Toronto
Region Statistics Canada Research Data Centre
(Toronto RDC)
Newsletter Number 7 -- Fall
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:
1.
Latest News
2. Presentations
3. Dataset
Holdings
4. Hours
of
Operation
5. Toronto
RDC
Annual Report
6. RDC
Proposal
Submission Process
7. Contact
Us
1)
What's new
at the Toronto RDC?
a)
The Toronto
RDC is Five Years Old!
This
month, the Toronto RDC celebrates its fifth
anniversary.
Since
its official opening in November 2001, the Toronto RDC
has facilitated 215 research projects and welcomed over 340 researchers. Researchers have spent over 40,000 hours, or
23
person-years, conducting research in the Toronto RDC.
118
refereed articles have been written based on research conducted
at the Toronto RDC and have either been published or are currently in
press. Research completed at the Toronto
RDC
continues to have a significant impact on academic, policy and public
debates
in public health, education and social science.
Please
see our website's "Papers" page for a list of those
that have been published and are currently available:
http://sites.utoronto.ca/rdc/papers.html.
The
Toronto RDC continues in its role in promoting student
training and advancement; over half of all time spent by researchers in
the
Toronto RDC since its opening has been by graduate students working on
their
own dissertation or on other projects as research assistants.
b)
Accessibility
in the Toronto RDC
With
the generous financial support from Pekka Sinervo, Dean
of the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto, the
Zoom Barrier
Free Fund at the UofT along with the Institute for Work and Health, the
Toronto
RDC is currently in the process of ensuring that our facilities are
accessible
to all. In addition to automatic door
openers, we have purchased electrically adjustable tables and
additional
equipment to enable everyone to feel comfortable and be productive in
the
Toronto RDC. We hope to have all
installations and construction completed this term.
c)
Staff
changes at the Toronto RDC
Angela
Prencipe and Byron Lee have come on board as
Statistics Canada Analysts, and Heidy Morales has joined us as our
Administrative Assistant. Michael Baker,
Susan Murphy and Dave Haans continue on in their roles of Academic
Director,
Manager, and Research and Computing Consultant, respectively. Last but not least, we are happy to report that
Tina Hotton Mahony, Toronto RDC Analyst, had her second baby girl on
August 30th and baby, mom and dad are doing well!
2)
Presentations
at the Toronto RDC
a)
The Whys and
Hows of Analyzing Complex Survey Data
On
Friday September 8th, 2006, David Binder, Ph.D. and Georgia
Roberts, Ph.D., Statistics Canada led a workshop on the analysis of
complex
survey data. The workshop began with a
general talk about why typical survey data are different from data
collected by
simple random sampling and why these differences need to be accounted
for when
doing analyses.
Based
on the great turnout for this workshop, with forty-three
in attendance, the Toronto RDC plans to organize more talks like this,
so stay
tuned!
b)
Brown-Bag
Lunch Talk Series, 2006-2007
The
Brown-Bag Lunch Talk Series, in its second 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.
Our
2006-2007 season inaugural talk was by Tony Fang, Assistant
Professor, School of Administrative Studies, York University, and
Research
Associate, Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources,
University of
Toronto. His talk on October 3rd
was titled "Employment Dynamics of Non-Standard Workers: Evidence from
SLID."
Our
second talk took place on the 25th of
October. Amanda Sacker, Ph.D.,
University College London and Peggy McDonough, Ph.D., University of
Toronto presented
a talk based on their international comparative research titled:
"Modelling health and poverty dynamics."
If
you would like an opportunity to present or discuss your RDC
research in an informal, collegial setting the Brown Bag series
provides, please
contact Dave Haans (dave.haans@utoronto.ca) or Angela Prencipe
(toronto.rdc@utoronto.ca).
Please
see our Events page on our website for the latest
information on all our presentations and workshops:
http://sites.utoronto.ca/rdc/events.html
3)
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.
Other
datasets include 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 core datasets is always
available at: http://www.statcan.ca/english/rdc/whatdata.htm
4)
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. As well,
the
Toronto RDC's Research and Computing Consultant is available during
normal
operating hours.
During
Extended Hours (4:30pm to 7:00pm), the Toronto RDC
Administrative Assistant will be available for limited RDC support such
as help
with printing, supplies, etc.
Our hours, including any relevant closures, are always available at: http://sites.utoronto.ca/rdc/hours.html
5)
Toronto RDC
Annual Report
The
Toronto RDC is in its sixth year of operation. Our
5th Annual Report was released
earlier this year and is available on our website:
http://sites.utoronto.ca/rdc/news.html
Here
are some Annual Report highlights:
* The Toronto RDC
maintains the greatest number of projects nationally. Toronto holds
almost 20%
of all projects across the fifteen RDCs.
As of April 30th, 2006 there were a total of 188 projects and
305
researchers on account at the Toronto RDC (an increase of 25 new
projects since
last year).
* The RDC National
Coordinating Committee was successful securing funding through a joint
application to CIHR and SSHRCC. These granting councils will provide at
least
1.2 million dollars annually to the RDC network over the next 5 years.
* Graduate student
use of the RDC increased in Year Five to account for more than half of
the
total activity, or 60.73%, an 11% increase over last year.
* Researchers from
the Faculty of Medicine at the
6)
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.
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
Toronto RDC
Tel: 416-946-8107
Email: baker@chass.utoronto.ca
Toronto RDC
Tel: 416-946-8321
Email: toronto.rdc@utoronto.ca
Toronto RDC
Tel: 416-946-8105
Email: rdc.analyst@utoronto.ca
Toronto RDC
Tel: 416-946-8108
Email: torontordc.ehe@utoronto.ca
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