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Data Harms: Being overlooked in a datafied world

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The Myth of Data Neutrality

Data "Neutrality?"

 

 
Are data truly objective? 

 

 

They may seem so - but is this really the case?  Data do not spring out of the ether - to exist they must be generated - generally by:
 

  • human researchers
     
  • an observational instrument, such as a rain gauge, thermometer, sound measuring device etc
     
  • or an artificial intelligence tool

 

Remember:  Machines / AI tools are programmed by a human research team and / or scrape up data derived from human activity - and in the case of scraped data - often with no quality assessment or ethical oversight.

 

Every decision that goes into the research design is a reflection of the time and place in which the researcher is working - as well as the researcher's particular interests, objectives, world-views etc., and cannot therefore be considered neutral.

Data Exclusion: Gender Identity

Do you count when you are uncounted?    

 

Prior to the 2021 Census of Population, data on gender identity were not collected by Statistics Canada. 
 

  • This means that there are no historical socio-economic data about transgender men and women or non-binary people from Statistics Canada.
     
  • Whether respondents belonging to these overlooked communities didn't participate or chose their "sex assigned at birth" is unclear.
     
  • What is clear, however, is that any data from Statistics Canada relating to gender from before 2021 must be considered imprecise.
     
  • Ask yourself: how well can society function for you, if your community is officially invisible?
     

 

"Previous versions of the sex at birth statistical standards did not include the distinction of 'at birth.' Until 2018, gender did not have its own statistical standard. Previous versions of the classification of gender did not include the distinction between men, women and non-binary people, or the distinction between cisgender, transgender and non-binary people until 2021" (Statistics Canada. Understanding sex at birth and gender of people in Canada.

 

To learn about about the gender-identity options now available to respondents see Statistics Canada: Age, Sex at Birth and Gender Reference Guide: Census of Population 2021 [PDF].

 

Data Exclusion: Weather Data


Incomplete weather data: What could go wrong? 


Did you know there are only 2 official Environment Canada weather station sites recording temperatures in Vancouver? 

  • They are at Vancouver International Airport/ Sea Island (which is not actually in Vancouver) and at Vancouver Harbour/ Harbour CS - both on bodies of water and in the western quadrants of the region.

  • All other weather stations recording conditions in the city are maintained by members of a citizen science project – literally backyard volunteers.
     
    • there are ZERO in the Downtown Eastside or anywhere else in the downtown core. 

 

Ask yourself:
 

  • Why aren’t there any stations in the DTES / Downtown core? 
     
  • Could bias be playing a role here?  E.g., in terms of assumptions about the socio-economic- and/or cultural demographics living in those neighbourhoods?  
     
  • Could there be other barriers to wider participation? E.g.,  lack of a backyard?  lack of funds to purchase/maintain equipment? lack of outreach to the community?


Case: BC's Heat Dome event, 2021

 

619 people died from heat related deaths between June 25th and July 1, 2021 - a week during which temperatures soared 20C above normal - and making it the deadliest weather event so far recorded in Canada.

According to Dr. Sarah Henderson, from the BCCDC, "the vast majority of deaths happened inside people’s homes.... 'People don’t die because it is hot outside; they die because it is hot inside.' Furthermore, she found that deaths at home were concentrated in deprived neighbourhoods without much surrounding green space. (Statistics Canada. Surviving the heat).


 

Ask youself:

 

  • How could any municipal government or emergency service identify where the "heat islands" might be in their communities if weather data are coming from a limited set of locations?
     
  • Is it possible to identify the most needed locations for public cooling centres if you don't know which neighbourhoods are the hottest?
     
  • How difficult would it be to identify the most vulnerable city residents if no one knows which buildings lack cooling systems or tend to hold more heat than average?

 

Learning in real time:  During the heat dome and again in 2022 and 2023,  the City of Vancouver & Vancouver Coastal Health created an "indoor temperatures" survey for residents to complete (on a voluntary basis).

 

  • This survey captured which neighbourhood the respondent lived in, and other really useful information including:
     
    • what type of building the respondent lived in, e.g., concrete tower, low-rise wood frame, single-detached home etc
    • if the respondent had access to any form of cooling system, e.g., fans / A/C
    • over the course of a week of "higher than normal forecast heat ranges" at least 2 daily indoor temperature recordings.
       
  • You can find the 2021 results available here

Data Exclusion: Unchaining death data from employment data

Death rates/causes by profession??

 

At present, the Vital Statistics branches in most Canadian provinces does not include job or profession on their death certificates.  For this reason, the national "Death Database" administered by Statistics Canada does not include this information either.

 

Why do these missing data matter?

 

If it is difficult or impossible to link death data to professions think of the research questions that may not be answerable.  E.g.,
 

  • Did people in specific occupations have a higher than average chance of dying from Covid-19 during the initial waves of the illness?
     
  • Is there a statistically significant correlation between certain occupations and premature death from certain health conditions?
     
  • Do some occupations have a higher than average suicide rate?

 

Note:  While this information is not freely available from Statistics Canada, some professional associations /unions are conducting research into these topics, for example fire fighters, nurses.

  • Statistics Canada may be able to link death data with income tax data for researchers.  However, such projects are only provided on a "cost-recovery" basis - which is a barrier for researchers who don't have sufficient research funding to cover the costs.


Ask yourself:
 

  • Who benefits from the status quo here? 
     
  • What does it mean when only the most well-funded researchers can access crucial information?