Survey of the Construction Industry

Detailed information for 1997

The survey collects financial and operating data needed to produce statistics for the Canadian construction industry.

Data release - The 1997 Survey of the Construction Industry was a pilot survey from which no data were released.

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

This survey collects the financial and operating data needed to produce statistics concerning the construction industry. These data will be aggregated with information from other sources to produce official estimates of national and provincial economic production in Canada, as well as official estimates of activity by industry. These estimates are used by government for national and regional programs and policy planning and by the private sector for industry performance measurement and market development.

Statistical activity

The survey is administered as part of the Unified Enterprise Survey program (UES). The UES program has been designed to integrate, gradually over time, the approximately 200 separate business surveys into a single master survey program. The UES aims at collecting more industry and product detail at the provincial level than was previously possible while avoiding overlap between different survey questionnaires. The redesigned business survey questionnaires have a consistent look, structure and content. The unified approach makes reporting easier for firms operating in different industries because they can provide similar information for each branch operation. This way they avoid having to respond to questionnaires that differ for each industry in terms of format, wording and even concepts.

Subjects

• Construction
• Non-residential building construction
• Residential construction

Data sources and methodology

Target population

Classified under the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) code 23, this industry comprises establishments primarily engaged in the building, renovating and repairing of all types of buildings and structures. These establishments were in operation for at least one day during the reference period. Both incorporated and non-incorporated businesses, as well as employer and non-employer enterprises are included in the survey.

• Additional documentation

Instrument design

This methodology does not apply.

Sampling

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

Data are collected for all units of the target population, therefore, no sampling is done.

Data sources

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents and extracted from administrative files.

A mail-out/mail-back questionnaire approach was used.

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

Error detection

At the reception stage, reported data are examined for completeness and inconsistencies using automated edits coupled with analytical review.

Imputation

Records with partial responses were imputed to make them complete and were added to a donor pool along with completed records. Data for non-respondents, unable to locate and no contacts were imputed using nearest neighbour donor imputation.

This imputation process was also coupled with a manual analytical review.

Estimation

General estimation system is used to provide estimates for the entire observed population.

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.

Standard confidentiality rules are applied to all data appearing in the released tables and on CANSIM. Confidential data are marked with an "X" and related data are suppressed to avoid residual disclosure.

Data accuracy

All surveys are subject to sampling and non-sampling errors. Statistics Canada uses a variety of methods to minimize all types of errors. Every effort was made to minimize the non-sampling errors of omission, duplication, reporting and processing.