The Daily – Analysis Component

Consultation objectives

In May 2014, Statistics Canada invited key stakeholders of its official release bulletin, The Daily, to moderated group discussions aimed at improving the analytical content of The Daily.

The Daily has been the official voice of Statistics Canada since 1932. Every new product or dataset must be announced to the public on the website in The Daily.

The agency is currently evaluating a range of possible changes to its Daily articles. These changes are designed to improve the analytical content of Daily releases by providing users with additional information and analysis that can aid in the interpretation of data.

Consultation methodology

Statistics Canada held moderated group discussions with its users during which participants were asked a series of feedback questions on the analytical content of The Daily.

How to get involved

The consultations are now closed.

Individuals who wish to obtain more information or to take part in future consultations may contact Statistics Canada by sending an email to consultations@statcan.gc.ca.

Please note that Statistics Canada selects participants for each consultation to ensure feedback is sought from a representative sample of the target population for the study. Not all applicants will be asked to participate in a given consultation.

Statistics Canada is committed to respecting the privacy of consultation participants. All personal information created, held or collected by the Agency is protected by the Privacy Act. For more information on Statistics Canada's privacy policies, please consult the Privacy notice.

Results

Most users do not want The Daily to undergo major changes, only enhancements.

What worked

Participants liked the summaries, charts and links. They found the structure to be logical, the articles well written and the seasonally adjusted data clearly identified.

Areas for improvement

Participants would like to have text for every release. Data availability announcements, which contain neither data nor information, require users to search the website or to call Statistics Canada for information.

For certain subjects, atypical data, and trend cycles, participants would like to see more detailed, contextual analysis. They would also like to see topical studies on the effects of external events, such as floods.

Overall, participants were satisfied with the layout of The Daily landing page, but indicated that the order, including the 'New products and studies' section, could be made clearer. Charts were not always easy to interpret or referred to in the text.

Participants would like to see links to more detailed information in Daily texts, including information sources, full-length articles, and in-depth analysis. Participants also found the presentation of and links to CANSIM data were not intuitive. A more comprehensive list of table numbers and titles was suggested.

Recommendations

• Include text or a data table with every Daily release.
• Provide more detailed, contextual analysis with hyperlinks in the text to relevant methodological information.
• Include more topical studies.
• Refer to charts in the text and add source information (or links) to the charts.
• Provide CANSIM table titles with the table numbers.
• Increase awareness of The Daily features within the new My StatCan module.

Statistics Canada thanks participants for their participation in this consultation. Their insights guide the Agency's web development and ensure that the final products meet users' expectations.