Gathering demographic data

This project could potentially be used to also gather demographic/ethnographic data from candidates.

Considerations

Gathering such information adds security and confidentiality issues to the project. Whereas the main survey data gathering functions are for information intended for public release so do not raise concerns about protecting it from disclosure, demographic information should instead be kept confidential (during gathering and while in a non-anonymized/non-aggregated state).

Academic users of any data gathered may have particular needs to address ethics protocols and data verification, so we should consult with some to determine what might be appropriate to do on our end to ensure the data’s usability.

Potential Data to Gather

The following is just a brainstorming list of possible things that could be looked at. It is unlikely that we would gather everything on this list.

• age
• gender
• ethnic heritage(s)
• first nation (if so, which nation(s)), inuit, métis
• place of birth
• how long have they (or their forebears) been in this country
• how long have they lived in the city
• how long have they lived in the particular ward/riding/district they are running in
• languages known
• first language
• disabilities
• educational history
• profession(s)
• employment status
• income level
• have they ever experienced poverty
• have they ever been homeless
• do they currently rent/own/squat/etc. their residence
• how many people do they share their residence with
• relationship status
• number of offspring, grandchildren & great-grandchildren+
• dietary restrictions (veg, gluten, sugar, halal, kosher, etc.)
• alcohol consumption type
• drug use
• what sort of question(s) could be asked to gauge exercise levels and types?
• political party affiliations

Uses

This sort of data could be used to identify things like:

• variance from the general population (i.e., if 51% of pop is women, but only 20% of candidates are)
• clustering of demographics in different geographical regions
• gaps in participation (i.e., low-to-no participation by people with disabilities)
• etc.

Might also compare demographic variances between the full pool of candidates and those who are elected.

There would likely be academic researchers with interest in this data.

This would not be intended for use in profiling individual candidates — the data would only be for aggregate (probably anonymized) analysis.