Food Expenditure Survey (FES)

Detailed information for 1996

Status:

Inactive

Frequency:

Occasional

Record number:

3503

The Food Expenditure Survey is a periodic survey designed to supplement the Survey of Household Spending (SHS) by providing a level of expenditure detail on food commodities not feasible in the context of the SHS methodology. Data from the Food Expenditure Survey and the Survey of Household Spending are used to update the weights used in the calculation of the Consumer Price Index.

Data release - February 4, 1998

Description

This survey is conducted to measure the socio-economic living conditions of households in Canada. The information is used to provide major data components needed for the production of the weights used in the compilation of the Consumer Price Index.

Reference period: Calendar year

Collection period: January to December during reference period

Subjects

  • Household spending and savings
  • Income, pensions, spending and wealth

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The Food Expenditure Survey was carried out in private households residing in urban and rural areas in Canada's ten provinces as well as in the cities of Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit. The survey covers about 98% of the population in the 10 provinces.

The following groups were excluded from the survey:
those living on Indian reserves and crown lands;
official representatives of foreign countries living in Canada and their families;
members of religious and other communal colonies;
members of the Canadian Armed Forces living in Military Camps;
people living in residences for senior citizens;
people living full time in institutions: for example, inmates of penal institutions and chronic care patients living in hospitals and nursing homes.

Information was not gathered from persons temporarily living away from their families (for example, students at university), because it would be gathered from their families if selected. In this way, double counting of such individuals was avoided.

Furthermore, for operational reasons, households residing in dwellings located in remote areas were excluded. These households represent less than 1% of the population described above but are difficult and expensive to contact.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

Labour Force Survey (LFS) (SDDS ID 3701) design modified. Sample constraints: Total sample size and minimal samples by geographical strata. Sample is drawn for the year and then divided into monthly subsamples to evenly distribute collection over the year.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Interviewer is required to list all members of the household on a questionnaire. For each household identified, (disaggregation into spending units discontinued after 1986), the interviewer is required to complete the schedule. The questionnaire covers selected socio-economic characteristics (including income), as well as information on the household's purchasing habits and food expenditures while on trips overnight or longer during the previous month. Respondents are then asked to maintain a daily record of all food expenditures (excluding those while on a trip overnight or longer) using two one-week diaries. To facilitate coding, respondents are asked to give detailed descriptions of each product including net weight or volume and cost.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s).

Error detection

Editing is carried out in several stages. The preliminary edit in the field is mainly for completeness and adequacy of product detail. In head office there are manual coding and computer edits based on unit price range checks, etc. Imputations are done for missing information. Published data are accompanied by estimated sampling errors for main food items. Response errors are difficult to establish. Quantities can to some extent be compared with 'Apparent Per Capita Food Consumption in Canada' although there are major shortcomings. Global estimates are compared with estimates for food from the Survey of Family Expenditures (SDDS ID 3504) and with Personal Expenditures on Food (National Accounts). (See publication 62-554.) Some of the non-response errors associated with lack of co-operation is measurable by examining the difference between first week and second week diaries. Under-reporting is corrected according to the estimate of expenditure from store in four weeks from the questionnaire. No adjustment is done for food restaurants.

Estimation

Each usable record is weighted by a weighting factor that reflects the sample design and incorporates the inverse of the sampling ratio (which varies significantly by geographic area) and the response rate among other things. Further information on the weighting procedure is given in the publications.

Quality evaluation

Data are compared to the results from previous years and to other data sources: the Census of Population (record number 3901), administrative and other Statistics Canada surveys.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any data which would divulge information obtained under the Statistics Act that relates to any identifiable person, business or organization without the prior knowledge or the consent in writing of that person, business or organization. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

The respondent's name and address are removed from the questionnaire before it is archived.

The name and address do not appear on the survey database.

Approval by Statistics Canada's Microdata Release Committee is required before a microdata file may be released to the public. This committee ensures that confidentiality requirements are met as per Statistics Canada policy.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology does not apply to this survey.

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