to data tables, Statistics by Subject provides information from The Daily, Publications, and other Statistics Canada resources, as well as links to relevant external sources.

Statistics Canada -- Summary Tables

The Summary Tables, formerly called Canadian Statistics, provide an overview of statistical information on Canada’s people, economy and governments.

Tables are indexed by subject, by province/territory/metropolitan area, or by an alphabetical list of topics.

Statistics Canada -- Community Profiles

The Community Profiles provide community-level information from the 2006 Census of Population. Users can search for an area of interest by typing its 'place name' in a search box or by clicking on a province/territory from a list and then selecting the desired community area.

New for 2006: Census Tract (CT) Profiles provide 2006 Census data for census tracts.

Statistics Canada -- Census

The Census of Population provides a snapshot of Canada's demographic, social and economic characteristics every five years.

The Census provides population and dwelling counts not just at the national level, but also for each province/ territory, and for smaller geographic units such as cities or districts within cities.

The Census of Agriculture provides statistics on farm operators, land use and land practices, farm finances, crops and horticulture and livestock for most Canadian communities.

Statistics Canada -- E-STAT E-STAT is an interactive database containing

statistical time-series about society and the economy in Canada, and is free online to educational institutions. E-STAT contains Canada-wide community information, current and historical population and agricultural census data, and data from the Human Activity and the Environment and Aboriginal Peoples surveys. Data tables may be downloaded in a variety of formats as well as transformed into colour maps and graphs. This makes it an excellent resource for student papers.

Statistics Canada -- The Daily The Daily is Statistics Canada's official

release bulletin, the Agency's first line of communication with the media and the public. The Daily issues news releases on current social and economic conditions and announces new products. It provides a comprehensive one-stop overview of new information available from Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada -- Free Internet Publications

Statistics Canada provides Free Internet Publications containing statistics and analysis in the form of survey results, research reports, technical papers, periodicals, census products, and research compendia. Online publications date from 1996 to the present.

Statistics Canada -- other resources Printed publications

Pre-mid-90’s publications available in Depository Libraries Censuses from 1871-1996 Historical Statistics of Canada (printed and online) Canada Yearbook (1867–1967 also available online)

Definitions, data sources and methods

Citation Guide

1-800-263-1136 - Enquiries line and other contact information

Government of Canada -- web site

The Government of Canada web site serves as a comprehensive information and portal site to all federal government departments, crown corporations, and other federal-government-associated agencies. This is a good place to start when seeking specific statistics not available or easily found through Statistics Canada.

Canadian Federal Departments Canada Revenue Agency

some taxation statistics

Citizenship and Immigration Canada immigration, refugees, international adoption

Dept. of Finance National Budget, Public Accounts, Estimates

Dept. of National Defense & the Canadian Forces some expenditure statistics

Health Canada disease occurrence statistics

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada Northern expenditures, etc.

Some other federal statistical sources

Aboriginal Canada Portal comprehensive portal site to all statistics and topics

relating to Canadian First Nations

Bank of Canada Canadian financial statistics, rates, etc.

Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)

statistics on the Canadian health care system (hospitals, health care providers, health indicators, etc.)

Provincial statistical sources

Many Provinces/Territories now regrettably lack a centralized statistical bureau. However, provincial government web sites often contain much useful statistical information, particularly in the areas of employment, tourism, small business and other economic data, as well as statistics embedded in provincial departments’ Annual Reports

E.g. Government of Alberta homepage; Office of Statistical Information sub-page.

Municipal statistical sources

City, town, and village government web sites often contain statistical information, including:

civic censuses police crime reports taxation and municipal expenditure economic and small business data housing and construction

University of Alberta

Finding Tools & Exercise

Anna BombakWISLL IV, February 18, 2010

Some tools for finding statistics Catalogues

NEOS Libraries’ Catalogue Statistics Canada Online Catalogue Data Library Webpage

Guides Guide to Statistical Sources Resource Guide to Health Statistics Canadian Economic Statistics Research Guide

Databases Statistical Bibliographic -- Fulltext, Indexes+abstracts, etc. Google Statistics Canada web site (The Daily, Census, etc.)