Finding Data

An Introduction to Statistics Canada Microdata & Citing Data

 

 

Cody Fullerton

Data & Education Liaison Librarian

University of Manitoba Libraries

Today's Class:

1. What is microdata?
2. <odesi>
3. Nesstar Portal
4. Citing Data

What is microdata?

In the study of survey and census data, microdata is information at the level of individual respondents.

The advantages:

Census results are most commonly published as aggregates both for privacy reasons and because of the large quantities of data involved; microdata for one census can easily contain millions of records, each with several dozen data items.

Summarizing results to an aggregate level results in information loss. For instance, if statistics for education and employment are aggregated separately, they cannot be used to explore a relationship between them. Access to microdata allows researchers much more freedom to investigate such interactions and perform detailed analysis.

The disadvantages:

Microdata analysis requires a well developed understanding of statistics and the software that you're using.

Common software choices for analyzing microdata:

• SAS
• STATA
• SPSS
• Excel
• Beyond 20/20

<odesi>

<odesi> (Ontario Data Documentation, Extraction Service and Infrastructure) is a digital repository for social science data, including polling data. It is a web-based data exploration, extraction and analysis tool. It provides researchers the ability to search for variables across thousands of datasets. There are both microdata and aggregate data available, in a range of formats.

Nesstar

Nesstar is a web-based exploration, extraction and analysis tool for social science data. The NESSTAR data portal consists of Public Use Microdata Files (PUMF) and Master Files (RDC).

PCCF

Postal Code Conversion Files

These files are used to link postal code information to Statistics Canada geography (subdivision, dissemination area, tract, etc.)

An example of PCCF

A researcher was given a list of all UManitoba students and their home postal code. They needed to use that information to find out which students had less than 5MB/sec. download speeds.

 

Using National Broadband Data, which uses StatCan geography, we linked the two using the PCCF as it has StatCan geography and postal codes.

How it Works

PCCF

List of Students and Postal Codes

National Broadband Data

Citing Data

• No formalized method
• Can be challenging
• Refer to this guide

Local Data

• Open Data Portal
• City of Winnipeg
• Winnipeg Consortium
  • Community Data Program 
• MyPeg.ca
• Street Census

Questions?

Cody Fullerton

cody.fullerton@umanitoba.ca