Research Data Centre Program
The Research Data Centres (RDC) is a national network established as part of the Canadian Initiative on Social Statistics (CISS). This initiative was originally a collaborative program between SSHRC and Statistics Canada to strengthen our country's social research capacity, support policy relevant research, and to provide insight on important issues to the Canadian public. Specifically, the RDCs provide increased use of Statistics Canada's micro data for academic and policy relevant research.
The Research Data Centres program is operated through a partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Statistics Canada and a consortium of universities across the country so that researchers will not be obliged to travel to Ottawa to access confidential Statistics Canada data.
The RDC network consists of 15 RDCs, with the Atlantic Research Data Centre being one of these centre. In addition there are six branch RDCs and and one Federal Research Data Centre in Ottawa. Currently 43 post secondary institutions are members of the network.
Atlantic Research Data Centre
The ARDC is an inter-university facility and service of Dalhousie University (DAL), Mount St. Vincent University (MSVU), St. Mary's University (SMU), Acadia University, University of PEI (UPEI), St. Francis Xavier University (SFX), and Memorial University (MUN). The centre was officially opened on May 28th, 2001. The establishment and continuing development of the centre is overseen by an inter-university committee that is chaired by Dr. Victor Thiessen, Dalhousie University, Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology. The infrastructure funding for the ARDC is provided by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The operational costs of the centres are covered through operational allotments from Dalhousie University, user fees from the ARDC partner universities, and operating grants from SSHRC and CIHR. Select the following link, for further information about working in the ARDC.
The centres are administered in accordance with all the confidentiality rules required under the Statistics Act. In a single location, each centre facilitates access to data for crucial social research at the same time as it protects the confidentiality and security of Canadian's information.
Research Data Centres are:
- Secure Statistics Canada environments in a university setting;
- Respistories of Statistics Canada microdata files;
- Staffed by a Statistics Canada employee at all times;
- Operated under the privacy and confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act; and
- Accessible to researchers whose projects have been approved and who satisfy the prerequisite security provisions.
Benefit to Canadians
A number of Statistics Canada's longitudinal surveys have already made important contributions to policy debate in the country. With increased and improved research, however, many of these surveys promise to deliver even more insight on issues surrounding children, youth, a dynamtic economy, health and health care, and Aboriginal peoples-all of which are important to Canadians. The RDC initially contained data sets from the longitudinal surveys including the National Population Health Survey (NPHS), National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), Workplace and Employee Survey (WES), and Youth in Transition Survey (YITS). Today, this list of microdata sets have been expanded dramatically. A complete list of the micro data sets that are currently available at the ARDC can be found on the Microdata Set page.
Benefits to the Canadian Research Community
In addition to the benefits to Canadians as a whole, the establishment of the RDCs has also directly benefited the Canadian research community. With RDC centres being hosted within universities, it attracts top quality social scientists, and assists in the development of strong programs in a number of disciplines. Further, the RDCs are providing training opportunities for Canadian graduate students (through work on research projects) in quantitative research in a number of disciplines, using the latest techniques and data sources. A list of current training opportunities at the ARDC can be found on the Current Workshop page.
Proposal Process
Researchers wishing access to the confidential micro data in the RDCs will submit proposals to a review committee operating under the auspices of SSHRC and Statistics Canada. The committee will carry out the adjudication of the program submissions primarily based on the research merit of the proposal but also taking into account the capacity of the centre and the need to access detailed data. The review committee will consist largely of academic researchers, with representation from other research communities and Statistics Canada.
For further information about the proposal process, can be found the select the Application page of this website.
Security Measures
The Statistics Act governs access to all Statistics Canada confidential data, and its stipulations will be in effect in the RDCs. Researchers whose projects are approved will be subject to a security check before being sworn in under the Statistics Act as 'deemed employees.' Deemed employees are subject to all the conditions and penalties of regular Statistics Canada employees, including fines and/or imprisionment for breach of confidentiality.
Publishing the Research
In exchange for access to the microdata, the principal investigator of each project produced in the RDCs agrees to submit one product to Statistics Canada. This submission may be a working paper, peer-reviewed journal article, book or book chapter, thesis or dissertation, or commissioned report.
ARDC Researchers are required to submit their final products to the ARDC Analyst.
Having met these requirements, the researchers will then be free to publish a revised paper (or the original research paper) in an academic journal or any other publication. Researchers would be free to comment on policy and to include any material they deem necessary. The copyright for the paper will be vested with the researchers, although Statistics Canada retains the right to publish the original research paper and to structinize all publications for confidentiality.
Other RDC Centres
For a complete list of the RDCs, go to the following link - RDC Centres. Each RDC is unique and each centre offers site specific workshops and services.
In additional, the RDC centre take turns in hosting an annual conference. In 2007, it was the ARDC turn to host the annual conference. The ARDC conference which was held from October 12-13, 2007 was titled, "Life Course Transitions of Children and Youth".
This year, the RDC Network conference is being host the University of Western Ontario RDC in London, Ontario. The title of the conference is Health Over the Life Course. For more information, contact the conference organizers.
