A survey is not a census, a census is a state sanctioned mandatory scientific and systematically carried out count of the population and its characteristics.  It is a national civic duty to fill it out, providing of course one believes that knowing the nature of the Canadian population matters.  A volunteer survey can be a one off activity, as funding is not guaranteed, and in this case, it was conducted in a non systematic way and there is no way of knowing where the count was complete and where it was not.  Further, this volunteered national household survey breaks the possibility of a longitudinal analysis of the population, and there is great concern that local small area geographic analysis will be impeded as sampling will be uneven.

I will have to read the following documentation very carefully before using these data, and you should to: National Household Survey – Reference products, 2011.The newswire has been busy this morning and here are some highlights:

• Macleans: The National Household Survey: Pig, meet lipstick
• CTV News: Compare voluntary survey with mandatory census at own risk: StatsCan
• Toronto Star: National Household Survey: Statistics Canada disclaimer warns of ‘non-response error’
• Globe and Mail: How employment equity will take a hit from dodgy national data
• CBC The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti hosted some detabe this morning in Statistics Canada: Devil in the lack of details
• The Globe and Mail: This morning’s census, dimmed by Ottawa, shows the need for good data
• The Montreal Gazette: Data gaps mark National Household Survey, Statistics Canada warns
• The Globe and Mail: Experts debate how much National Household Survey statistics count
• Global News: Compare voluntary survey with mandatory census at own risk: StatsCan
• Global News: Effects of ending long-form census will be revealed in forthcoming StatsCan report
• Le Devoir: Données linguistiques – Prudence, réaffirme Statistique Canada

Blog Posts:

• Social Planning and Research Council of Hamilton: Data day will not be celebrated in Hamilton
• CCSD Calls on Government to Acknowledge Damage to Census

The NHS data reported in the news today has been discussed with caveats as to accuracy and reliability, and of course the inability to compare with the past.  Although, the reports are discussing trends, which means they are comparing, and, most likely erroneously with the past!