About
The Research Data Centre at SFU is part of the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRCDN) and the British Columbia Inter-university Research Data Centre which is supported by our partner universities, SSHRC/CIHR and Statistics Canada to facilitate access to data for crucial social research while protecting the confidentiality and security of Canadians’ information.
In 1998, the Canadian Initiative on Social Statistics studied the challenges facing the research community in Canada. One of the recommendations of the national task force was the creation of research facilities to give academic researchers improved access to Statistics Canada's microdata files. This access would allow researchers in the social sciences to build expertise in quantitative methodology and analysis.
The Research Data Centres (RDC) provide opportunities to:
- generate a wide perspective on Canada's social landscape;
- provide social science research facilities across the country in both larger and smaller population centres;
- expand the collaboration between Statistics Canada, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), universities and academic researchers, and build on the Data Liberation Initiative; and
- train a new generation of Canadian quantitative social scientists.
RDCs promote and facilitate research that uses Statistics Canada microdata within secure facilities managed by Statistics Canada. They include university-based RDCs, Government based RDCs in Federal and Provincial/Territorial government buildings and Secure Access Points in approved locations where employees from all levels of government can access microdata.
Please note: Due to Covid19 restrictions, a maximum of three researchers are allowed in to the RDC at any given time. Researchers are now required to reserve work time ahead of coming into the RDC. Daily work time is divided into 3.5 hour morning and afternoon sessions.
Facilities
At this branch, there are five workstations with dual monitors. All workstations run on Windows 10.
Software
Work stations have the following statistical software:
- Stata 15 MP4
- SPSS 24
- SAS 9.4
- R 4.0