Latest
News
The York RDC Opens
Perhaps the biggest news for us, and researchers near the York
University campus, is the opening of the York RDC, a branch of the
Toronto RDC, in March of this year. Mike Ornstein, Director of
the Institute for Social Research, did a great job of bringing the York
RDC into existence, and it has quickly become home to over 25 projects.
Mike was at the original meetings when the RDC Program was first being
discussed, and has also been on the Toronto RDC Steering Committee
since the beginning, so it was natural that his interest in the RDC
Program should result in a brand-new branch.
Staff Changes
Tina Hotton Mahony, Analyst at the Toronto RDC since our inception, has
taken a year-long position at the McMaster RDC (but will
return, she insists!). She'll be greatly missed while she's
working in Hamilton.
Also greatly missed is Isobel Medel, our Administrative
Assistant, who is in Africa doing good works until August. Christine
Joo, a recent graduate of the UofT, is very capably filling in for her
for the summer.
Welcome Christine, and see you soon Tina and Isobel!
Number
of New Projects
Reached
64 in 2008 alone
As noted in our 2008 Annual Report, the number of projects started
at the Toronto RDC skyrocketed in 2008, reaching 64 new projects in
2008 -- the highest number of projects yet.
At the end of 2008, we had a grand total of 135 current projects, while
Toronto RDC
researchers had completed 176 projects by that time.
Census
Conference
2009
Research Data Center Conference
The Cornell RDC, on behalf of the New York Census Research Data Center
(NYCRDC) consortium and the Census Research Data Center Program,
welcomes proposals to present papers and posters based on current or
recent projects carried out in a U.S. or Canadian Research Data Center
or using confidential Census Bureau data. Graduate students are
encouraged to apply. The 2009 Research Data Center Conference will be
held October 5-6, 2009 at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, and is
hosted by the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research
(CISER), home of the Cornell RDC. Registration is required to
attend, but registration is free (with lunch included). Deadline for
proposals is August 1, 2009.
Further details on conference logistics, hotels, and the
program will be circulated and posted on the NYCRDC
website.
Workshops
Applied
Multilevel and Latent Variable Modeling Workshop at NC State University
This 3-day workshop is designed for the researcher who wishes to expand
their statistical toolkit to include advanced modeling techniques but
who may feel intimidated by statistics or may not have the time or
resources to devote to a week long class. The 3-day workshop is divided
into two different but complementary workshops: the first day and a
half focuses on Multilevel Modeling and the second day and a half
focuses on structural equation modeling including confirmatory factor
analysis and latent growth curve modeling. Both workshops will be
conducted in computer labs and consist of lecturing and hands-on
practice with running models. The overarching goal of both classes is
straightforward and pragmatic: You will learn when, why, and how to do
each of the analyses using your own data. The workshop will be
held in the Psychology Department of the North Carolina State
University from August 10 to 12, 2009. More information can be
found on the workshop's
website.
Introductory
SAS Workshop
Each spring and fall, the Toronto RDC provides a
introduction to SAS in a 3-hour workshop. This workshop is meant to
help current researchers at the RDC acquaint or re-acquaint themselves
with the SAS programming language. In this workshop, the basics of the
SAS programming language will be covered, including creating variables,
reading in raw text files, modifying SAS data sets, and merging SAS
data sets. Most recently, a section on group processing has been
expanded and made much more interactive. Find out more on our Events page on our
website.
New
Journal from Statistics Canada
"Survey
Methodology" hits the stands, and the Internet
This new journal publishes articles dealing with various aspects of
statistical development relevant to a statistical agency, such as
design issues in the context of practical constraints, use of different
data sources and collection techniques, total survey error, survey
evaluation, research in survey methodology, time series analysis,
seasonal adjustment, demographic studies, data integration, estimation
and data analysis methods, and general survey systems development. The
emphasis is placed on the development and evaluation of specific
methodologies as applied to data collection or the data themselves.
Journal subscriptions, plus free links to all the journal's content,
can be found on the Survey
Methodology page on the Statistics
Canada website.
Datasets
Our
core data holdings
The following are some of the core RDC Program datasets available to
RDC
Researchers:
Aboriginal
People’s Survey (APS) 2001 and 2006
The Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS) provides
data on the
social and economic conditions of Aboriginal people in Canada. Its
specific
purpose was to identify the needs of Aboriginal people focusing on
issues such as health, language, employment, income, schooling,
housing, and mobility. The survey was designed and implemented in
partnership with national Aboriginal organizations.
Census of
Population – 1996, 2001 and 2006
The Census of Population data file consists of responses to the census
long form. For each census, two questionnaires are given: the
short form and the long form. The short form contains seven
questions: the respondent’s name, sex, age, marital and common-law
status, family and household relationships and mother tongue. The long
form, given to 1 in 5 households, includes the seven questions from the
short questionnaire plus 52 additional questions, including a question
on religion and new questions on birthplace of parents and language
spoken at work. The RDCs now house data from the census long form.
The National
Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY)
The NLSCY follows the development and well-being of Canadian children
from birth to adulthood. It currently consists of 7 cycles with
surveys administered every two years.
The National
Population Health Survey (NPHS)
The NPHS is a longitudinal survey which collects information related to
the health of the Canadian population and related socio-demographic
information. The NPHS currently consists of 7 cycles with surveys
administered every two years.
Canadian
Community Health Survey (CCHS)
The main objective of the CCHS is to provide timely, consistent,
cross-sectional estimates of health determinants, health status,
dietary intake, and health system utilization across Canada. The
CCHS is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design. There are
presently 6 cycles of the CCHS available, each with a different
research focus.
The Survey of
Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID)
The SLID is a multi-panel longitudinal survey conducted every
year. The main objective of the SLID is to study the economic
well-being of Canadians over time. It incorporates changes in
paid work, family make-up, receipt of government transfers and other
factors.
Other datasets include the Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS), the
Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), the Youth in
Transition Survey (YITS), the Participation and Activity Limitation
Survey (PALS), the Workplace and Employee Survey (WES), the National
Graduates Survey (NGS), and the Canadian General Social Surveys (GSS).
The RDC Program’s listing of core datasets is always available on the Statistics
Canada website.
RDC
Proposal Submission Process
How
to apply to be able to conduct research at the Toronto RDC
To access the RDC, researchers must submit a project proposal to a
review committee operating under the auspices of the Social Sciences
and
Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Statistics Canada.
The proposal process is done through an on-line
application system on Statistics Canada's website.
For more information on the Toronto RDC and how to apply for access,
please visit our website.
Please note that the RDC Program facilitates the use of master data
sets. If you require public use files, please consult your local Data
Liberation Initiative (DLI) representative.
Once your proposal has been accepted, you will be invited to the
Toronto RDC. Here, you will receive an orientation on how
research is best conducted here, your security pass, a locker for your
project’s research materials if required, and a tour of our facilities
including a Conference Room where you can meet with your project
members and/or advisors, and our Internet Room where you are free to
check email or search for and print articles.
Contact
Us
All
of our current contact information
For further information on the Toronto RDC or on any other item in this
newsletter, please contact:
Toronto RDC
130 St. George St., Room 7032
University of Toronto
Toronto, ON M5S 1A5
Phone: 416-946-8105
Fax: 416-946-8104
Email: toronto.rdc@utoronto.ca
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