Newsletter
Number 6 – Spring 2006
The Toronto RDC
is a secure social science research facility located at the University
of Toronto that offers researchers from many academic disciplines an
opportunity to analyze large-scale, longitudinal Statistics Canada
microdata in a well-equipped computer lab setting.
The Toronto RDC
is a partnership among Statistics Canada, the University of Toronto,
York University and Ryerson University. Statistic Canada’s RDC
Program is a national initiative to make Statistics Canada microdata
more directly available to researchers across the country.
For information
about applying for access to the Toronto RDC, please see “RDC Proposal
Submission Process” near the end of this newsletter.
Contents:
- Latest News
- Dataset Holdings
- Hours of Operation
- Conferences
- RDC Proposal Submission Process
- Contact us
1) What’s new at the Toronto RDC?
a.
New Equipment
The Toronto RDC
has completed the purchase and installation of completely new computing
equipment for RDC researchers. This renewal allows the Toronto
RDC to continue to meet research needs involving almost any level of
complex analyses.
Here are some
specifics on our new equipment and resources:
- Supplied by IBM, the new workstations are top-of-the-line
dual-processor workstations with 4GB of RAM and 19” LCD monitors.
- To move data across our secure network, we have two new servers,
2TB of storage space in a high speed drive array, and a much faster
network switch. Researchers’ work is safely backed up with a
high-speed tape backup system run off a dedicated server.
- Other new Toronto RDC equipment includes a Xerox Phaser colour
laser printer for printing maps and charts, as well five Apple iMac G5s
with OS X and a duplex printer in our Internet Room.
- On the software side, we are pleased to offer researchers the
latest versions of Stata/SE 9, Adobe Creative Suite 2, the ArcGIS suite
of spatial analysis products, MapInfo, Mplus, LISREL, HLM,
Stat/Transfer, LIMDEP as well as our regular complement of SAS, SPSS
and R.
- To aid in the use of the new hardware and software, we have
purchased reference, statistics and methodology books with a view to
providing researchers with multiple sources of reference no matter what
their preferred methods or statistical tools may be.
b.
New Initiatives
The monthly
Brown-Bag Lunch Series, initiated this year, features presentations by
researchers focusing on one or more aspects of their research at the
Toronto RDC. The Brown-Bag Lunch Series seminars take place from
October to April of each academic year in the Toronto RDC’s Conference
Room.
Thus far, our
talks have included:
- Amber Bielecky, MSc Candidate,
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto: “The association between socioeconomic
status and the prevalence of major depressive disorder: A result of
incidence, duration, and/or recurrence?”
- Graham Bean, Ph.D., Department of
Psychiatry, Lake Ridge Health Hospital, Oshawa: “Risk Factors for Binge Eating and Purging
in 12- and 13-year old Girls.”
- Rupa Banerjee, Ph.D. Candidate,
Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Relations, University of
Toronto: “Career Progression of
Immigrants in Canada: Evidence from SLID.”
- Curtis
Breslin, Ph.D., Jason Pole,
Ph.D. Candidate, Ryan Zhao, MSc,
Institute for Work & Health: "Using the SLID to examine the
antecedents and consequences of
work disability absences among young people"
If you would
like an opportunity to present or discuss your research in an informal,
collegial setting, please contact Angela Prencipe
(toronto.rdc@utoronto.ca) or Dave Haans (dave.haans@utoronto.ca).
c.
New Intranet Site
We are
redesigning our Intranet (internal web) site in collaboration with
other RDCs across the country to ensure we are providing researchers
with the up-to-date information on our datasets, procedures and
software they require for their research.
The new Intranet
will feature information about the survey datasets, RDC procedures and
policies, RDC secure network, data documentation and issues, software
and will also allow access to an electronic library. Our intent
is to ensure that RDC researchers have the latest information available
while they are conducting their research at the Toronto RDC.
2) The Toronto RDC’s Datasets
The following
are some of the core RDC Program datasets available to RDC Researchers.
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 5 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 5 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 and health system
utilization across Canada. The CCHS is a sample survey with a
cross-sectional design. There are presently 3 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.
More recent
additions to the Toronto RDC have been the Ethnic Diversity Survey
(EDS), the Longitudinal Survey
of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), the
Youth in Transition Survey (YITS),
the Workplace and Employee Survey
(WES) and the Canadian General
Social Surveys (GSS).
The RDC
Program’s listing of datasets is always available at: http://www.statcan.ca/english/rdc/whatdata.htm
3) Our Hours of Operation
The hours of
operation of the Toronto RDC are 8:30am to 7:00pm Monday-Thursday, and
8:30am to 4:30pm on Fridays.
During Regular
Hours (8:30am - 4:30pm), an RDC Analyst will be available for all
routine RDC activities, including disclosure analysis, tours,
presentations, etc.
During Extended
Hours (4:30pm to 7:00pm), the Statistics Canada Extended Hours Employee
(EHE) will be available for limited RDC support such as help with
printing, supplies, etc.
4) Upcoming Conferences
a.
Statistics Canada Conference on Methodological Issues in
Measuring Population Health
Statistics
Canada's 23rd International Methodology Symposium, "Methodological
Issues In Measuring Population Health," will take place at the
Château Cartier Resort in Gatineau (10 minutes from downtown
Ottawa) from November 1 to November 3, 2006.
This
international event addresses statistical methodology issues relevant
to the work of a government statistical agency, as well as to a broader
statistical community in the health care industry, government,
universities and other research organizations.
This symposium
will focus on methodological issues related to producing reliable
information on population health.
Topics will
include:
- Design of
cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys
- Combining
data from different sources
- Use of
administrative data
- Use of
physical measures
- New survey
collection methods
- Questionnaire
development and testing
- Treatment
of non-sampling errors
- Data
quality assurance
- Confidentiality
and disclosure control
- Estimation
and variance estimation
- Editing
and imputation of data
- Methods
for international comparisons
- Quality of
life assessments
- Small-area
information
- Mapping
and geographical information systems
- Methods
for analysis
Statistics
Canada is soliciting papers related to health with an emphasis on the
above topics. Proposals should be in the form of a 250-word
abstract (French or English) submitted by March 31, 2006. The
papers will be presented and discussed during the two days of the
conference, preceded by a day of workshops. Proceedings from the
conference will be published and disseminated to participants.
Abstracts must
be submitted by e-mail to: symposium2006@statcan.ca or by regular mail
to:
Symposium 2006
Attn: Dr.
Milorad Kovacevic
Statistics Canada
17th Floor,
R.H.Coats Building, Tunney's Pasture
Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada
K1A 0T6
Visit our
internet site regularly to get upcoming details on the program,
registration fees, accommodation, tourism information, and more:
http://www.statcan.ca/english/conferences/symposium2006
b.
TARGET/BCIRDC Conference on Education, Training and the Evolving
Workplace
The Team for
Advanced Research on Globalization, Education and Technology (TARGET)
is pleased to join forces with the British Columbia Inter-University
Research Data Centre (BCIRDC) in the organization of the Conference on
Education, Training and the Evolving Workplace, which will be held in
Vancouver on May 12 and 13, 2006.
The goal of the
conference is to bring together researchers interested in the
quantitative analysis of issues pertaining to education, training and
the evolving workplace in Canada, as well as in other countries. Much
of the research will be based on the survey-data riches made available
through the use of RDCs. Studies based on similar data from other
countries or on publicly available data will also be welcomed sources
of comparison.
For more information, please consult the conference’s website: http://www.econ.ubc.ca/ine/target/index.html
5) RDC Proposal Submission Process
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 process is
done through an on-line application system accessible at: http://www.statcan.ca/english/rdc/apply.htm.
For more
information on the Toronto RDC and how to apply for access, please
visit our website at: http://sites.utoronto.ca/rdc.
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: http://www.statcan.ca/english/Dli/dli.htm.
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.
6)
Contact Us
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
Michael
Baker,
Academic Director
Toronto RDC
Tel: 416-946-8107
Email:
baker@chass.utoronto.ca
Angela
Prencipe,
RDC Analyst
Toronto RDC
Tel: 416-946-8321
Email:
toronto.rdc@utoronto.ca
Byron
Lee, RDC
Analyst
Toronto RDC
Tel: 416-946-8105
Email:
rdc.analyst@utoronto.ca
Heidy
Morales,
RDC Extended Hours Employee
Toronto RDC
Email:
torontordc.ehe@utoronto.ca
The Toronto RDC
Steering Committee may be contacted through:
Susan
Murphy,
RDC Manager
University of
Toronto
222 College
Street
Toronto, ON
M5T 3J1
Tel: 416-978-7037
Fax: 416-978-4771
Email:
susan.murphy@utoronto.ca
For further
information on computing equipment and analytical software available at
the Toronto RDC, please contact:
Dave
Haans,
Research and Computing Consultant
Toronto RDC
Tel: 416-946-8106
Email:
dave.haans@utoronto.ca