Quarterly Motor Carriers of Freight Survey
Detailed information for first quarter 2001
Status:
Inactive
Frequency:
Quarterly
Record number:
2748
The principal objective of this survey is to provide information about the size, structure and economic performance of Canada's for-hire trucking industry.
Data release - September 14, 2001 ('top carriers'; data for 'all carriers' are available a few months later.)
Description
The principal objective of this survey is to provide information about the size, structure and economic performance of Canada's for-hire trucking industry. Financial data are used as inputs to the Canadian System of National Accounts. Federal and provincial governments use the data to formulate policies and to monitor the trucking industry in Canada. Trucking companies and associations use the published statistics for benchmarking purposes.
Statistical activity
This statistical activity is part of a set of surveys measuring various aspects of activities related to the movement of people and goods. These surveys are grouped as follows:
Transportation by air includes records related to the movement of aircraft, passengers and cargo by air for both Canadian and foreign air carriers operating in Canada as well as the financial and operating characteristics of Canadian air carriers. These data are produced by the Aviation Statistics Centre.
Transportation by rail includes records relating to rail transportation in Canada, and between the United States and Canada.
Transportation by road includes records relating to all road transport in Canada. In addition to surveying carriers and owners of registered motor vehicles, certain programs rely on aggregation of provincial and territorial administrative records.
Reference period: January to March, April to June, July to September, October to December
Collection period: 2 weeks following the end of the quarter, for a period of 5 weeks.
Subjects
- Transportation
- Transportation by road
Data sources and methodology
Target population
The target population includes all Canadian domiciled for-hire motor carriers (companies) of freight with annual operating revenues of $1 million or more.
Sampling
This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.
A sample of carriers was selected from the survey population for the first quarter of 2001. This sample was then updated each quarter so that it would remain representative of the survey population. Each segment of the industry and each province and territory of Canada was represented in the sample. For reasons of efficiency, carriers in the largest size stratum within each province/type of activity combination were included in the sample with certainty. Carriers in the remaining size strata were sampled according to a probability mechanism called simple random sampling, which gives every carrier within the same stratum an equal chance of selection. Since reference year 2000, we use a rotation sample.
Data sources
Responding to this survey is mandatory.
Data are collected directly from survey respondents.
At the end of each quarter, a questionnaire is sent to each sampled carrier. The data are collected by mail-back, facsimile or through computer assisted telephone interviews. The survey data are captured and checked for errors and inconsistencies. If required, some inconsistent, questionable or missing data are referred back to the carrier for clarification or revision.
View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .
Error detection
The survey data are captured and checked for errors and inconsistencies. If required, some inconsistent, questionable or missing data are referred back to the carrier for clarification or revision. Problems or missing data that cannot be resolved with the carrier are then replaced with consistent values (are imputed).
Estimation
Since only a sample of carriers is contacted, the individual values are weighted to represent the whole industry within the scope of the survey. The sampling weights of the respondents are adjusted to compensate for non response. The value for each carrier in the sample is multiplied by the sampling weight for that carrier, and then the weighted data from all sampled carriers belonging to a given estimation domain (e.g. general freight in Ontario) are summed to obtain the estimate. Variance estimates are obtained using the Taylor linearization method.
Disclosure control
Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which 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. Data for a specific industry or variable may be suppressed (along with that of a second industry or variable) if the number of enterprises in the population is too low.
Revisions and seasonal adjustment
Quarterly estimates are provided for the most current quarter available. The data for the previous quarter are revised if necessary. Seasonal adjustments are not made to the data.
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