Survey on Transition to Civilian Life (STCL)

Detailed information for February 2010

Status:

Active

Frequency:

Occasional

Record number:

5172

The Survey on Transition to Civilian Life (STCL) is a national survey that collects information on the transition from military to civilian life, general health and well-being, chronic conditions, labour force participation and other related information. An important goal of the survey is to understand the transition period from military to civilian life and health outcomes in Canadian Veterans.

Data release - January 5, 2011

Description

The Survey on Transition to Civilian Life (STCL) is a national survey that collects information on the transition from military to civilian life, general health and well-being, chronic conditions, labour force participation and other related information. An important goal of the survey is to understand the transition period from military to civilian life and health outcomes in Canadian Veterans.

The information will be used to help researchers and policymakers evaluate the effectiveness of the programs and services offered under the New Veterans Charter, and will help inform health researchers with respect to the health and well-being of the Canadian Veteran population for this survey.

Subjects

  • Health
  • Labour
  • Population and demography

Data sources and methodology

Target population

Canadian Forces members who were released between 1998 and 2007 who currently reside in Canada are included in the sample.

Instrument design

The questionnaire is largely comprised of 2008 Canadian Community Health Survey (record number 3226) content, with some new content which covers the topics of: skills transferability, transition from military to civilian life, military and civilian occupation history, and chronic conditions (general pain and hearing loss). The questionnaire was reviewed by the Questionnaire Review Committee and underwent cognitive testing by the Questionnaire Design Resource Center.

Sampling

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

The sample frame was developed from administrative records provided by Veterans Affairs Canada and the Department of National Defence. The frame consists of Canadian Forces members who were released between 1998 and 2007. Approximately 4,800 were selected from this frame using simple random sampling and stratified by client status.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2010-02-08 to 2010-03-23

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Data are collected using a computer assisted telephone interview (CATI), by means of a non-proxy telephone interview.

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

Error detection

The first type of error treated was errors in questionnaire flow, where questions which did not apply to the respondent (and should therefore not have been answered) were found to contain answers. In this case a computer edit automatically eliminated superfluous data by following the flow of the questionnaire implied by answers to previous, and in some cases, subsequent questions.

The second type of error treated involved a lack of information in questions which should have been answered. For this type of error a non-response or "not-stated" code was assigned to the item.

Imputation

This methodology does not apply.

Estimation

Survey weights were used to represent the survey population. Estimation using the sample should always make use of the survey weights.

The weighting process consisted of several steps: calculation of a basic weight, followed by adjustments for non-response and non-resolved cases. The basic weight was defined according to the inverse of the probability of selection into sample, calculated at the stratum level. After collection, the weighting adjustments were common to all units in a weighting class, defined by the stratum and the sex of the person. Among males, three further weighting classes were defined according to age cohort; there were not enough females in sample to separate them by age cohort for the purpose of adjusting the survey weights.

The sampling plan for this survey was a stratified simple random sample. Therefore, it is possible to estimate the variance directly based on the sampling design. Design-based estimation of the variance is easier to calculate than an alternative approach using bootstrap weights. A design-based approach underestimates the variance due to non-response and non-sharing. However, given the high response rate and high share rate, the underestimation should be relatively small.

Quality evaluation

Considerable time and effort was made to reduce non-sampling errors in the survey. Quality assurance measures were implemented at each step of the data collection and processing cycle to monitor the quality of the data. These measures include extensive training of interviewers with respect to the survey procedures and computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) application, observation of interviews to detect problems of questionnaire design or misunderstanding of instructions and testing of the CATI application to ensure that range checks, edits and question flow were all programmed correctly.

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.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology does not apply to this survey.

Data accuracy

While considerable effort is made to ensure high standards throughout all stages of collection and processing, the resulting estimates are inevitably subject to a certain degree of error. These errors can be broken down into two major types: non-sampling and sampling.

Non-response is an important source of non-sampling error. The response rate for the STCL was 71.0%.

The basis for measuring the potential size of sampling errors is the standard error of the estimates derived from survey results. Because of the large variety of estimates that can be produced from a survey, the standard error of an estimate is usually expressed relative to the estimate to which it pertains. This resulting measure, known as the coefficient of variation (CV) of an estimate, is obtained by dividing the standard error of the estimate by the estimate itself and is expressed as a percentage of the estimate.

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