Challenges in the Design of the Canadian Community Health Survey on Healthy Aging

• Activity Number: 420
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 3, 2010 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Leon Jang*+ and Martin Provost and Adam Sherk
• Companies: Statistics Canada and Statistics Canada and Statistics Canada
• Keywords: census frame ; clustering ; health survey ; cognitive interviewing

Abstract

The Canadian Community Health Survey on Healthy Aging (CCHS-HA) was conducted by Statistics Canada between December 2008 and November 2009. The survey focused on the health of Canadians aged 45 and older by examining the various factors that impact healthy aging. A nationally representative sample of 30,865 respondents completed personal interviews which included an interactive component on cognition measures. The sample was selected using a multi-stage design that used the 2006 Census of Population as a frame in order to target the population of older Canadians. A number of sampling and estimation issues are presented in this paper including the use of the census as a frame, clustering, hard-to-reach populations and cognitive measures during interviewing. The effectiveness of the design is also examined using the results from the survey.