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Definitions, data sources and method. Financial Information of Community Colleges and Vocational Schools Guidelines

For the fiscal year ending in 2012

I. Introduction

The main objective of this survey is to obtain detailed revenue and expenditure data of each community college and vocational school in Canada. Coupled with what is already available for the university sector, this gathering of data will provide a complete picture of the financial statistics of postsecondary education as well as vocational training in Canada.

The following notes provide the principles, definitions and guidelines necessary for the completion of the data form. Since it is desirable to obtain figures as comparable as possible from one institution to another, each respondent is requested to:

provide accompanying notes of explanation with the submission for figures that the respondent feels are not comparable to those of other institutions, or provide comments in the space at the end of the questionnaire;
provide comments on items which are excluded from the data, such as cases where provinces are making contributions to repay debt on behalf of an institution or material gifts received as donated service along with their estimated market value;
estimate, whenever possible, income and expenditure figures that are not readily available in the form required from the financial records of the institution; all estimated amounts should be indicated with an asterisk (*).

II. Submission

The final deadline for the submission is as indicated in the covering letter. The completed questionnaire(s) should be returned in the self-addressed envelope provided.

A copy of the institution’s Audited Financial Statements is also requested with your submission. If a copy is not available, please advise as to the date on which they will be forwarded.

III. Coverage

With the exception noted below, the survey covers all private and public non-degree granting institutions that offer educational programs at the postsecondary level and/or at the trade and vocational level (private institutions that only offer courses at the trade and vocational level however, are not covered by this survey). For statistical purposes, institutions are classified as follows:

Community Colleges
Included in this classification are the colleges of applied arts and technology (CAAT’s) in Ontario, general and vocational colleges (CEGEP’s) in Quebec, institutes of technology and any other institutions providing education in fields such as paramedical technologies, nursing, agriculture, forestry, nautical sciences, etc.. These institutions offer programs at the postsecondary level, and may offer trade-vocational level programs.
Vocational Schools
This classification includes District Vocational Schools in Newfoundland, Regional Vocational Schools in Nova Scotia, Community Colleges in Saskatchewan, Vocational Centres in Alberta, government training schools, vocational training centres and any other institution offering programs at the trade-vocational level only.
Training in hospitals
Included in this classification are educational centres located in hospitals, which offer educational or training programs, independently of the community college system, in nursing, nursing assistants, radio-therapy, radiography, medical technology, etc..

To ensure full coverage, it is important that each reporting officer indicates on section 2 of the questionnaire the affiliated campuses included in and/or excluded from the submission.

IV. Confidentiality

The collected data will be published in aggregated form at the provincial level to preserve the confidentiality of the financial reporting of each institution.

V. Financial reporting form

The questionnaire is comprised of seven sections.

The first section contains four parts:

the institution’s financial year ending date;
identification of the institution; whether it is public or private and whether it is board or provincially governed;
identification of the reporting officer;
a few brief instructions on how to complete the questionnaire.

The second section contains a list of the affiliated campuses included in, and/or excluded from the report.

Schedule 1 contains the institution’s operating, sponsored research and capital income for the year surveyed.

Schedule 2A contains the operating, sponsored research and capital expenditures classified by type of expenditure and by function. The operating fund is divided into five functions: instruction and non-sponsored research, library, general administration, physical plant and student services.

Schedule 2B contains expenditures on instruction, classified by type of expenditure and by program cost groups. The cost groups are: university transfer programs, career programs, trade and vocational programs and continuing education programs.

The last section contains:

a supporting schedule for information on ancillary enterprises income and expenditures;
space for any additional comments or observations.

VI. Principles of reporting

1. Accrual Concept

For the purpose of this survey, the revenue and expenditure data should be reported on an accrual basis. That is, all revenues and expenditures should be reflected in the period in which they are considered to have been earned and incurred respectively. For example, major adjustments, such as retroactive salary and their related benefit costs, should be reported on that basis.

2. Total Income and Expenditures

All income and expenditures of the institution are to be reported. In this regard particular attention should be paid to the following:

when an institution is provincially governed or consists of a branch of a department, all costs related to the operation, maintenance and administration of the institution are to be reported; the actual funds used to finance those expenditures should be shown as a provincial source of funds;
capital expenditures, as well as related revenues, that are financed by a government Department or Ministry other than the one responsible for the institution must be included in this report; the reporting officer is responsible for obtaining and providing this information;
the figures reported should not include income or expenditures for the purpose of creating or eliminating an appropriation; however, any actual income or expenditure transaction recorded directly in reserve accounts should be included in the figures reported; this also applies to other assets and liability accounts; provisions for replacement of assets are considered to be transfers to reserve or appropriation accounts and should not be reported as expenses;
receipts and expenses relating to special purpose, trust and other funds of the institution should, as well, be included in the report.

3. Ancillary Enterprises

An ancillary enterprise is an entity that exists to furnish goods and services to students, staff or others, and that charges a fee directly related to, although not necessarily equal to, the cost of the goods or services. To reflect properly the full cost of these enterprises, you should report their total gross revenues and total gross expenditures in the appropriate cells in the schedule 1 and 2A. In addition, a breakdown by type of ancillary enterprises (bookstores, food services, residences, parking) must be completed on the supporting schedule.

4. Reporting of Income

When reporting the sources of funds in the operating, sponsored research and capital income schedule, it is important to show the revenues under the headings that correspond to the immediate source of funds for the institution. For example, if an institution offers training courses for which Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) purchases seats, then the amount of money paid by HRDC should be shown under “Federal” only if the money is received directly by the institution. If the money is received by a third party (provincial government) and then transferred to the institution, then the direct source of funds is the “Provincial Government”.

VII. Definitions

1. Program Cost Groups

This section defines the program cost groups to be used in the reporting of direct instruction expenditures under schedule 2B.

The criteria used to define the various program cost groups originates from those used in other surveys conducted by Statistics Canada and also from analysis of different educational systems across Canada. Note that these statistical definitions may not correspond identically to other existing definitions used by other organizations or governments.

a) Postsecondary Programs

This program cost group includes all direct expenditures incurred in providing instruction to students enrolled FULL-TIME or PART-TIME in postsecondary programs offered by Community Colleges (see section III). These programs are of two kinds: university transfer programs and semi-professional career programs.

i) University transfer programs: University transfer programs require secondary school completion to enter and provide a student with standing equivalent to the first or second year of a university degree program with which one can apply for admission to subsequent senior years at a degree granting institution.
ii) Career programs: These programs usually require high school graduation for admission and have a duration of at least one year. More commonly these programs last two, three or four years. Career programs lead to a certificate or a diploma in technology, business, applied arts, nursing, agriculture, etc., and they prepare a student to enter a career directly upon completion of the program, at a level between that of the university trained professional and the skilled tradesperson.

b) Trade and Vocational Programs

This program cost group includes all direct expenditures incurred in providing instruction (or training) to students (or trainees) enrolled FULL-TIME in vocational programs at the trade level for credit towards a recognized standing of proficiency or certification. Also included are direct expenditures related to students enrolled in academic upgrading programs for entry into a vocational program. Such students normally attend regular day classes in provincial trade schools, trade or industrial divisions of community colleges, adult vocational centres and other similar schools. These programs or courses prepare the student (trainee) for an occupational role below the professional or semi-professional level. A period of less than one year is normally sufficient to complete courses at this level. For less complex occupations, a program may last only a matter of weeks. Completion of grade 9 or 10 is usually required for entrance to these courses.

Included are, for example, pre-employment programs, language, skill or academic upgrading programs, refresher courses, apprenticeship programs, training on the job or training in-industry programs associated with educational institution, nursing assistant, etc..

c) Continuing Education Programs

This program cost group includes all direct expenditures incurred in providing instruction to students enrolled PART-TIME in courses, mostly in the evening, offered under the auspices of subsidiary divisions of schools designated by various names such as Division of Continuing Education, Adult Education Division and so on. Excluded are activities which have no sustained instruction or educational purpose such as recreational activities, presentations in the performing arts, art exhibitions and displays, debates fairs, conferences or conventions of clubs or associations.

Included are, for example, courses such as pre-employment programs, language, skill or academic upgrading programs, refresher, professional development, general interest, etc., which are offered on a PART-TIME basis.

2. Funds

a) Operating

This fund accounts for the cost of credit and non-credit instruction, non-sponsored research, academic support services, administration, plant maintenance and other operating expenses of the institution financed by fees, grants and other operating income. This fund will normally include all revenues and expenses regarding materials, supplies or services that are consumed within the year and which the institution considers to be operating, within the functional operating areas referred to in Section 3 below.

b) Sponsored Research

Sponsored Research is a restricted fund that accounts for income and expenditures for all sponsored research as well as Research and Development (R&D). For an activity to qualify as R&D, there must be an appreciable element of novelty. Income is to be reported following the flow-funds approach.

Sponsored Research covers the following activities:

Basic Research is any experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundation of phenomena and observed facts, without any particular application or use in view;

Applied Research is original investigation undertaken to acquire new knowledge, and directed primarily towards a specific practical objective;

Experimental development is systematic work drawing on existing knowledge gained from research and/or practical experience that is directed to producing new materials, products or devices, installing new processes, systems and services, or improving those already installed.

The following activities should not be counted as R&D:

all education and training of personnel; however, research by postgraduate students should be counted;
scientific and technical information services such as collecting, coding, recording, classifying, analyzing, disseminating, translating, and evaluating, except where conducted solely or primarily for R&D support;
routine testing of materials, components, products, processes, soils, etc.;
maintenance of national standards;
administrative and legal work connected with patents and licenses;
investigations of proposed engineering projects using existing techniques; however feasibility studies on research projects are part of R&D;
policy-related studies at the national, regional and local levels, as well as those of business enterprises in pursuit of economic activity;
routine software development, computer maintenance, quality assurance, routine data collection, and market research;
the many steps other than R&D necessary for the development and marketing of a manufactured product;
the raising, management, and distribution of R&D funds; and
routine investigation and normal application of specialized medical knowledge.

Sponsored Research accounts for the institution’s income paid in the form of a contract (legally enforceable arrangements under which the institution, or an individual within the institution, agrees to undertake a research project, using the institution’s facilities and/or personnel, for a sponsor that provide funds to meet all or part of the costs of the project) or a grant (unconditional payment for which service is not necessarily expected) from a source external to the institution.

Income sources include government, private industry and donors. Income may also include investment income, if the corresponding expenditures are reported in Sponsored Research.

Expenditures include activity funded from Sponsored Research income and exclude activity funded from the General Operating fund. It also includes the purchase of capital assets, if the corresponding income is reported as Sponsored Research.

Funds from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), along with applicable matching funds, are to be reported as Sponsored Research income. The corresponding expenditures, including the purchase of capital assets, are to be reported as Sponsored Research expenditures.

c) Capital

The uniform reporting practice in the annual return for capital expenditures is to follow the funds flow approach, rather than to capitalize and amortize. Funds received to acquire capital assets are reported as income in the period in which the funds are received or receivable. Funds used to acquire capital assets are reported as expenditures in the year they take place.

For reporting purposes, capital expenditures are to be reported in the same fund as the corresponding income. Specifically, capital expenditures are only reported in the Capital fund when the corresponding income is reported in the Capital fund.

It is a restricted fund that accounts for resources provided to the institution for capital purposes and not reported in any other fund. Fund income includes grants and related investment income, donations and other resources made available to the institution by external funding sources, such as government and donors, specifically for capital purposes. Fund expenditures include building programs, acquisitions of major equipment and furniture, major renovations and alterations, space rental and buildings, land and land improvements.

Capital expenditures, as well as related revenues, being financed by a Government Department or Ministry other than the one responsible for the institution must be included in this report. The reporting officer should be responsible for obtaining and providing this information.

3. Functions

a) Instruction and non-sponsored research

This includes all direct costs related to credit and non-credit courses, summer courses, extention programs and all other academic functions related to instruction and non-sponsored research such as offices of academic department heads, audio-visual services, laboratories, etc..

b) Library

This includes all the operating costs of the main library as well as the campus libraries, if there are any. All costs of library acquisitions from the Operating fund should be shown under this function.

c) General Administration

This includes costs for activities whose primary function is to provide administrative support for the operation of the institution. It includes the activities of the president’s office, vice president, registrar, finance, personnel, public relations, secretariats, etc.. It also includes expenditures on convocations, ceremonies, legal and audit fees, long distance phone calls, the internal portion of debt repayments and costs for computing facilities.

d) Physical Plant

This includes the costs related to physical facilities, such as physical plant offices, maintenance of buildings and grounds, fire insurance, telephone service, security, repairs and furnishing, renovations and alterations, mail delivery service.

e) Student Services

This includes costs for activities whose primary purpose is to assist students in their educational or employment pursuits and which are outside of, but supplemental to, the instruction of academic programs. It includes the costs of: counselling, placement, health services, athletics (not physical education), student accommodation services (not residences), student transportation services, bursaries, scholarships and prizes, student financial aid office, cultural activities, etc..

4. Types of Income

a) Government Grants and Contracts

Lines 1 to 10 include grants from, and contracts with, federal government departments and agencies, provincial government departments and agencies, and municipal governments.

Government grants provide financial support to institutions and the grants may or may not be restricted.

Government contracts provide financial support to institutions under certain stipulations and conditions, including the provision of a deliverable product, such as a piece of equipment, a service or a report. A contract normally includes provisions for institutions to recover certain indirect or overhead costs, with the contract specifying or documenting the basis for the calculation of the recoverable costs.

Federal

Lines 1 to 6 include all research grants, research contracts, grants and contributions from the Government of Canada and its departments and agencies. Income received from the four major federal government agencies is reported on lines 1 to 5 as applicable.

The line items under “Federal” are as follows:

Line 1: Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC)
Line 2: Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
CFI income is reported under the Sponsored Research fund.
Line 3: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Line 4: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Line 5: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Line 6: Other federal
Income from all other federal government departments and agencies is reported on this line.

Provincial

Lines 7 to 9 include income from provincial government departments and agencies, including Provincial CFI matching grants, Provincial CFI matching income (line 8) from the Ministry responsible for the institution is reported under the Sponsored Research fund.

In the case of a provincially administered institution, direct provincial funding are to be included here.

Municipal

Examples of income to be reported on this line include grants from urban transit, communication and parking authorities.

b) Fees

This includes all mandatory student fees for credit and non-credit courses (with the exception of residence fees, parking fees and other similar fees which should be reported under ‘ancillary enterprises - gross’) paid by, or on behalf of all FULL-TIME and PART-TIME students.

All other fees charged to students such as laboratory fees, transcript, late registration, application, athletic fees, etc., are to be reported under the heading ‘other’.

Normally, whenever revenues from fees are reported in schedule 1 under specific program(s), related expenditures should be reported for the corresponding program(s) in schedule 2B.

Note: those fees that are “flow through”, such as student activity fees collected for the students’ council, etc., are not to be reported as college revenue.

c) Bequests, Donations, Non-Government Grants

This includes receipts from business, industry, foundations, individuals and religious organizations, as well as the value of services donated by various organizations.

d) Investment Income

This includes income from all investments such as dividends, bonds, mortgages, short-term notes and bank interest. Realized gains (or losses) should also be included if they are treated as income in the operating and/or capital funds.

e) Ancillary Enterprises (gross)

This includes total revenues from all ancillary enterprises such as residence or parking fees, and sales of services and products from bookstores, food services (dining hall, cafeterias and vending machines), publishing, laundry services, etc..

It should also be noted that the reporting officer is asked to report, on the supporting schedule, a breakdown of total income for the institution’s ancillary enterprises.

f) Borrowings

This includes only those borrowings which are used to finance expenditures when repayment is to be made by the institution. Note that borrowings should be reported on an accrual basis.

g) Miscellaneous

This includes net income from rentals (other than ancillary enterprises), library fines and fines for other similar charges, and any income not reported elsewhere.

h) Interfund Transfers

When income from one fund is used to finance expenditures in another fund, report the amount as an interfund transfer. Total interfund transfers must net to zero.

5. Types of Expenditures

a) Salaries and Wages

Salaries and wages (excluding fringe benefits) as well as payments for leave of absence, shown under the appropriate functions and programs, are to be broken down into the following two categories:

(i) Teachers
Included in this category are salaries and wages paid to full-time and part-time teaching staff.
(ii) Other
This category includes all salaries not reported in part (i) above. Specifically, it includes salaries and wages paid to tutors, monitors, demonstrators, markers, laboratory technicians, maintenance personnel, office staff, research and teaching assistants, etc..

b) Fringe Benefits

This includes the institution’s contribution (in respect of all salaries and wages) to pensions, group life insurance, workmen’s compensation, unemployment insurance, Canada pension, salary contribution insurance, long term disability insurance and other similar benefits. Also include staff development costs paid for by the institution.

c) Library Acquisitions

This includes all purchases of books, periodicals, microfilms and other reference material for the library. Costs of binding may also be included if normally considered part of the acquisition costs.

d) Operational Supplies and Expenses

This includes all expenditures for supplies which are normally consumed in the fiscal year, including postage, teaching supplies, photocopying, publications, long distance telephone charges, repair materials, all supplies to operate laboratories, etc..

e) Utilities

This includes all expenditures for fuel, electricity, water, gas, telephone equipment rental, etc..

f) Furniture and Equipment

This includes all expenses for furniture and equipment, such as laboratory equipment (other than consumables), administrative equipment and furnishings, copying and duplicating equipment, computing equipment maintenance equipment, etc.. Rental and maintenance costs as well as other related operating expenses should be shown under the appropriate operational function. Costs for replacing or acquiring new furniture and equipment should be reported under the capital fund.

g) Scholarships and Other Related Students Support

This includes all payments to students including scholarships, bursaries, prizes, fee remissions, gifts, etc..

h) Fees and Contracted Services

This includes all expenses for services contracted to external agencies (except for renovations, alterations and major repairs). Examples would be cleaning contracts, security services, snow removal, etc.. Also included are fees paid to legal counsellors (including retainers for negotiations of collective contracts), auditors’ fees, consultant’s fees, etc..

i) Debt Services

This includes all payments made to service debts of the institution such as bank interest, mortgage or debenture interest payments, and related charges. Principal payments on loans, mortgages, debentures or repayable grants should be excluded.

j) Buildings

This includes all capital expenditures which are normally considered part of construction costs, except for furniture and equipment as well as land and site services which are to be reported under their respective item. Costs for space rental, building insurances, taxes, minor renovations and alterations on buildings, and all other related operating expenses should be shown under the Physical Plant operational function. Depreciation is not to be included as an expenditure.

k) Land and Site Services

This includes capital expenditures on acquisitions of and improvements to land such as landscaping, sewers, tunnels, roads, etc.. Capitalized professional fees and planning costs related to this category are also to be included. Rental, maintenance and insurance costs as well as other related operating expenses for this item should be shown under the Physical Plant operational function.

l) Miscellaneous

This is to be used when the institution has an operating or capital expenditure not classified in the other categories.

m) Transfers To/From

This item is used for internal transfers of costs between funds or functions whenever it is not feasible to directly adjust the appropriate expenditure items.

The total internal transfers of costs should net to zero.

n) Ancillary Enterprises (gross)

Includes all gross expenditures incurred in the operating of ancillary enterprises (see section 4 (e) above).

It should be noted that the reporting officer is asked to report, on the supporting schedule, a breakdown of total expenditures for the institution’s ancillary enterprises.

VIII. Supporting schedule

Additional information is to be provided in this section for the total revenue and expenditures of institutional ancillary enterprises (bookstores, residences, food services and parking).

IX. Suggestions

Comparability and Limitations of the data

Sources

Statistics are based on a census of all provincial and territorial liquor authorities. Financial data are reconciled with annual reports of the liquor authorities. Non-financial data are edited for consistency and completeness and respondents are contacted to confirm or to explain variations.

Updates to the questionnaire and CANSIM series in 2015

In 2015, the Control and Sale of Alcoholic Beverages program questionnaire, the “Government Liquor Authority: Report of Operations”, was updated after conducting qualitative testing involving field interviews with provincial and territorial liquor authorities'. Subsequently, the previous CANSIM tables were terminated and new CANSIM series were created to reflect these changes. A summary of the main updates are as follows.

A fourth beverage category was added to the questionnaire - Ciders, Coolers, and Other Refreshment Beverages (CCORB). International organizations including the World Health Organization publish alcohol statistics with four beverage categories: Spirits, Wine, Beer, and Other. Prior to the 2015 update, Ciders and Wine Coolers were included with Wines, Spirit Coolers were included with Spirits, and Beer Coolers were included with Beer. Other refreshment beverages not elsewhere classified could be reported as a Spirit, Wine, or Beer, at the discretion of the respondent. In aim of improving the comparability of these statistics, the fourth beverage category CCORB was added to the questionnaire and to its associated CANSIM series. As of fiscal year ending March 31st 2014, a majority of liquor authorities in Canada report sales using a variant of a fourth category that include ciders, coolers, “ready-to-drink” beverages, and/or other refreshment beverages.

Also in the beverage categories, the Beer category was updated to include four sub-categories: Light Beer, Regular Beer, Strong Beer, and Beer not elsewhere classified.

Absolute volume of sales of alcoholic beverages is calculated by multiplying the sales volume by the percentage of alcohol content for each product category. The percentages were modified in 2015 to reflect more accurate alcohol content based on an administrative data source obtained for this purpose. In the Spirits category, the percentage of alcohol content estimate is now 40% for Brandy, Gin, Rum, Whisky and Vodka. Spirit liqueurs are now classified at 20%, other spirits not elsewhere classified at 35%, and Alcohol at 90%. In the Wine category, the conversion rate is now estimated at 10% for sparkling wines. For non-sparkling wines, rosé wines are now estimated at 11%, white wines 12%, red wines 13%, fortified wines 18%, and other wines not elsewhere classified 15%. In the Beer category, light beer is now classified at 4%, regular beer 5% and strong beer 7%. For series continuity, beer not elsewhere classified is assigned an alcohol content of 5%, equivalent to a Regular Beer, and equivalent to the alcohol content assigned to Beer in the previous version of the questionnaire and CANSIM series. In the Ciders, Coolers, and Other Refreshment Beverages category, ciders are classified at 5.5%, wine coolers at 4.5%, spirit coolers at 6%, beer coolers at 7% and other refreshment beverages at 8%.

With the aim of improving the comparability of the number and types of retail outlets between each province and territory's diverse alcohol beverage distribution networks, the categorization of outlets section was updated. The previous version of the questionnaire classified outlets as a either a government owned and operated liquor store, a liquor store agency, a wineries' retail outlet, or a breweries' retail outlet. The updated questionnaire and associated CANSIM series maintains the categories liquor store and liquor store agency, and updates wineries' and breweries' retail outlets into a broader third category: Other Retail Outlets. Other Retail Outlets includes wineries' and breweries' on-site and off-site retail outlets, ferment-on-premise facilities, general merchandise and grocery stores, and other retail outlets. This was done to better reflect the other types of retail outlets in operation across the country and to ensure full coverage of the distribution network.

The tax and other government revenue sections of the questionnaire and associated CANSIM series were updated to include all retail sales taxes, excise taxes, specific taxes on alcohol, and other reported and identifiable government revenues derived from the control and sale of alcoholic beverages. Retail sales taxes are estimated at the applicable rate by province and applied to gross sales. Specific taxes on alcoholic beverages are validated in corresponding provincial and territorial public accounts and annual reports of the liquor authority. Excise taxes are estimated using the reported excise taxes by product type from the Federal Public Accounts, and proportionally applying these amounts to each provincial and territorial share of sales in those categories by corresponding year. Additionally, the sales figures in all CANSIM series were revised to show the pre-tax sales. Previously, GST was included in the sales figures but other taxes were not.

Concepts and Methods

Statistics on sales of alcoholic beverages by volume should not be equated with data on consumption. Sales volumes include only sales as reported by the liquor authorities and their agencies, including sales by wineries, breweries, and other outlets that operate under license from the liquor authorities. Consumption of alcoholic beverages would include all of these sales, as well as any unreported volumes of alcohol sold through ferment-on-premise operations or other outlets, and any unrecorded or illegal transactions. Statistics on sales of alcoholic beverages by dollar value should not be equated with consumer expenditures on alcoholic beverages. The sales data refer to the revenues received by liquor authorities and their agents, and a portion of these revenues include sales to licensed establishments such as bars and restaurants. The sales data do not, therefore, reflect the total amount spent by consumers on alcoholic beverages since the prices paid in licensed establishments are greater than the price paid by those establishments to the liquor authorities.

The value of sales of alcoholic beverages excludes all sales taxes, the value of returnable containers, and deposits. Per capita sales by value and volume are based on the population of inhabitants of 15 years of age and over. This is in accordance with the practice of Health Canada in presenting trends that are more realistic in the consumption of alcoholic beverages. This allows comparability with other countries, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Health Organization as they also present alcohol per capita data using the population of inhabitants of 15 years of age and over. The population estimates are based on CANSIM table 051-0001 Estimates of Population, by age group and sex for July 1, Canada, provinces, and territories, annual (persons).

Revisions, Comparability and Limitations of the data

Sources

Updates to the questionnaire and CANSIM series in 2015

In 2015, the Control and Sale of Alcoholic Beverages program questionnaire, the “Government Liquor Authority: Report of Operations”, was updated after conducting qualitative testing involving field interviews with provincial and territorial liquor authorities’. Subsequently, the previous CANSIM tables were terminated and new CANSIM series were created to reflect these changes. A summary of the main updates are as follows.

Also in the beverage categories, the Beer category was updated to include four sub-categories: Light Beer, Regular Beer, Strong Beer, and Beer not elsewhere classified.

Absolute volume of sales of alcoholic beverages is calculated by multiplying the sales volume by the percentage of alcohol content for each product category. The percentages were modified in 2015 to reflect more accurate alcohol content based on an administrative data source obtained for this purpose. In the Spirits category, the percentage of alcohol content estimate is now 40% for Brandy, Gin, Rum, Whisky and Vodka. Spirit liqueurs are now classified at 20% and other spirits not elsewhere classified at 35%. In the Wine category, the conversion rate is now estimated at 10% for sparkling wines. For non-sparkling wines, rosé wines are now estimated at 11%, white wines 12%, red wines 13%, fortified wines 18%, and other wines not elsewhere classified 15%. In the Beer category, light beer is now classified at 4%, regular beer 5% and strong beer 7%. For series continuity, beer not elsewhere classified is assigned an alcohol content of 5%, equivalent to a Regular Beer, and equivalent to the alcohol content assigned to Beer in the previous version of the questionnaire and CANSIM series. In the Ciders, Coolers, and Other Refreshment Beverages category, ciders are classified at 5.5%, wine coolers at 4.5%, beer coolers at 7% and other refreshment beverages at 8%.

With the aim of improving the comparability of the number and types of retail outlets between each province and territory’s diverse alcohol beverage distribution networks, the categorization of outlets section was updated. The previous version of the questionnaire classified outlets as a either a government owned and operated liquor store, a liquor store agency, a wineries’ retail outlet, or a breweries’ retail outlet. The updated questionnaire and associated CANSIM series maintains the categories liquor store and liquor store agency, and updates wineries’ and breweries’ retail outlets into a broader third category: Other Retail Outlets. Other Retail Outlets includes wineries’ and breweries’ on-site and off-site retail outlets, ferment-on-premise facilities, general merchandise and grocery stores, and other retail outlets. This was done to better reflect the other types of retail outlets in operation across the country and to ensure full coverage of the distribution network.

Concepts and Methods

Financial Information of Community Colleges and Vocational Schools

For the fiscal year ending in 2014

Tourism and Centre for Education Statistics Division

This information is collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S19.

Confidential when completed
(Le français est disponible)

Voluntary survey

Although your participation in this survey is voluntary, your cooperation is important so that the information collected will be as accurate and complete as possible.

Survey purpose

Results from this survey allow users a better understanding of the financial position (income and expenditures) of all community colleges and public vocational schools in Canada. Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Confidentiality

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Statistics Canada will use the information from this survey for statistical purposes.

Financial Year Ending: Day, Month, Year (2014)

Identification of the institution

Name of institution
Address (number and street)
City
Province
Postal code
Check the appropriate boxes
- Type
  - Public
  - Private
- Governing authority
  - Province or territory
  - Board

Identification of the reporting officer

Name and title of reporting officer
Address (number and street)
City
Province
Postal code
E-mail address
Telephone number
Fax number
Signature of the reporting officer
Day, Month, Year

Does your institution offer courses at the elementary-secondary level, other than those academic upgrading courses such as Adult Basic Education which should be reported in this questionnaire?

If yes, please exclude revenues and expenditures relating to that level of education.

Instructions

Please read the guidelines carefully.
All amounts should be expressed in thousands of dollars ($'000).
Indicate estimated amounts with an asterisk (*).
Complete the questionnaire and return it using the self-addressed envelope or to the following:

Section B-16
Operations and Integration Division
Jean Talon Building, 2nd Floor
Statistics Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0T6

Affiliated institutions or campuses included in this report

Affiliated institutions or campuses partially included in this report

Affiliated institutions or campuses excluded from this report

Schedule 1 – Operating, Sponsored Research and Capital Income
Table summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types	Funds
	Operating ($'000)	Sponsored Research ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Total ($'000)
Government Grants and Contracts
Federal^*
1. Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
2. Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
3. Canadian Institutes of Health Research
4. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
5. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
6. Other federal
Provincial
7. Regular Grants
8. CFI Matching Fund
9. Other
10. Municipal
Fees
11. Postsecondary Programs
12. Trade Vocational Programs
13. Continuing Education Programs
14. Other
Bequests, Donations, Non-Government Grants
15. Business Enterprises and Individuals
16. Non-profit Organizations and Foundations
17. Sub-total
18. Investment Income
19. Ancillary Enterprises (Gross)^**
20. Borrowings
21. Miscellaneous
22. Interfund Transfers
23. Total Income
^* As highlighted in Section VI.4 in the Guidelines, amounts reported here should relate only to payments received directly by the institution. ^** Total should correspond with figures reported in the supporting schedule A.

Schedule 2A – Operating, Sponsored Research and Capital Expenditures by Function and by Type
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types of Expenditures	Functions
	Operating						Sponsored Research ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Total ($'000)
	Instruction and non-sponsored research^* ($'000)	Library ($'000)	General Administration ($'000)	Physical Plant ($'000)	Student Services ($'000)	Total Operating ($'000)
Salaries and Wages
1. Teachers
2. Other
3. Fringe Benefits
4. Library Acquisitions
5. Operational Supplies and Expenses
6. Utilities
7. Furniture and Equipment
8. Scholarships and Other Related Students Support
9. Fees and Contracted Services
10. Debt Services
11. Buildings
12. Land and Site Services
13. Miscellaneous
14. Transfers to/from
15. Ancillary Enterprises (Gross)^**
16. Total Expenditures
^* The figures in this column should be identical to the appropriate ones in column 5 (column total), schedule 2B. ^** Total should correspond with figures reported in the supporting schedule A.

Schedule 2B – Direct Instruction Expenditures by Program Cost Groups
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types of Expenditures	Programs
	Postsecondary Programs		Trade and Vocational Programs ($'000)	Continuing Education Programs ($'000)	Total^* ($'000)
	University Transfer ($'000)	Career ($'000)
Salaries and Wages
1. Teachers
2. Other
3. Fringe Benefits
4. Operational Supplies and Expenses
5. Furniture and Equipment
6. Fees and Contracted Services
7. Miscellaneous
8. Transfers to/from
9. Total Instruction Expenditures
^* The figures in this column should be identical to the appropriate ones in column 1 (column instruction and non-sponsored research), schedule 2A.

Supporting Schedule A – Ancillary Enterprises
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
	Total Income		Total Expenditures
	Operating ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Operating ($'000)	Capital ($'000)
Bookstores
Food Services
Residences
Parking
Other
Total^*
^* Total should correspond with figures reported in schedules 1 and 2A.

Observations and Comments
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to give their observations and comments. This table contains no data.
Description (Fund, Function, Type of Income, Expenditure)	Comments

Financial Information of Community Colleges and Vocational Schools

For the fiscal year ending in 2013

Tourism and Centre for Education Statistics Division

This information is collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S19.

Confidential when completed
(Le français est disponible)

Voluntary survey

Although your participation in this survey is voluntary, your cooperation is important so that the information collected will be as accurate and complete as possible.

Survey purpose

This survey collects financial information (income and expenditures) on all non-degree granting community colleges and public vocational schools in Canada. Your information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Confidentiality

Financial Year Ending: Day, Month, Year (2013)

Identification of the Institution

Name of institution
Address (number and street)
City
Province
Postal code
Check the appropriate boxes
- Type
  - Public
  - Private
- Governing Authority
  - Province or territory
  - Board

Identification of the reporting officer

Name of Title of Reporting Officer
Address (number and street)
City
Province
Postal code
E-mail address
Telephone number
Fax number
Signature of the Reporting Officer
Day, Month, Year

Does your institution offer courses at the elementary-secondary level, other than those academic upgrading courses such as Adult Basic Education which should be reported in this questionnaire?

If yes, please exclude revenues and expenditures relating to that level of education.

Instructions

Please read the guidelines carefully.
All amounts should be expressed in thousands of dollars ($'000).
Indicate estimated amounts with an asterisk (*).
Complete the questionnaire and return it using the self-addressed envelope or to the following:

Section B-14
Operations and Integration Division
Jean Talon Building, 2nd Floor
Statistics Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0T6

Affiliated Institutions or Campusesincluded in this Report

Affiliated Institutions or Campuses Partially included in this Report

Affiliated Institutions or Campuses excluded from this Report

Authorization to release data

I hereby give permission to the Chief Statistician of Canada to authorize the release of data pertaining to the financial information at this institution from this survey. It is understood that permission may be rescinded at any time by telephoning the Tourism and Centre for Education Statistics Division at Statistics Canada and then confirming by letter.

Signature
Date

Schedule 1 – Operating, Sponsored Research and Capital Income
Table summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types	Funds
	Operating ($'000)	Sponsored Research ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Total ($'000)
Government Grants and Contracts
Federal^*
1. Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
2. Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
3. Canadian Institutes of Health Research
4. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
5. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
6. Other federal
Provincial
7. Regular Grants
8. CFI Matching Fund
9. Other
10. Municipal
Fees
11. Postsecondary Programs
12. Trade Vocational Programs
13. Continuing Education Programs
14. Other
Bequests, Donations, Non-Government Grants
15. Business Enterprises and Individuals
16. Non-profit Organizations and Foundations
17. Sub-total
18. Investment Income
19. Ancillary Enterprises (Gross)^**
20. Borrowings
21. Miscellaneous
22. Interfund Transfers
23. Total Income
^* As highlighted in Section VI.4 in the Guidelines, amounts reported here should relate only to payments received directly by the institution. ^** Total should correspond with figures reported in the supporting schedule.

Schedule 2A – Operating, Sponsored Research and Capital Expenditures by Function and by Type
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types of Expenditures	Functions
	Operating						Sponsored Research ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Total ($'000)
	Instruction and non-sponsored research^* ($'000)	Library ($'000)	General Administration ($'000)	Physical Plant ($'000)	Student Services ($'000)	Total Operating ($'000)
Salaries and Wages
1. Teachers
2. Other
3. Fringe Benefits
4. Library Acquisitions
5. Operational Supplies and Expenses
6. Utilities
7. Furniture and Equipment
8. Scholarships and Other Related Students Support
9. Fees and Contracted Services
10. Debt Services
11. Buildings
12. Land and Site Services
13. Miscellaneous
14. Transfers to / from
15. Ancillary Enterprises (Gross)^**
16. Total Expenditures
^* The figures in this column should be identical to the appropriate ones in column 5 (column total), schedule 2B. ^** Total should correspond with figures reported in the supporting schedule.

Schedule 2B – Direct Instruction Expenditures by Program Cost Groups
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types of Expenditures	Programs
	Postsecondary Programs		Trade and Vocational Programs ($'000)	Continuing Education Programs ($'000)	Total^* ($'000)
	University Transfer ($'000)	Career ($'000)
Salaries and Wages
1. Teachers
2. Other
3. Fringe Benefits
4. Operational Supplies and Expenses
5. Furniture and Equipment
6. Fees and Contracted Services
7. Miscellaneous
8. Transfers to / from
9. Total Instruction Expenditures
^* The figures in this column should be identical to the appropriate ones in column 1 (column instruction and non-sponsored research), schedule 2A.

Supporting Schedule – Ancillary Enterprises
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
	Total Income		Total Expenditures
	Operating ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Operating ($'000)	Capital ($'000)
Bookstores
Food Services
Residences
Parking
Other
Total^*
^* Total should correspond with figures reported in schedules 1 and 2A.

Observations and Comments
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to give their observations and comments. This table contains no data.
Description (Fund, Function, Type of Income, Expenditure)	Comments

Financial Information of Community Colleges and Vocational Schools

For the fiscal year ending in 2012

Tourism and Centre for Education Statistics Division

This information is collected under the authority of the Statistics Act, Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, Chapter S19.

Confidential when completed
(Le français est disponible)

Voluntary survey

Although your participation in this survey is voluntary, your cooperation is important so that the information collected will be as accurate and complete as possible.

Survey purpose

Confidentiality

Financial Year Ending: Day, Month, Year (2012)

Identification of the Institution

Name of institution
Address (number and street)
City
Province
Postal code
Check the appropriate boxes
- Type
  - Public
  - Private
- Governing Authority
  - Province or territory
  - Board

Identification of the reporting officer

Name of Title of Reporting Officer
Address (number and street)
City
Province
Postal code
E-mail address
Telephone number
Fax number
Signature of the Reporting Officer
Day, Month, Year

Does your institution offer courses at the elementary-secondary level, other than those academic upgrading courses such as Adult Basic Education which should be reported in this questionnaire?

If yes, please exclude revenues and expenditures relating to that level of education.

Instructions

Please read the guidelines carefully.
All amounts should be expressed in thousands of dollars ($'000).
Indicate estimated amounts with an asterisk (*).
Complete the questionnaire and return it using the self-addressed envelope or to the following:

Section B-14
Operations and Integration Division
Jean Talon Building, 2nd Floor
Statistics Canada
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0T6

Affiliated Institutions or Campusesincluded in this Report

Affiliated Institutions or Campuses Partially included in this Report

Affiliated Institutions or Campuses excluded from this Report

Authorization to release data

Signature
Date

Schedule 1 – Operating, Sponsored Research and Capital Income
Table summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types	Funds
	Operating ($'000)	Sponsored Research ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Total ($'000)
Government Grants and Contracts
Federal^*
1. Human Resources Development Canada
2. Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
3. Canadian Institutes of Health Research
4. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
5. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
6. Other federal
Provincial
7. Regular Grants
8. CFI Matching Fund
9. Other
10. Municipal
Fees
11. Postsecondary Programs
12. Trade Vocational Programs
13. Continuing Education Programs
14. Other
Bequests, Donations, Non-Government Grants
15. Business Enterprises and Individuals
16. Non-profit Organizations and Foundations
17. Sub-total
18. Investment Income
19. Ancillary Enterprises (Gross)^**
20. Borrowings
21. Miscellaneous
22. Interfund Transfers
23. Total Income
^* As highlighted in Section VI.4 in the Guidelines, amounts reported here should relate only to payments received directly by the institution. ^** Total should correspond with figures reported in the supporting schedule.

Schedule 2A – Operating, Sponsored Research and Capital Expenditures by Function and by Type
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types of Expenditures	Functions
	Operating						Sponsored Research ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Total ($'000)
	Instruction and non-sponsored research^* ($'000)	Library ($'000)	General Administration ($'000)	Physical Plant ($'000)	Student Services ($'000)	Total Operating ($'000)
Salaries and Wages
1. Teachers
2. Other
3. Fringe Benefits
4. Library Acquisitions
5. Operational Supplies and Expenses
6. Utilities
7. Furniture and Equipment
8. Scholarships and Other Related Students Support
9. Fees and Contracted Services
10. Debt Services
11. Buildings
12. Land and Site Services
13. Miscellaneous
14. Transfers to / from
15. Ancillary Enterprises (Gross)^**
16. Total Expenditures
^* The figures in this column should be identical to the appropriate ones in column 5 (column total), schedule 2B. ^** Total should correspond with figures reported in the supporting schedule.

Schedule 2B – Direct Instruction Expenditures by Program Cost Groups
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
Types of Expenditures	Programs
	Postsecondary Programs		Trade and Vocational Programs ($'000)	Continuing Education Programs ($'000)	Total^* ($'000)
	University Transfer ($'000)	Career ($'000)
Salaries and Wages
1. Teachers
2. Other
3. Fringe Benefits
4. Operational Supplies and Expenses
5. Furniture and Equipment
6. Fees and Contracted Services
7. Miscellaneous
8. Transfers to / from
9. Total Instruction Expenditures
^* The figures in this column should be identical to the appropriate ones in column 1 (column instruction and non-sponsored research), schedule 2A.

Supporting Schedule – Ancillary Enterprises
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to provide data to Statistics Canada. This table contains no data.
	Total Income		Total Expenditures
	Operating ($'000)	Capital ($'000)	Operating ($'000)	Capital ($'000)
Bookstores
Food Services
Residences
Parking
Other
Total^*
^* Total should correspond with figures reported in schedules 1 and 2A.

Observations and Comments
Table Summary
This is an empty data table used by respondents to give their observations and comments. This table contains no data.
Description (Fund, Function, Type of Income, Expenditure)	Comments

Custom surveys

Questions to ask about surveys

Items to consider when determining your data needs, and beginning the development process for your survey.

Statistics Canada surveys and analysis cost-recovery overview

Statistics Canada offers its survey development, collection and analytical expertise to assist Canadian organizations with their data needs.

Who we are, what we do and who does what

From Methodologists to Analysts: Learn more about Statistics Canada's highly skilled team of professionals who will guide you throughout the process.

Getting the most out of your survey

Maximize the benefits of this consultation practice by fully assessing your organization's needs.

A black and grey silhouette of a palm tree with a circular area highlighted in full colour is accompanied by the words, What are your surveys telling you?

Need help with your survey?

It's a fact: Well-designed and appropriately executed surveys can provide the accurate information that you need in a cost-effective manner.

Here, Statistics Canada shares its extensive survey expertise with you by taking you through a series of important questions you need to ask when assessing survey proposals or using survey results.

Consider these questions to avoid survey pitfalls and costly mistakes. They shed light on the main aspects of a survey, from matching your information needs to the right kind of survey, through to interpreting the survey results.

Custom surveys contact information

Learn more about Statistics Canada's custom survey services and discover how we can help you with your survey. Please contact us.

Indirect costs

Indirect costs cover the application of Statistics Canada's world-class infrastructure to custom surveys:

Comprehensive administrative business and household survey frames
Internationally-coherent classification systems tailored to Canada
Internationally-recognized questionnaire design and testing expertise
An established national inventory of skilled, networked, bilingual interviewers
Expert analytical resources
Robust informatics infrastructure, data collection software and generalized systems to process, edit, impute, weight, apply disclosure control and disseminate data
A culture of confidentiality that creates respondent trust

Questions to ask about surveys

The information that you need

Can a survey give you the information you need?

Be clear about what you want from your survey results. Are you looking for factual information? Are you interested in people's attitudes and opinions? Do you need a combination of both?

What you need to know should be guided by how you plan to use your survey outputs—for formulating policy, for research and development, for publicity, or for some other purpose. This will also help determine the kind of questions your survey asks.

To get the most meaningful survey results, define your information needs so that they are measureable and/or observable.

Avoid the expense of duplicating existing information. Once you know what information you need and how you plan to use it, explore alternative sources of information in case all or part of what you need is already available.

What kind of survey do you need?

Surveys are not "one-size-fits-all." The kind of survey that you choose depends on a combination of the amount, type, accuracy and scale of the information required. Here are some things to consider:

The amount of information you need:

Short answers to a small number of simple questions
Long answers with detailed content
Complex answers to complex subjects

The type of information you need:

Public opinions and attitudes
Facts about social or economic events

The level of accuracy you need:

A quick, but reasonable, approximation
Highly precise estimates

The scale of responses you need:

Survey estimates for the total population at a single level of aggregation such as the nation, a province or a municipality
Detailed information broken down into categories such as location or age
Information about a specific sector such as business, agriculture or some other distinct population

All of the above can help you determine the kind of survey you need and the survey organization best positioned to provide it.

Who can provide the survey?

No single survey provider will be the best choice for all the possible types of surveys. Know what kind, and what quality, of information you need before you approach a survey provider. And, know what services the provider can deliver.

If your data needs are simple, or if you want information on public opinions, then a provider that can deliver the basics at low cost may be a good option.
If you need highly accurate, detailed socio-economic information with in-depth analysis, the services of a large firm or a national or provincial statistics office would be more suitable.
Some organizations conduct omnibus surveys with regular collection cycles to which a client can add a modest number of questions for a relatively low cost.
If you are interested in quick pulse-taking on current topics, there are organizations that can act quickly. Some do so by maintaining continuing panels of respondents so be cautious: These panels are often subject to weaknesses that make them inappropriate for providing detailed data.

Find out if the survey provider possesses the full range of skills, infrastructure and experience to deliver the results and quality you need. The survey provider should have the capacity to carry out all the survey steps from planning and design through to data collection and analysis, at an acceptable cost.

Find out to what extent the survey provider will support you in the analysis of the results, their interpretation and use, and documentation. The survey provider should provide you with sufficient support after the survey to ensure you can use the results to meet your needs.

How involved should you be? Verify the degree of direct participation your team will have in the different steps of the survey process. You may even decide to do the survey yourself and would need advice with only certain parts of the process.

Data collection and questionnaire

How will the data be collected?

How the information will be collected is important because the method impacts the response rate as well as the quality of the responses.

The most common collection methods include the following:

Interviewers ask the survey questions in a telephone interview or in a face-to-face (personal) interview.
Respondents self-complete the questionnaire without the assistance of an interviewer via traditional mail, email or on-line.

A survey may use one or more of these approaches. For example, a paper questionnaire sent via traditional mail may use a telephone follow-up if responses are not received within a certain timeframe.

Each of these methods has various advantages and disadvantages. Inappropriate use can introduce unintended errors, which can make survey results less than reliable, if steps are not taken to reduce such errors.

Will interviewers be fully trained for this particular survey?

A survey provider's interviewing staff is the backbone of its data collection effort. The interaction between interviewer and respondent is a crucial element in the success of your survey.

If your questions are unclear to interviewers, then they will likely be unclear to respondents, and interviewers will struggle to help respondents understand what they are being asked. Make sure everyone understands what the questions mean.

Verify that the organization employs experienced, well-trained interviewing staff.

Check that training manuals are provided to the interviewers and cover all field procedures.
Ask about the amount of time the interviewers have been working for the organization conducting surveys.
Ask about the types of surveys that the interviewers are experienced in collecting.
Ensure that interviewers are provided with a good introduction to the survey for their initial approach.

Will the survey provider apply a range of best practices to ensure the highest possible response rate?

Key points to focus on include the following:

A well designed and planned survey should incorporate procedures for following up with the people who have not responded on the first attempt.
If interviewers collect the survey information, they should make more than one attempt to contact respondents who are not available on the first try.
Call-backs should be made on different days of the week and at different times of the day.
The collection period should be long enough to ensure maximum response rates.
The survey provider should use industry-standard methods to calculate response rates.

Will the information be kept confidential?

Determine what steps the survey provider will take to respect respondent confidentiality. These steps may take the form of an interviewer oath of secrecy, documentation of how personal information will be used, infrastructure that guards against unintended information uses or sharing, or a combination of these and other safeguards.

What to look for in your questionnaire?

Always ask for a copy of the survey questionnaire and take the time to review the exact wording of all the questions that will be asked.

The wording should be fair and unbiased. Look for any evidence of leading or loaded questions, and verify that the questionnaire presents a balanced set of response choices. The readability level is also important. Most people should be able to understand the questionnaire wording easily.

Pay attention to the order of the questions to make sure the sequence doesn't inadvertently bias the results. Seemingly minor points like this can seriously undermine the quality of your survey results.

Use short words and simple, direct sentences so the questions will be understood uniformly by most people. This will also ensure more accurate translation into official and, if applicable, minority languages.

Make the questionnaire as short as possible to meet your information needs. Keep the "need to know" questions. Remove extraneous questions that may distract from your survey's focus.

Thoroughly test the questionnaire in all language versions. Be prepared to edit the questionnaire for issues uncovered during testing.

Interpreting survey results

What are confidence intervals and margins of error?

These indicate the precision of a survey's results. The confidence level should always be reported as part of the margin of error statement. The confidence level is often stated as 19 times in 20 (95% confidence level) or 9 times in 10 (90% confidence level). For a given sample result, the higher the confidence level is, the larger the margin of error. But remember, the confidence level and margin of error only indicate sampling errors.

Example: A survey recently published by XYZ Consultants found that 73% of Canadians regularly watch ice hockey games on television but only 2% watch field hockey.

The survey interviewed a representative sample of 1,200 Canadian adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, i.e., 95% of the time.

This means that 73% is our best estimate of the percentage of ice hockey viewers in the whole population, and the true value is expected to lie within 3% of that number—in other words, between 70% and 76%, at a confidence level of 95%.

Strictly speaking, we can infer there are 95 chances in 100 that the sampling procedure, which generated the data, will produce a 95% confidence interval that includes the true value.

What is a coefficient of variation?

A coefficient of variation (CV) is simply the standard error expressed as a percentage of the estimate to which it refers. In the XYZ example, with an estimate of 73% and a standard error of 1.5%, the CV is 100*1.5/73, or about 2% of the estimated level of ice hockey viewing.

The CV is useful in the interpretation of relative levels of precision, especially when widely varying quantities are being compared.

Example: In a province there may be an estimated 50,000 people unemployed with a standard error of 1,300 people. At the same time, that province's estimated unemployment rate is 8% with a standard error of 0.2%. It is difficult to compare these numbers directly. However, the CV of the estimated number of unemployed is 2.6%, while the CV of the estimated unemployment rate is 2.5%. (They need not be equal.) This shows that the two estimates have essentially the same level of precision.

What was the achieved response rate for the survey?

Response rates are important for a number of reasons:

Non-respondents may be different from respondents in ways that can affect the survey results. Determine what techniques were applied to maximize response rates.
A low response rate can be more damaging to data quality than a small sample size by contributing to total survey error.
An unexpectedly high response rate can be indicative of other problems, as might be the case in quota sampling.

Example: If the survey results are based on an apparent 100% response rate obtained by interviewing the first 1,000 people willing to respond, then the results should be interpreted with caution. Such quota sampling has no information about how many people were approached in total in order to get the 1,000 interviews. There is also no information about how the respondents may be different from those who did not respond.

Can statistics be misused?

Yes. For this reason you should request and use statistics that are produced with professional and scientific rigour, commensurate to their use. You should question what a statistic represents, how it was calculated, and its strengths and limitations. Some say that "some statistical information is better than none at all." This statement is true to the extent that the user is aware of the limitations of the statistics and the risk of using them in their particular context.

Here are a few examples where statistics are to be interpreted or used with caution:

Representing an average

When reporting on salaries in a company, Person A claims that the average salary is over $60,000, Person B claims that the average worker gets $28,000, and Person C claims that "most" employees gets only $26,000. Any or all of these statements may be true at the same time. How to make sense of this? First, each person is trying to convey a single numerical representation of the salaries. Person A actually reports the mean, which is the sum of all salaries divided by the number of paid employees, including the CEO who makes $900,000. Person B reports the median, meaning that half of employees make less than $28,000 and half make more. Finally, person C reports the mode, which is the most frequent or typical salary in the company. The mean, mode and median are clearly defined statistical concepts; the average is not.

Exaggerating the precision

In a quick poll, 57.14% preferred X and 42.86% preferred Y. In fact, this could mean that 4 of the 7 persons interviewed preferred X over Y. If only one person more had preferred Y over X, the results would had been totally reversed. The size of the sample is far too small to support the level of precision expressed by the proportions.

Finding the answer you want

"Seven out of ten dentists prefer Toothpaste X." How many different times did Toothpaste Company X ask groups of 10 dentists about their preferences before finally finding one group with 7 in favour?"

Up and down

Mr. A's income dropped by 40% from 2009 to 2010, but in 2011 it rose by 50% so he's better off than ever. Is this so? A 40% drop from $100,000 took him down to $60,000. Then an increase of 50% of that brought him back up to $90,000 so he's still down by 10%.

Survey samples

From what population (area or group) will the sample be selected?

The population of interest for the survey, or target population, must be carefully identified. The information, called the "sampling frame" by statistical agencies and the "call-list" by public opinion research organizations, used to identify members of the target population should be up-to-date and well documented. If the sampling frame does not cover the desired target population accurately, the survey results may be severely biased. If the survey targets a specific group of the population or a specific geographical area, the results should not be interpreted as representing people outside of that group or area. A specific group might be men, women, Aboriginals, teachers, political party supporters and so on. A specific area might be a province, a region, a city, and so on.

How will people be selected for interviewing?

To avoid sample bias, some important questions must be asked about how people will be selected to participate in the survey. The survey documentation should indicate whether the sample will be chosen using a probability or non-probability sampling method.

If a probability sampling method is used, you should verify the following:

Respondents will be selected objectively, that is, randomly
All members of the target population will have a known chance to be selected in the survey

You should also enquire about the general structure of the sampling design, such as stratification, clustering, multi-stage or multi-phase design, as applicable.

If a non-probability approach is used, the way respondents are selected should also be explained.

Will the selection of people to be interviewed be left up to an interviewer, such as in quota sampling?
Will respondents select themselves in some way such as by participating in a phone-in poll, responding to a questionnaire in a book or magazine, or by joining an on-going panel?

Note that some surveys use a combination of probability and non-probability sampling. An example of this might be overlaying a quota sampling constraint onto an initially probability-based design.

Will the sample selected from a population be representative of that population?

To ensure the sample selected for your survey represents the population, you should ensure that key characteristics within the selected sample are similar to those characteristics in the population. It is also important to verify that the characteristics among the actual survey respondents are similar to the characteristics in the selected sample. Key characteristics within a population might include age, sex, education, marital status, or any other available profiling information to help answer questions important to the survey subject.

Survey errors

What errors may affect the survey results?

Errors may occur at any stage during the collection and processing of survey data, whether it is a census or a sample survey. There are two main sources of survey error: Sampling error (errors associated directly with the sample design and estimation methods used) and non-sampling error (a blanket term used to cover all other errors). Non-sampling errors are usually sub-divided as follows:

Coverage errors, which are mainly associated with the sampling frame, such as missing units, inclusion of units not in the population of interest, and duplication.
Response errors, which are caused by problems related to the way questions were phrased, the order in which the questions were asked, or respondents' reporting errors (also referred to as measurement error if possible errors made by the interviewer are included in this category).
Non-response errors, which are due to respondents either not providing information or providing incorrect information. Non-response increases the likelihood of bias in the survey estimates. It also reduces the effective sample size, thereby increasing the observed sampling error. However, the risk of bias when non-response rates are high is generally more dangerous than the reduction in sample size per se.
Data capture errors, which are due to coding or data entry problems.
Edit and imputation ("E&I") errors, which can be introduced during attempts to find and correct all the other non-sampling errors.

All of these sources may contribute to either, or both, of the two types of survey error. These are bias, or systematic error, and variance, or random error.

Sampling error is not an error in the sense of a mistake having been made in conducting the survey. Rather it indicates the degree of uncertainty about the 'true' value based on information obtained from the number of people that were surveyed.

It is reasonably straightforward for knowledgeable, experienced survey-taking organizations to control sampling error through the use of suitable sampling methods and to estimate its impact using information from the sample design and the achieved sample. Any statement about sampling errors, namely variance, standard error, margin of sampling error or coefficient of variation, can only be made if the survey data come from a probability sample.

The non-sampling errors, especially potential biases, are the most difficult to detect, to control and to measure, and require careful planning, training and testing.

How will the accuracy of the survey results be measured and reported?

The combined effect of bias and variance is the total survey error, which, if available, is the best measure of the overall accuracy of the survey results. For most surveys, however, only an estimate of sampling error is available. The most commonly presented measure is usually referred to as the margin of error: It should properly always be called the margin of sampling error because it does not incorporate any information about non-sampling errors. The same comment applies to confidence intervals as they are computed directly from the margin of sampling error.

For that reason, confidence intervals and margins of sampling error alone are not enough to judge the quality of survey results. If the quality of statistical estimates is important to you in the use of your survey results, then you should seek a survey provider that is able to calculate and report all aspects of survey reliability.

What influences the margin of sampling error?

The margin of sampling error is influenced by several factors:

The homogeneity of the population: the more the persons differ from one another in relation to the variables measured, the larger the sample must be.
The level or prevalence of the variables being measured: The rarer a characteristic is in the population, the harder it is to measure accurately.
The efficiency of the sample design being used.
Sample size, which is based on a sample design that will yield the most accurate estimates possible at a given cost.
Response rate, which determines the achieved sample size.

How big should the sample be?

The sample size directly affects the margin of sampling error that is reported with the survey results.

The margin of sampling error provides a legitimate estimate of the error due to sampling only if a probability sampling method was used to select the sample. Generally speaking, the more people that are interviewed, the smaller the sampling error becomes.

Note: Don't put all your faith in the survey results simply because the margin of sampling error is relatively small. This is only one possible source of error in a survey.

Will the margin of sampling error be the same for all survey estimates?

The margin of sampling error depends on the size of the sample surveyed. Therefore, estimates for sub-groups of the survey population, for which the sample size smaller by definition, will have a larger margin of sampling error than the overall estimate for the total survey population.

The margin of sampling error also depends on the behaviour of the variable being measured. So even under the same sample design and with the same sample size, the margin of sampling error may be larger for one variable than for another simply because its values are more widely dispersed in the population being surveyed.

Does a small margin of sampling error necessarily mean that the survey results are reliable?

If the survey estimate is relatively small, then a margin of sampling error of only a few percentage points means that the survey estimate should be interpreted with caution. Base your interpretation on how the information will be used and the consequences that may result from making an incorrect decision based on that result.

What is the typical response rate for a survey?

Response rates vary widely depending on a number of factors. Virtually all surveys suffer from some non-response, and non-respondents may be different from respondents in ways that affect the survey results. A low response rate increases the potential impact of bias and can be much more damaging than a small sample with high response rate.

Previous experience and choice of data collection method should provide an estimate of likely response rates. Some of the techniques that can help to maximize response rates include the following:

Providing advance notification: An advance letter explains the background of the survey and encourages participation.

Including effective introductions in your material: This approach can increase the credibility and perceived importance of the survey. In your introduction, it's important to do the following:

Identify the name of the organization conducting the survey
Guarantee confidentiality to all your respondents
Be honest about the length of the interview
Explain the uses and the benefits of the survey

Ensuring your interviewers are well trained: Preparing your interviewers before they meet with respondents is a must. Before sending them out into the field, ensure they are well-versed in the following:

Able to explain "random selection" (an often asked question)
Professional in their approach
Able to read out questions accurately
Prepared to probe and clarify responses

If quota sampling will be used and the respondents will be, for example, the first 1,000 willing to respond, then the results of the survey should be interpreted with caution. To follow this example, there is no information about how many people were approached in total in order to get the 1,000 interviews. There is also no information about how the respondents may be different from those who did not respond.

Usefulness of the survey results

If the organization conducting the survey follows proper procedures, will the survey results be a true reflection of a population's characteristics, attitudes or opinions?

Yes, usually. However, remember that according to the laws of chance, the survey results may differ at times from the population's actual characteristics, attitudes or opinions simply because of chance variation in the selected sample of people, or because of sampling error.

Will the survey use external information sources to improve or to validate its results?

Comparisons to external sources of information, such as other surveys or administrative data, can be used to correct for biases, or simply to verify that the survey results make sense. The survey does not exist in isolation.

For example, many surveys of human populations calibrate their results to Census data totals or distributions or to other widely-accepted data sources.

Should survey results be believed?

A healthy degree of skepticism about survey results is desirable. If the survey methods and results can withstand skeptical scrutiny, then the properly conducted survey can be the best objective means for gathering information about a population.

What outputs (deliverables) can you expect from your survey provider?

At a minimum you should receive a report describing the purpose of the survey and its key findings. The report should also include a brief description of the methods used and a full set of tabular estimates.

You may have to negotiate with the provider to present the results to your organization, live and on site.

You may also have to arrange with the provider to prepare more elaborate analyses for you or to give you advice on what analytical methods to apply to the data. This of course depends on whether you have arranged to receive the complete data file.

Getting the most out of your survey

A survey provider doesn't know your organization's information needs the way you do. At the same time, the types of surveys available and the different steps involved can be overwhelming. Be prepared. Use this checklist to match your information needs to the right survey—and right survey organization.

Questions to prepare or ask at a first meeting

What information do I need?
Do I need a survey?
Can other sources of information answer some or all of my data needs?
How quickly do I need the survey results?
How will I use the results?
Will I want to combine the survey results with other information?
Who should do the survey?

Questions to ask when assessing a survey proposal

What population should be surveyed?
What sampling method should be used?
How big should the sample be?
How well will the sample represent the population that I am interested in?
How will the questionnaire content be determined?
Can the questions be worded clearly and succinctly using plain language?
Are there standard questions to get the information that I seek?
Will the questionnaire be tested?
How will the data be collected?
Why is the proposed method of collection appropriate for the information that I seek?
How are interviewers recruited and trained?
Will the respondents be clearly told that their information will be kept confidential?
Will the results of the survey be reliable?
What is the expected margin of error or error due to sampling?
What are the procedures to process and clean the data?
What are the strategies to assure an appropriate response rate?
How will response rates be calculated?
What are the targeted response rates?
What would be the impact of a lower response rate than anticipated?
What are the strategies to correct for non-response?
Are other strategies proposed to improve the accuracy of the estimates?
Will a report describing the purpose of the survey and key findings be delivered?
Will a report describing the methods used and an assessment of quality be delivered?
Will advice on analyzing and interpreting the survey results be available, if needed?

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Date modified:: 2025-06-09