Project Canada 2000

DOI

10.17605/OSF.IO/643TH

Citation

Bibby, R. W. (2021, March 16). Project Canada 2000.

Summary

The Project Canada Research Program has been carried out from The University of Lethbridge under the direction of Dr. Reginald Bibby. National surveys of adults 18 and over have been conducted in 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, and 2005, with complementary surveys of youth in 1984, 1992, 2000, and 2008. Further, in 2015 and 2016, additional adult and youth surveys were completed on-line in partnership with Angus Reid. The survey was the sixth in the Project Canada national adult surveys. It was carried out by mail between approximately April 15 and October 15 of 2000. Reginald W. Bibby was the principal investigator, assisted by Project Manager Reggie Gordon Bibby, Jr. and a number of student research assistants. Project Canada 2000 was comprised of a list of some 1,700 people who had participated in the five previous Project Canada adult surveys (1975 through 1995). Based on previous participation experiences, an additional new sample of some 1,500 people were drawn, with the goal of having a total sample of at least 1,500 people. These 1,729 cases have been weighted for provincial and community size, along with gender and age. In order to minimize the use of large weight factors, the sample again was reduced-to 1,240 cases. So weighted, the sample is highly representative of the Canadian population. A representative sample of this size should be accurate within about four percentage points on most items, 19 times in 20 similar surveys. A major interest of the ongoing national surveys has been to monitor social change and stability. Each survey sample from 1980 through 2005 consisted of (a) a core of people who participated in the previous survey and (b) new participants, who were used to create a full national sample of about 1,500 cases. For example, while the first 1975 survey was a typical cross-sectional survey with 1,917 participants, the Project Canada 1980 sample of 1,482 people included 1,056 who had also been involved in 1975. Various panels can be constructed from the surveys according to the five-year interval desired (e.g.,1975-85, 1980-90, 1990-2000). While no claim is being made that these panels are representative of all Canadians, they do provide intriguing and novel data on the attitudes, outlooks, and behavior of a core of Canadians over the last quarter of the 20th century. The panels can be weighted as deemed necessary by data users.

The ARDA has added six additional variables to the original data set to enhance the users' experience on our site.

Data File

Cases: 1729
Variables: 580
Weight Variable: WT

Data Collection

April 15 - December 15, 2000

Original Survey (Instrument)

Project Canada 2005 Codebook

Funded By

The funding for the survey was provided by the Lilly Endowment

Collection Procedures

The first seven adult surveys made use of self-administered questionnaires and were conducted by mail over approximately four-month periods. Questionnaires ranged from eleven to twenty pages in length and included 300 to 400 variables. The goal was to generate extensive information on life in Canada, with specific attention given to social issues, intergroup relations, and religion. With minor variations, the procedures involved (1) mailing the questionnaire with a front-page cover letter, (2) sending a follow-up postcard, and (3) mailing a second questionnaire.

Once again, the design was for the sample to include as many people as possible from the previous surveys spanning 1975 through 1995, plus new participants for 2000. The effort to locate the 1,765 people who had participated in the 1995 survey began in the spring of 2000 and continued throughout the project. It appears that some 1,300 of the 'PC95' respondents were located (about 75%).

Follow-up procedures were the same as used in 1985 and 1990. Approximately two to three weeks after the initial mailing, the pre-paid post-card-functioning as a reminder and asking about the status of the questionnaire-was sent, followed about three weeks later by a second copy of the questionnaire, with 'Second Request' stamped on its cover letter. In the fall of 2000, participants were sent a thank-you post-card, informing them how the results were being disseminated, and welcoming further inquiries.

A total of 1,014 people from 1995 (58% of that 1,765 total) submitted usable questionnaires, as did 715 new individuals (including 241 respondents who had first participated in 1975, resulting in a 2000 total sample of 1,729. The overall return rate was about 60%.

Sampling Procedures

A representative sample of about 1,100 cases is sufficient to claim a confidence level of 95 percent and a confidence interval of four percentage points when generalizing to the Canadian adult population. Size and representativeness are the two key criteria in being able to generalize with accuracy from a sample to a population. Considerable care therefore was taken to ensure that both standards were met. Concerning size, an interest in provincial comparisons resulted in 1,917 cases being gathered in 1975; 1,482 in 1980, 1,630 in 1985, 1,472 in 1990, 1,765 in 1995, 1,729 in 2000, and 2,400 in 2005. With respect to representativeness, the national population was stratified by province (ten) and community size (larger than 100,000, 99-10,000, smaller than 10,000), with the sample drawn proportionate to the populations involved. As resources improved, the number of communities drawn increased from 30 in 1975 to 43 in 1980, 104 in 1985, 145 in 1990, 228 in 1995, 304 in 2000, and 355 in 2005. Participants were randomly selected using telephone directories. Discrepancies between the sample and population characteristics were corrected by weighting for provincial and community size, along with gender and age. Each of the seven samples were weighted down to about 1,200 cases in order to minimize the use of large weight factors (i.e., three or more).

Based on previous survey experiences, a projected required supplemental sample of about 1,500 cases was drawn in the spring which, when combined with the core from 1995, would produce a final sample of adequate size and sufficient representativeness to permit high accuracy generalizations to the Canadian population (typically, about 25% cannot be located). As before, Canada was stratified by province and community size (lager than 100,000, 99-10,000, smaller than 10,000), and the overall sample drawn proportionate to the national population, with 228 communities involved. Potential participants were randomly selected using telephone directories. As in 1980, 1985, 1990, and 1995, it was anticipated that weighting for provincial and community size, as well as gender would be required, with age weighting required since the ongoing cores would have aged anywhere from five to twenty-five years - and also to correct for the growing underrepresentation of people under the age of 35.

Principal Investigators

Reginald W. Bibby assisted by Project Manager Reggie Gordon Bibby, Jr.