Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements - Children with Long-term Conditions and Disabilities (SELCCA - CLCD)

Detailed information for 2023

The Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements - Children with Long-term Conditions and Disabilities gathers information from parents and guardians on early learning and child care arrangements for children aged 0 to 5 who may have one or more long-term condition or disability.

Data release - March 27, 2024

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

Description

The survey asks parents and guardians about the arrangements they use for their child, including the associated costs, the difficulties they may have faced when looking for or accessing care, and what their preferences for child care are. Results from this survey will be used to improve the Canada-wide early learning and child care system.

Reference period: 2023

Subjects

• Child care
• Child development and behaviour
• Children and youth
• Education
• Health and well-being (youth)

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population is children who may have one or more long-term conditions or disabilities across the 10 provinces of Canada who are less than 6 years old (as of June 30, 2023). Children living on reserves are excluded from the target population.

Instrument design

The content for the Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements - Children with Long-term Conditions and Disabilities electronic questionnaire was drafted in consultation with several external subject matter experts.

The questionnaire underwent cognitive testing in the form of in-depth interviews in both of Canada's official languages, conducted by Statistics Canada's Questionnaire Design Resource Centre (QDRC). The goal of the qualitative study was to test the survey content.

Sampling

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

The Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements - Children with Long-term Conditions and Disabilities is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design based on the combination of two sources: the 2021 Census and the Canadian Child Benefit (CCB).

Sampling unit
This is a targeted respondent survey. The sampling unit is the person knowledgeable about the child care arrangements for a child who lives in their household and is less than 6 years of age.

Stratification method
The frame for the Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements - Children with Long-term Conditions and Disabilities was stratified by province and a simple random sample was selected independently within each province.

Sampling and sub-sampling
This survey is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design based on the combination of two sources: the 2021 Census and the Canadian Child Benefit (CCB). The total sample size is of 20,000 children.

In order to obtain quality estimates at the national level, a proportional allocation by province was used.

The sample selected from the 2021 Census is a two-phase design. The first phase is the Census itself and corresponds to the sample of households selected to receive the long form (about one household out of four, systematically selected across Canada). Phase 2 corresponds to the sample of children born between July 1st, 2017 and May 11th, 2021 and stratified by province. Within each stratum, a systematic sample of children is selected. The sampling unit for phase 1 (the Census) is the household, while that of phase 2 is the person.

The second source is the Canadian Child Benefit (CCB) and is used to cover the youngest children. The selection of a sample unit from the CCB is done in one stage. First, a list of children under 6 years old and born after May 11th, 2021 whose parent or guardian is a CCB recipient is created and stratified by province. Then, within each stratum, a systematic sample of eligible children is selected.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2023-04-20 to 2023-06-30

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents either through an electronic questionnaire (EQ) or through CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing).

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

Error detection

Electronic files containing the daily transmissions of completed respondent survey records were combined to create the "raw" survey file. Before further processing, verification was performed to identify and eliminate potential duplicate records and to drop non-response and out-of-scope records.

In addition, some out-of-scope respondent records were found during the data clean-up stage. All respondent records that were determined to be out-of-scope and those records that contained no data were removed from the data file.

After the verification stage, editing was performed to identify errors and modify affected data at the individual variable level. The first editing step was to identify errors and determine which items from the survey output needed to be kept on the survey master file. Subsequent to this, invalid characters were deleted and the remaining data items were formatted appropriately.

Imputation

The metadata will be provided upon release.

Estimation

The metadata will be provided upon release.

The Generalized Estimation System from Statistics Canada (G-Est) will be used to generate the survey weights and bootstrap weights.

Quality evaluation

While rigorous quality assurance mechanisms are applied at all stages of the statistical process, the validation and detailed review of data by statisticians is the ultimate verification of quality prior to release. Many validation measures were implemented, they include:

a. Verification of estimates through cross-tabulations
b. Consultation with stakeholders internal to Statistics Canada
c. Consultation with external stakeholders

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.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Data accuracy

Survey errors come from a variety of different sources. One dimension of survey error is sampling error. Sampling error is defined as the error that arises because an estimate is based on a sample rather than the entire population. Sampling error can be expressed through a confidence interval (CI) or coefficient of variation (CV).

Non sampling error
The first type of errors treated were errors in questionnaire flow. For skips based on answered questions, all skipped questions were set to "Valid skip" (6, 96, 996, etc.). For skips based on "Non-response", all skipped questions were set to "Not stated" (9, 99, 999, etc.). The remaining empty items were filled with a numeric value (9, 99, 999, etc., depending on variable length). These codes are reserved for processing purposes and mean that the item was "Not stated".

Non-response bias
The survey estimates are adjusted to account for non-response through the survey weights. To the extent that the non-responding persons differ from the rest of the sample, the results may be biased.

Coverage errors arise when there are differences between the target population and the observed population. The target respondent is the person knowledgeable (aged 15 years and older) about the child care arrangements for a child who lives in the household and is less than 6 years old. The survey frame is the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) file and it contains every parent who is registered to receive a benefit. It is estimated that the frame represents 96% of the children population of all ages. To the extent that the excluded population differs from the rest of the target population, the results may be biased.