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Maternity Experiences Survey, 2006 – User Guide
Distribution (percentage) for each Source of Estimates
Variables
Unresolved /
Non-respondents
Less than 20
Mother’s age at
birth
Entire MES
Frame
5.3
2.6
3.2
3.3
47.0
44.4
45.3
44.6
30 to 39
41.7
49.4
48.0
47.4
English
Place of residence
Respondents
(Final weights)
20 to 29
40 and over
Mother’s first
language
Respondents
(Design weights)
7.9
3.6
3.6
4.7
58.3
61.4
61.6
61.0
French
14.7
23.6
21.5
21.7
Other
27.0
15.0
16.9
17.2
Non-CMA
27.4
33.7
32.5
32.2
CMA
47.3
50.9
50.1
50.0
Toronto
25.3
15.4
17.5
17.8
Mother’s marital
status
Never married
34.8
30.4
29.6
30.8
Other
65.2
69.6
70.4
69.2
Number of adults in
household (aged
18 and over)
Less than 2
11.8
4.2
4.2
5.7
2 and over
88.2
95.8
95.8
94.3
Other children
(aged 0 to 15)
No
40.1
42.9
42.8
42.3
Yes
59.9
57.1
57.2
57.7
Male
52.4
51.8
51.7
51.6
Female
47.6
48.2
48.3
48.4
Baby’s gender
The results of this study show that the characteristics of the non-respondents and
unresolved cases tend to be different from those of the respondents. The study also
shows that the respondents, after the weighting adjustments for non-response, appear to
be fairly representative for the variables available for the study.
To illustrate this conclusion, consider the proportion of cases where the Mother's first
language is neither English nor French: The proportion is 27.0% for the non-respondent
and unresolved cases, and 15.0% for the respondents using the design weights. After the
weighting adjustments, the proportion is 16.9% for the respondents compared to 17.2%
for the MES frame. This shows that although the proportion was quite different for the
non-respondent / unresolved cases compared to the respondent cases, the weighting
adjustments helped compensate for this difference, and improved the representation of
the sample.
8.2.5
Measurement of Sampling Error
Since it is an unavoidable fact that estimates from a sample survey are subject to
sampling error, sound statistical practice calls for researchers to provide users with some
indication of the magnitude of this sampling error. This section of the documentation
outlines the measures of sampling error which Statistics Canada commonly uses and
which it urges users producing estimates from this microdata file to use also.
The basis for measuring the potential size of sampling errors is the standard error of the
estimates derived from survey results.
Special Surveys Division
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