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STS493 Stéphane D. et al.
in the external environment (e.g., more cellphone-only households) and
changes in respondent behaviour and their communication preferences have
led to this steady decrease. Statistical organizations are asking: what types of
initiatives can improve response rates? Statistics Canada has responded in two
different phases.
The first phase, almost completed, focused on better managing current
collection approaches. This phase saw most effort devoted to developing an
electronic questionnaire platform that enables web-based and multi-mode
data collection strategies, answering respondents’ demand for more
convenient electronic self-reporting modes. In addition, Statistics Canada has
made important moves towards improving the management of cases in
collection (such as case prioritization and implementation of responsive
collection design (Laflamme et al. (2016)), improving the allocation of
interviewers’ workloads and managing survey operations more actively.
Statistics Canada recently began the second phase of its research, focusing
on new data collection methods and techniques that might be more aligned
with respondent preferences and reduce respondent burden. These new
primary data collection modes aim to be easier to use, more efficient and less
burdensome than the usual collection approaches, or even eliminate the need
for surveying altogether. This paper also seeks to provide, in Section 2, an
overview of Statistics Canada’s recent successes in better managing its
alternative data collection process and practices. It also briefly describes
Statistics Canada’s new data collection initiatives.

2. Phase 1: Better management of current collection approaches
This section presents an overview of initiatives that have been successfully
implemented and that have contributed to alleviating the downward trend in
response rates.

New e-questionnaire platform
Survey respondents in Canada increasingly expect an electronic self-
response mode. Some years ago, Statistics Canada set out to build this option
for its respondents, while at the same time replacing a myriad of data collection
systems that were becoming increasingly difficult and costly to maintain. The
resulting Integrated Collection and Operation System was first used for the
2016 Census of Population and later adapted for use by all business, household
and agriculture surveys, as well as for Consumer Price Index data collection.
This new system has resulted in approximately 80% of Statistics Canada’s
surveys now offering an HTML-based, multi-mode-ready questionnaire, which
can be delivered to a respondent’s computer, laptop or other mobile device,
and which can also be accessed by interviewers in homes or in a call centre.

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