CSD-level Data from 1986 to 2006
Mar 27th, 2009 by brett
Question
I received what seems to be a pretty ambitious request from a sociology faculty. He would like to obtain complete cumulative profiles at the CSD level for all census years from 1986 to 2006. Now here is the catch. Ideally he would want the data for every census to be recomputed in terms of the 2006 CSD boundaries, or at least some data from the earlier censuses expressed in terms of more recent boundaries (example 1986 data recomputed to fit the 1991 or 1996 CSD boundaries, etc.) Essentially, he is trying to do longitudinal comparison across all the censuses and would like comparable data. Is this type of recomputed data available anywhere through DLI or would it be possible to obtain it as custom tabulations?
The researcher says that he already has the data from 1996 recomputed to fit the 2001 CSD boundaries. He is trying to remember where he obtained this data but all he can say so far is that the database had some anomalies and he wonders if there has been any revision to this product. Also, he believes that the Rural Secretariat of Agriculture and Agrifood Canada has purchased a such a recomputed file for the 1996, 2001 and 2006 censuses. Is that correct?
Answer
This is a custom tabulation from Census. The first step is to take the 2006 CSD boundaries and dizitige them on previous Census years. Then produce the semi-custom profiles that was available for these years. You are not able to run the 2006 profile on the previous years because some variables may have changed or added in later years and do not appear in the previous years.
As part of the custom tabulation services, we are not allow to tell you what other clients have paid for but if you know, for example that the Rural secretariat of Agriculture and Agrifood Canada have done such a request, the faculty would have to contact them and ask them the authorisation for StatCan to provide you with the specifications used for that production and we could then run the programs. You have to make sure that the specifications are also according to your needs since they may have define some variables that do not meet your needs.
You haven’t mention if this is for CSD in a particular area or if it is accross Canada. This seems a major undertaking. The cost estimate would have to be provided by Census Division.
Hope this help and let us know if you want to pursue this request.