Enhanced Student Information System (ESIS)
2001 Post-Censal Survey - Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS)
Post-Censal Survey - Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS)
Enhanced Student Information System (ESIS)
Purpose: The linkage creates a longitudinal database of all postsecondary students in Canada. ESIS data will shed light on the effectiveness of the education system, transferability of credits, changes to the structure of postsecondary education, and student enrolment, workload, mobility and program and course information. This information will provide policy makers an understanding of lifelong learning, thereby providing an empirical base for the development of educational policy and more informed program choices by students.
Description: The proposal links files provided by the postsecondary institutions which contains information on the institution and the programs and courses it offers; along with information on the student, the student's program and courses and transfer credits granted. The linkage began with the academic year 1999-2000 for the Maritime provinces and 2000-2001 for institutions from other provinces: however, in the case of Alberta and the territories, who have not yet started to report data in ESIS, linkage will commence for the year for which data will be provided. The linkage will be done on an annual and ongoing basis. Personal identifiers will be removed from the analysis file once the linkages have been completed.
The file will be retained for a period fifteen years. This will permit longitudinal analysis of a student's educational path as it allows for breaks in education and completion of multiple degrees. Should a student resume postsecondary studies after the fifteen-year period, it would not be possible to link this new record to the information already in the ESIS database. The person would become, in effect, a "new student".
Students who do not wish to have their information linked can write to Statistics Canada to have their information removed.
Output: Only aggregate data conforming to the confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act will be released outside of Statistics Canada through CANSIM, and Canadian Statistics. The Centre for Education Statistics will also disseminate statistical tables and analysis through its standard publications, such as Education in Canada, Pan-Canadian Education Indicators, the Education, skills and learning - Research papers series, the new on-line Education Matters: Insights on Education, Learning and Training in Canada (replacing Education Quarterly Review ) and statistical tables will be provided to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) annual publication Education at a Glance. Custom tabulations will be provided to the provincial ministries, educational institutions and other stakeholders, on a cost recovery basis.
2001 Post-Censal Survey - Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS)
Purpose: PALS conceptualizes disability as activity limitations and participation restrictions associated with long term physical or mental conditions or health related conditions and will permit the comparison between those living with and without participation and activity limitations. It provides data on the nature and severity of a persons with activity limitations, on the needs for assistive technology, social support and accommodation in all spheres of life. PALS will contribute to providing an accurate understanding of the relationships between functional status, daily living activities and social participation, factors which will be used for the development and evaluation of disability policies. PALS will also shed light on the study of the impact of disability on families: for instance, many studies seem to show a link between the presence of a child with a severe disability and the labour force participation and income levels of the child's parents.
Description: PALS was conducted in the fall of 2001. Two questions on activity limitations on the 2001 Census of Population (Q.7 & 8) were used to identify the target population and to draw the sample for the survey. The respondents were advised at the time of collection that information they had provided on the Census would be linked to PALS information. Three linkage activities are required. The first involves linking the survey respondent's own census data to the PALS master file to add the respondent's socio economic characteristics. The second linkage involves deriving family and household level variables from the respondent. No census data from the family members will be on the PALS file, only the derived variable will be on the file. The final linkage activity sought approval to add on the PALS file a stratified random sample of approximately 130,000 records of individuals who do not report any activity limitation to the 2001 Census questions 7 and 8. These records would not have any identifiers. The same census variables being linked for the PALS respondents will be loaded for these records of non disabled individuals, i.e., the same census variables will be available for disabled and non disabled individuals. Having records of non disabled individuals on the PALS database permits comparisons between the disabled and non disabled populations.
Output: This is a one time linkage activity. Only aggregate data that conform to the confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act would be released outside of Statistics Canada. It is proposed to release a public use microdata file from the survey. After the linkages have been completed, all of the identifiers are removed from the linked composite file. The resulting analytical file without identifiers will be retained indefinitely.
Post-Censal Survey - Aboriginal Peoples Survey (APS)
Purpose: The Aboriginal Peoples Survey is mandated under the federal government's Aboriginal action plan "Gathering Strength". It will provide a profile of the lifestyles and living conditions of the Aboriginal populations, for both adults and children resident on and off-reserves. Special components will provide further insight into the situation of the Métis and the Inuit. APS will offer comprehensive information on subjects such as: employment, education, language, tradition, technology, health, social issues and housing that will be used by Aboriginal peoples and by governments at all levels for the development of policies and programs designed for Aboriginal peoples.
Description: The APS was conducted in the fall of 2001 and the spring of 2002. Four questions on the 2001 Census of Population (Q.17, 18, 20 & 21) served to identify the target population and to draw the sample for the survey. Survey respondents were advised at the time of collection that information they provided to the Census would be linked to information they provided on the APS. There are two different linkages. The first involves linking the survey respondent's own census data to the APS master file. This activity adds information on the respondent's socio economic characteristics to the APS eliminating the need to collect this information. The second type of linkage involves deriving variables from the Census data pertaining to the respondent's family or household members. This linkage activity will select data from the census records of family members, derive a "family" level variable and place this information on the respondent's record on the APS file. No census data from identifiable family members will be on the APS file, only the derived variables will be loaded on this file.
Output: This is a one time linkage activity. Only aggregate data that conform to the confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act would be released outside of Statistics Canada. It is proposed to release a public use microdata file from the survey. After the linkages have been completed, all of the identifiers are removed from the linked composite file. The resulting analytical file without identifiers will be retained indefinitely.