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Education Statistics

TRU Library has a number of specialized sources for finding statistics relating to Education.

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Statistics and their uses

Statistics are used to:

  • provide a description
    • answering the question about the scale or scope of something observable and its characteristics
  • make a comparison
    • establishing the degree of similarity or dissimilarity among observables
  • identify a relationship
    • looking at the correlation among characteristics of observables; how things are related

Assessing Statistics

Attributes that you should be looking for when evaluating your statistics:

  1. Relevence
    - How does the statistic reflect the needs of its clients and user
  2. Accuracy
    - Does the statistic accurately define the phenomenon that it was trying to measure?
  3. Timeliness
    - How long is the delay between the data gathering phase and the publishing phase?
  4. Accessibility
    - How findable is the statistic? Is it behind a pay wall?
  5. Interpretability
    - How much available documentation comes with the statistic? Definition? Data gathering methodology?
  6. Coherence
    - Does the statistic successfully verify similiar surveys?

Finding Statistics

Finding statistics is not easy.  There are generally two approaches, which are often used in combination with each other.

Publisher Strategy: identify an organization that would produce and publish such a statistic. Knowledge of government structure, areas of jurisdication and context is key.

Data Strategy: identify a data source from which the statistics were derived.

image credit: Chuck Humphrey, Data Library Coordinator, University of Alberta

 

Official Statistics: produced by government bodies (such as Statistics Canada) and some international or inter-governmental agencies (such as the U.N.)

Non-Offical Statistics: produced by other bodies, including trade associations, professional organizations, banks, consultants, marketing companies, academic institutions, etc

Types of Statistics

Statistical Types
Surveys Administrative Records
  • Census
  • Labour Force Survey
  • General Social Survey
  • National Household Survey
  • Aboriginal Peoples Survey
  • etc....
  • Vital Statistics
  • Hospital Morbidity
  • Crime Reports
  • Court Reports
  • Income Statistics
  • etc...

 

Surveys: deliberately requested information.

Administrative Records: statistics generated by doing regular business

The Latest Education Related Statistics from "The Daily"

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Statistical Sources

Statistical Sources - Print

Online Statistical Sources