Postsecondary Student Survey

Detailed information for 1984

Status:

Inactive

Frequency:

One Time

Record number:

3823

The Postsecondary Student Survey was designed to address such things as: 1) access to postsecondary education; 2) part-time and full-time study and employment; 3) students' income and expenditures; and 4) issues such as mobility, language and Canadian Studies.

Data release - January 30, 1986

Description

The Postsecondary Student Survey was designed to address such things as: 1) access to postsecondary education; 2) part-time and full-time study and employment; 3) students' income and expenditures; and 4) issues such as mobility, language and Canadian Studies. The survey is sponsored by the Department of the Secretary of State.

Subjects

  • Education finance
  • Education, training and learning
  • Students

Data sources and methodology

Sampling

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

The frame was stratified using the following variables: province, type of institution, level of study and registration status. The sample selected in each stratum was further proportionally allocated by sex and major field of study when these variables were known. Sample sizes within strata were based on a coefficient of variation of 15% within a minimum P of 0.05, and an expected response rate of 75%. As there were a significant number of records for which all the required stratification variables were not provided by the post-secondary institutions, a separate stratum of unknowns was created for each province and a sample selected. The original collection schedule called for a mail-out of questionnaires with telephone follow-up of non-respondents. However, due to technical problem, about 27% of respondents were the object of telephone interviews by the Regional Office staff instead of receiving questionnaires by mail.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. 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.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.

Data accuracy

Not all Canadian postsecondary institutions did report their student registers to Statistics Canada. While this only resulted in an overall low level of undercoverage, this problem was concentrated in a number of provinces, with Alberta being particularily affected. There was also some other coverage problems as some institutions reported categories of students outside the target, or omitted categories of students inside the target. Other data limitations include effects due to reweighting of strata after correcting for the exclusion of students no longer registered as the time of the survey, and for the proper reallocation of students originally included in the unknown strata. The overall response rate was very good.

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