Access and Support to Education and Training Survey (ASETS)

Access and Support to Education and Training Survey (ASETS)
Summary of changes
Related products

Detailed information for 2008

Status:

Inactive

Frequency:

One Time

Record number:

5151

The Access and Support to Education and Training Survey addresses issues relating to antecedents and determinants to access to Post Secondary Education (PSE), including the role of student financing and participation in adult education and training.

Data release - November 25, 2009

Description

The Access and Support to Education and Training Survey (ASETS) brings together three previously conducted surveys addressing issues relating to antecedents and determinants to access to Post Secondary Education (PSE), including the role of student financing and participation in adult education and training. The ASETS replaces the Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning (SAEP, record number 4442), the Post-secondary Education Participation Survey (PEPS, record number 4446) and the Adult Education and Training Survey (AETS, record number 3879).

The ASETS expands the analytical potential of the three separate surveys, in terms of the content that can be addressed, the sample sizes that can be afforded and by allowing the study of correlates across all three themes within the context of lifelong learning. The data collected by the ASETS will help to monitor preparedness and access to education, evaluate the effectiveness of government education-related programs and develop policies to deal with the training needs of Canadians.

Subjects

  • Adult education and training
  • Education finance
  • Education, training and learning

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population for ASETS is comprised of all Canadian residents aged less than 65 years old, excluding individuals residing in the three territories in the North, and excluding individuals residing in institutions.

The survey population under-covers the target population as follows: It does not cover persons living in households without telephones or with cellular phones only. As well, it does not cover individuals living in households whose telephone number was missing from the 2006 Census of Population and missing from the administration files used to construct the sampling frame.

Instrument design

The planning for the ASETS was designed in collaboration with subject-matter specialists and researchers working on behalf of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC). ASETS underwent 2 rounds of focus group testing managed by Decima Research and Tourism and Centre for Education Statistics Division (TCESD). The questionnaire is almost entirely a combination of questions from three surveys: the Adult Education and Training Survey (AETS), the Post-secondary Education Participation Survey (PEPS) and the Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning (SAEP).

A pre-test with a sample of 1,000 Census telephone numbers took place in February 2008. The pre-test helped Household Surveys and Methodology Division (HSMD) adjust the sample design of the main survey by verifying the mobility assumptions and the efficiency of the initial design. The pre-test used the standard random digit dialing (RDD) Entry/Exit components and asked five questions.

The survey was programmed in order to be collected using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and then was tested internally to ensure its proper functioning. The survey is composed of two independent applications. The first is addressed to respondents aged 18-64 and to parents of children aged 0-17. The second application asks another set of questions to the person most knowledgeable of the youth 18-24 and links the information obtained with the information provided by the youth.

Sampling

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

The ASETS sampling frame is a telephone list frame. It was constructed from two sources of telephone numbers: the 2006 Census of Population and administration files. The telephone numbers from the administration files were added to the frame as a separate stratum; only those numbers that were missing from the Census were added to the frame.

The Census portion of the frame was stratified according to the age composition of the households at the time of the Census. Households containing youth aged 18 to 24 were oversampled, whereas households composed only of adults aged 25 and over were undersampled. Households composed only of seniors aged 65 and over were dropped from the frame.

The frame was also stratified by province. The sample allocation to the provinces was a compromise between equal allocation and proportional allocation.

A simple random sample was selected without replacement within each stratum. The total sample size is 72,000 telephone numbers.

The sample of selected telephone numbers was sent to the field for collection. The interview took place with the household reached by the selected telephone number, regardless of whether the household or dwelling reached was the same as that listed on the Census frame.

Upon contact with a household, the person answering the phone was asked to list all members in the household and to provide the age of each member. A household member aged between 0 and 64 was randomly selected for the survey. The probability of selection varied according to the age group of the members: youths aged 18-24 had the highest probability of selection, and adults aged 25-64 had the lowest probability of selection.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2008-06-16 to 2008-10-08

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

The data was collected using a computer assisted telephone interview (CATI).

The interview took place with the household reached at the telephone number selected in the sample.

Upon contact with a household, a roster listing all household members and their age was collected, and a household member aged between 0 and 64 was randomly selected for the survey.

o If the selected member was between 0 and 17 years of age, the interview was conducted with the parent or guardian who was the most knowledgeable (PMK) of the child.

o If the selected household member was between 18 and 24 years of age, the interview was conducted with the selected youth, and a follow-up interview was conducted with the youth's parent or guardian who was the most knowledgeable (PMK).

o If the selected household member was aged between 25 and 64, the interview was conducted with the selected adult.

Proxy interviews were not permitted.

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

Error detection

Collection of the ASETS was done using a CATI instrument (computer assisted telephone interviewing). Two major benefits of using a CATI instrument are: ensuring the correct flow path of questions and verifying any inconsistent responses by using edits within the application.

A series of edits are done at the head office to ensure consistency within the data file. These include both manual and systematic interventions. For the ASETS, several manual checks were done to identify logical inconsistencies. Also, a systematic verification was done on the flow path of the data. All questions that do not pertain to a respondent and were not asked are set to 'valid skip'. The flow path is pre-set in the computer application. As well, any non-response value is set to 'not stated'.

Data processing of the Access and Support to Education and Training Survey was done in a number of steps including verification, coding, editing, imputation, estimation, confidentiality, etc. At each step a picture of the output files is taken and an easy verification can be made comparing files at the current and previous step.

Imputation

Missing data were imputed for several key variables. Donor imputation was used, which involves copying information from a "donor" record with similar characteristics.

Donor imputation was also used to impute youth PMK data, for cases where a complete interview was conducted with the youth, but no data was collected in the follow-up interview with the youth's PMK. The missing PMK data was imputed using a donor with complete PMK data.

Estimation

Estimates were produced using weights attached to each sampled unit. The weight of a sampled unit indicates the number of units in the population that the unit represents. The weights were calculated in several steps:

o An initial weight was calculated based on the probability of selecting the unit in the sample.

o The weights were adjusted to account for household level non-response.

o The weights were adjusted to account for the selection of one person within the household.

o The weights were adjusted to account for person level non-response.

o The weights were calibrated to make them agree with July 2008 demographic counts, at the province by age group by gender level.

The quality of the estimates was assessed using estimates of their coefficient of variation (CV). The CVs were calculated using bootstrap weights which take the sample design into account.

Quality evaluation

Data was confronted with other published sources such as the Adult Education and Training Survey (AETS, record number 3879), the Post-secondary Education Participation Survey (PEPS, record number 4446) and the Survey of Approaches to Educational Planning (SAEP, record number 4442).

For the ASETS release, the quality of the data used in the report, were released under the coefficient of variation release guidelines. The quality level of an estimate will be determined only on the basis of sampling error as reflected by the coefficient of variation.

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

COVERAGE:
The coverage for 2008 ASETS was estimated to be 78%. The coverage was lowest for the 22 to 34 age group, at about 60%.

RESPONSE RATE:
The response rate for 2008 ASETS was 64%.

SAMPLING ERRORS:
Sampling error occurs because population estimates are calculated from a sample of the population rather than the entire population. Sampling error depends on factors such as sample size, sampling design, and the method of estimation.

The basis for measuring the potential size of sampling errors is the standard error of the estimates calculated from survey data. 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.

Users should determine the coefficient of variation of the estimate in order to get an indication of the quality of the estimates. For instance, if the coefficient of variation is less than 16%, the estimates can be used without any restriction; if it is between 16% and 33%, the estimates should be used with caution; and, if it is 33% or more, the estimates cannot be released in any form under any release.

In addition, non-sampling errors may occur at almost every phase of the survey operation. 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.

For estimates based on imputed data, it is recommended that the coefficient of variation (CV) be adjusted by an inflation factor. See the Microdata User Guide for more information.

Documentation

Date modified: