Redesign of the Canadian 

Survey of Household 

Spending

Guylaine Dubreuil, Johanne Tremblay, Jenny Lynch and Martin Lemire 

Statistics Canada

June 1st, 2011
Outline

 Redesign overview

• Previous collection model

• Redesign objectives

• New data collection model

• Evaluation and implementation strategy

 2009 Parallel run results

 Remaining challenges

 Balanced editing procedures

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Survey of Household Spending (SHS)

 Data collected annually through CAPI in all 

provinces; territories every 2nd year

 Interview length: about 1h45m on average

 Collection: January-March each year

 Recall survey: previous calendar year for all items

• Allows for full account balancing (changes in assets/debts, 

income, expenditures)

 In general, the sample size is 21,000 households

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Food Expenditure Survey (FES)

2001, 1996, ...

 Periodic survey on detailed food expenditures

 Diary over a two-week period

 Important complement to SHS

• Ex: Provide CPI food weights

 Last conducted in 2001; no sustainable funding

 Sample size of 9,000 households in FES 2001 in 

comparison to 16,000 in previous years

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Redesign objectives

 Spread data collection over the year

• Reduce overload in January-March period

 Adapt the reference period to the capacity of respondent 

to provide information

• Reduce the length of recall period for some categories of 

expenditures

 Reduce the length of the interview

 Integrate the content of FES to the SHS

• Budget considerations vs frequency

• Sample size not large enough to meet the user requirements

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New data collection model

 International expenditure survey model

• Continuous data collection over the year 

• Combination of interview and diary for each selected 

household

• Interview with various recall periods according to the 

size and the frequency of the expenditures

• Diary over a period of 14 days 

• For most of the expenses including detailed food 

expenditures

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7 5/27/2011

New Data Collection Model 

Interview Recall Period

Two-week 

Diary

12 

months

<=3 

months

Last 

payment

‘‘ Questions’’ 39 % 6% 8 % 47 %

Consumption

expenditures 33 % 9 % 28 % 30 %

Based on the new design of 2009 SHS

Statistics Canada - Statistique Canada
New data collection model

 Response burden

• Control the interview length to 60 minutes

• Ask consent to use tax data on income 

• Use of receipts to reduce transcription

 Cost reduction

• Replace personal visit for the follow-up during the diary 

recording period by telephone call 

• Reduce verification procedures during the diary pick-up 

• Coordination of the sample with other surveys on the field

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Evaluation and implementation

 Pilot survey

• Evaluation of the new model

• November 2007 to October 2008

• 4,200 households in Quebec and Ontario

 Parallel run of the two collection models for 2009 

reference year

• Impact of the new methods on survey outputs

• Sample of 9,000 households over the ten provinces

 Implementation in January 2010

• Sample of 20,000 households over the ten provinces

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Collection response rates

Pilot Survey

(Quebec and Ontario) 

2009 SHS

New design

(10 provinces)

2010 SHS

New design

(10 provinces)

Original

Diary 

(10 months)

Modified

Diary 

(2 months)

Quebec

and

Ontario

All

provinces

All

provinces

Interview 60% 63% 60% 62% 67%

Diary

accepted 69% 75% 80% 83% 82%

Diary

returned

63% 66% 69% 71% 73%

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Note: Diary response rates based on the respondents to the interview
Usable diaries

 Pilot : minimum of 5 responded days

• 89% of returned diaries 

 SHS 2009 – New design: based on minimum 

thresholds by revenue classes and household 

size

• Thresholds in terms of number of items and expenses

• Adapted BLS approach

• 95% of returned diaries

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Diary nonresponse

 Representativity of the diary improved by

• Diary nonresponse adjustment based on Interview data 

• Calibration on demographic totals

Diary

final

respondents

Respondents 

to the Interview 

Usable diaries

Unusable diaries

Diary nonrespondents 

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Weighting steps

1. Basic weights

2. Interview nonresponse adjustment

3. Interview calibration

• Final Interview weights

4. Diary nonresponse adjustment

5. Diary calibration

•Final Diary weights

Interview Diary

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Effect of reference periods

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D

X Collection month Three-month reference period

One-month reference period Twelve-month reference period

x

x

x

x

Survey Year

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

x

Redesigned SHS schematic 

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J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D

Survey year

12-month recall SHS schematic 
Estimation

 Interview data are based on different lengths of 

recall period

• They are multiplied by the appropriate factor to 

represent an annual value

 Diary data are based on a 14 day period

• They are multiplied by 26 to represent an annual 

value

 Aggregated Interview and aggregated Diary 

mean estimates are first produced separately

• Then they are combined to get estimates for larger 

categories of expenditures

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2009 Parallel run results

 Interview length: median of 55 minutes

• Simplified diary easier to explain

• Tax permission for 78%

 Last payment questions

• Estimates and CVs generally similar to the 12-month 

recall in the old collection model 

 3-month recall questions 

• Sequence of 3-month and 12-month questions in the 

new questionnaire was reviewed for 2011 

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2009 Parallel run results

 Diary estimates lower than the 12-month recall in 

SHS 2009

• 9% for frequent expenses

• 14% for less frequent expenses 

 Incomplete diaries contribute to underestimation

• 20% of days in usable diaries are ”nonresponded” days

• Respondent fatigue

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2009 Parallel run results

 Frequently forgotten expenses on the diary

• Mainly expenses without receipts

 Only receipts provided by 21% of households

• Average expenditures of the diary significantly lower 

 Diary instructions and pick-up procedures were 

improved

• Ask for a two-week recall value for forgotten items (5% 

of the estimates)

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Remaining challenges

 Increase interview and diary response rates

 Improve diary follow-up and pick-up procedures 

• ”No purchases day”, items forgotten, respondent 

fatigue

 Improve quality of diary processing methods 

 Collection and processing costs vs quality 

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Remaining challenges

 First release of the redesigned 2010 SHS

 Inform the users

 Adapt survey outputs to the new methodology

 May have to produce new specific outputs for 

some users

• More development is needed

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Balanced editing procedures

 These procedures were used with the previous collection 

model of SHS

 This ensures that expenditures match household income 

and other sources of funds

 Not used anymore with the redesigned survey

• A household’s expenditures come from different reference 

periods

• Large part of expenditures come from the diary and will only be 

available later

• The revenue components come from tax data for most of the 

respondents and will only be available later

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References

 Tremblay, J., Lynch, J. and Dubreuil, G. (2010) 

Pilot Survey Results from the Canadian Survey 

of Household Spending Redesign, Joint 

Statistical Meetings 2010.

 Nadeau, C., Tremblay, J. and Lessard, S. (2007) 

Sampling and Estimation Issues in the Redesign 

of the Canadian Survey of Household Spending , 

Joint Statistical Meetings 2007.

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 For more information,  Pour plus d’information,

please contact: veuillez contacter :

Guylaine Dubreuil 

Guylaine.Dubreuil@statcan.gc.ca

Johanne Tremblay

Johanne.Tremblay@statcan.gc.ca

Jenny Lynch

Jenny.Lynch@statcan.gc.ca

Martin Lemire

Martin.Lemire@statcan.gc.ca

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