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Getting started

Statistics: Power from Data! is an e-book from Statistics Canada that will help in getting the most from statistics. It includes definitions, examples, exercises and a glossary.

OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms: contains a comprehensive set of definitions of the main data items collected by the Organisation. The Glossary also contains definitions of key terminology and concepts and commonly used acronyms.

2011 Census release schedule

Population and dwelling counts - February 8, 2012

Age and sex - May 29, 2012

Families, households and marital status and Structural type of dwelling and collectives - September 19, 2012

Language - October 24, 2012

 

Did you know....

Data and Statistics

Sylvie Lafortune, MA, MLIS

Email: slafortune@laurentian.ca

or data@laurentian.ca

Tel.: 705-675-1151 ext. 3330

Need help?

I am available for research consultations throughout the academic year.

 Proxy server accounts are available to Laurentian University members who wish to use licensed products from off campus.

 
Questions and data requests can be sent to data@laurentian.ca

Statistics

What is Aggregate Data?

Aggregate data or statistics are data that is collected and reported as a sum or total.

  

Canadian Statistics

**New** CANSIM Homepage: CANSIM data are now available free of charge under the Statistics Canada Open Licence Agreement. Updated daily. Tutorial:Introduction to the New CANSIM Interface

CANSIM from CHASS: (Canadian Socio-Economic Information Management System) is the Statistics Canada computerized database which contains over 900,000 time series covering a wide variety of enhanced access to CANSIM data.  The University of Toronto's CHASS provides access to CANSIM data which is updated daily.CANSIM Help

For more Canadian Statistics, see the Census tab in this subject guide.

 

International:

Eurostat: the Statistical Office of the European Communities.  The website is updated daily and provides direct access to the latest and most complete statistical information available on the European Union, the EU Member States, the euro-zone and other countries. Eurostat : Publications and Databases Guide

OECD iLibrary Statistics :  provides a single online platform where users can discover and access statistical databases from the OECD. You will be able to build tables and extract data from across databases as well as work within individual databases. Includes data and metadata for OECD countries and selected non-member economies. User Guide

UNdata: a portal to United Nations databases.  Currently, there are 24 databases and 6 glossaries containing approximately 60 million data points and covering a whole range of statistics including Population, Industry, Energy, Trade and National Accounts.  Useful features like Country Profiles, Advanced Search and Glossaries are also provided to aid research.

Census

Canadian Census Analyser from CHASS: enhanced access to Canadian Census data maintained by the CHASS Facility at the University of Toronto.  Can be accessed by users from Canadian universities that are members of Data Liberation Initiative consortium.  Bilingual interface for data extraction. How to use the Canadian Census Analyser

E-STAT: an interactive tool about society and the economy in Canada.  Data can be displayed in the form of tables, graphs and maps for several geographic areas.  Data comes from approximately 270 tables from CANSIM, the Censuses of population and agriculture and the Survey of Aboriginal Peoples.

What's E-STAT? (Flash presentation on E-STAT)

2011 Census

Statistics Canada: Census 2011 Data : The 2011 Census offers a wide range of analysis and data according to topics that paint a portrait of Canada.

Hightlight Tables: These tables provide population and dwelling counts established by the 2011 Census of Canada.

Visual Census: This product presents time series information from various censuses of population. The time series is presented in both graphical and tabular format with the capability to download the information in various delimited formats.

Topic-based tabulations: These present a portrait of Canada based on the various census topics.

2011 Census Profile: This profile presents information from the 2011 Census of Population for various levels of geography, including provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas, communities and census tracts.

 

2006 Census

Statistics Canada: Census 2006 Data : The census provides a statistical portrait of the land and population of Canada. StatCan produces a wide variety of products to disseminate its census data including the following:

  2006 Community Profiles: These profiles present community-level information from the 2006 Census of Population. Users can search for an area of interest by typing its 'place name' in the box below or by clicking on a province or territory from the list below and selecting the area from a list.

 2006 Census Tract Profiles:  Census tracts are small, relatively stable geographic areas that usually have a population of 2,500 to 8,000. They are identified using seven-character numeric 'names' (e.g., 0005.00) and are located in census metropolitan areas (CMAs) and larger census agglomerations (CAs).

 2006 Profile of Aboriginal Children, Youth and Adults: provides an extensive set of data about Aboriginal children, youth and adults (Métis, Inuit and off-reserve North American Indian) living in urban, rural and northern locations across Canada.

Research Data

What is research data?

Research data, also known as raw data, are data that have not been processed. This picture shows data displayed in SPSS where the numbers in rows represent a specific unit of observation (individual, household) and the numbers in columns are the values of variables.

Sources of Research Data

Data Liberation Initiative (DLI) : Statistics Canada division which makes available public use microdata files (PUMFs), databases and geographic files.  Use of these files is limited to academic research and teaching purposes.  Some of these files may be retrieved from the <ODESI> portal (see middle panel). For more information, please contact data@laurentian.ca.

Equinox : Data searching and retrieval system which provides access to Statistics Canada’s aggregate, cartographic and micro data. This project is made possible through the partnership between the University of Western Ontario and the Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities (CREPUQ). The interface is bilingual. Using Equinox

Statistics Canada Surveys A-Z: For detailed information about the surveys.

Research Data Centers (RDC): RDCs provide researchers with access, in a secure university setting, to microdata from population and household surveys. The centres are staffed by Statistics Canada employees. RDCs are located throughout the country, so researchers do not need to travel to Ottawa to access Statistics Canada microdata. For more information, please contact data@laurentian.ca.

Search Data in ODESI

What is <ODESI>?: (Ontario Data Documentation, Extraction Service and Infrastructure) is a digital repository for social science data, including polling data with a web-based data exploration, extraction and analysis tools. (more on <ODESI>)
 
Students and researchers at Laurentian University have access to DLI (Data Liberation Initiative, Statistics Canada), Gallup Canada, Ipsos Reid and Voice of the People data located in <ODESI>.

ODESI Help Guides

Guide to using <ODESI> in five easy steps (pdf)

<ODESI> subject guide (Scholars Portal): A subject guide in the same format as this one, which provides detailed information about using <ODESI>.

<ODESI> Video Tutorials

Health Data

Canadian Community Health Survey: The central objective of the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) is to gather health-related data at the sub-provincial levels of geography (health region or combined health regions). Data available through <ODESI>. 

Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI): an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides essential information on Canada’s health system and the health of Canadians.

Chronic Disease INFOBASE: Public Health Agency of Canada's portal, which allows profiling of the epidemiology of major non-communicable diseases in Canada including most current cancers, cardiovascular and respitory diseases by province/territory and by regional health unit. Data can be displayed in the form of tables, graphs and maps. How to use the Chronic Disease Infobase 

 Health Profile: This profile features community-level data from a number of sources including Statistics Canada's health surveys, administrative data, and the census of population. The application is designed to give quick access to the latest health-related data available for a selected health region, providing the corresponding provincial data by default, but users can easily select any region of choice for comparison.

This page is currently being developed. 

Statistical Analysis Software

SPSS (now PASW) is installed computers all over campus. It includes extensive help menus and there are several useful online help sites (e.g. SPSS Tools, Using SPSS). The Library also has in its collection many books on how to use SPSS.

Most downloadable data and metadata are compliant with SPSS. Faculty and staff can have the software installed on their computers for an installation fee by Information Technology Services (ext. 2200).
 
Statistics Canada data is also available in Beyond 20/20 format, software designed to help non-specialist users manipulate tabular data. This browser is mouse-driven and creates custom tables, retrieves the information in them and displays this information in table, chart, and map views.
 
You can download the software for free on this page - it is also available in all computer labs on campus. 
  
 System  Beyond 20/20  Service Pack
 32-bit Windows operating systems(Windows 95/98/2000/ME/XP/NT4.x/7, Windows server 2003/2008)  ProBrowser  Service Pack 3 - XP
 64-bit Windows operating systems(Windows Vista/7)  ProBrowser for Vista  Service Pack 3 - Vista

N.B. : there are no versions of Beyond 20/20 for either the Macintosh or Unix/Linux operating systems.