CCHS results are normally provided in universally accessible, but inconvenient, cumbersome and awkward CSV tables downloadable from the StatCan website.
They're hard to read, use, and format
to analyze and see results in meaningful ways.
I've visualized the
results in Tableau
to make them easier
to see what you want,
compare and analyze.
Try out one dashboard
on the next screen!
Sample Dashboard for Familiarization
Try these actions and keep them in mind for dashboards in the following pages.
- Hover over the dots to see additional information about it.
- Click on a dot, indicator, province or legend to highlight each's results.
- Change the demographics and/or year of data (once available) at upper right.
- Share the results, including JavaScript code for embedding in a given state, or
download, at lower left.
Interpretation of Results
CCHS results are given as rates with a margin of error (95% confidence intervals). You can see more details about each result in hovering over a dot. The report card format in the "dashboard" below shows each result as a red, green or grey circle, to denote how each compared to the national rate, with probability of being correct at "19 times out of 20" (in plain language that you often hear survey accuracy).
- Red denotes worse* than the national rate by a meaningful amount;
- Green denotes better* than the national rate a meaningful amount;
- Grey means no statistically significant difference to the national rate.
* Better or worse depends on the indicator, rather than just a higher or lower rate. A higher rate of fruit and vegetable consumption is "better", while a higher rate of diabetes is "worse". Only "contact with doctor in last year" should be potentially confusing. A higher rate there is "better" because one should see a doctor for a check up once a year, even though seeing a doctor often means one is sick, for which it is not good to have a higher rate. As for the "meaningful amount", that is a measure known more technically as statistical significance. Whether or not a result differs enough to warrant a red or green dot was determined by Statistics Canada as part of the CANSIM table source data.
REPORT CARD DEMOGRAPHICS Tab
In the dashboard below, rates for a certain demographic (everyone 12 years and older, which you can change) in each province, for each indicator, are compared to the national rate. Vertical clusters of dots show where a province is doing well or poorly. Row clusters of dots show which provinces are doing well or poorly for a particular indicator. Indicators are clustered vertically by similarity, like the chronic conditions are next to each other.
Click on a tab to change to another dashboard, without having to go to other pages in this story that explains each. However, in your first time through, or for later review, you may want to continue on to read a bit more about each tab.
REPORT CARD METRICS Tab
Use the dashboard below to see who each demographic in each province is doing with respect to national rate, for the chosen indicator.
Vertical clusters show how groups of demographics in a province are doing for the indicator chosen, compared to the national rate. Horizontal clusters show how a specific demographic in geographically close provinces are doing relative to the national rate.
RC PROVINCES Tab
The dashboard below shows the status of things in the chosen province, with all indicators and demographics represented.
Vertical clusters show where a particular demographic is doing well, or not so well, compared to the national rate. Horizontal clusters show which demographics are doing well or not so well in a specific indicator.
RATES DEMOGRAPHICS Tab
The dashboard below is a couple of graphs rather than a report card as previously seen. The bars are survey results with 95% confidence intervals, more commonly known as margins of error the results would fall in 19 times out of 20 surveys, or the true rate if everyone in the population had been questioned, would be in this range with 95% certainty.
Here, you can see the rates for a specific indicator, as applied to all demographics in a province, for two provinces to get a visual view of the results rather than just sets of numbers or numbers when you hovered over a circle in other dashboards. You'll have to judge for yourself who is doing relatively well and not, though, and relative to each other, unlike previous report card formats where Statistics Canada gave you a definitive answer for comparison to the national rate. You can set the high & low confidence limits (dotted lines), to your liking, for easier comparison, by inputting the values for each line at right.
RATES METRICS Tab
This dashboard shows results for one chosen demographic, in a chosen province or the entire country, for each of the indicators. Margin of error (95% confidence interval) is included. Indicators affecting less than all survey respondents, like breastfeeding and indicators for those 12-17 years old, generally have longer bars to account for the larger confidence interval from smaller sample sizes.
RATES PROVINCES Tab
The two graphs here show rates, with confidence intervals, across provinces and for all of Canada, for a specific demographic about a specific indicator. You can adjust all the variables, including confidence limit lines, as before.
MAP Tab
The top half of this dashboard has a map for geographical visualization, coloured by the report card style results for a specific indicator, on a specific demographic, as compared to the national rate. Scroll while your cursor arrow is over the map will shrink or enlarge the map. However, there is no new details to be seen. It might be useful to only show a portion of Canada you want to focus on for your map, though. The rates for the indicator and demographic chosen, with margins of error, are then shown at bottom in graph style previously seen.
REFERENCE Tab
To support all this, there is a Reference spreadsheet of information on methodology, credits and such.
DEDICATION
As for that "Dedication" tab? Well, let's just say that's for my supporters... and "supporters". ;)
