Phoenix Strategic Perspectives Inc. (Phoenix SPI) was commissioned by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) to conduct a telephone survey of Canadians on privacy-related issues.
The OPC’s mandate to protect and promote privacy rights includes promoting awareness and understanding of privacy issues by the Canadian public. In support of this, the OPC conducts public opinion research with the general population every two years. This year’s research was designed to explore privacy issues that fall under the OPC’s four strategic privacy priorities: economics of personal information; government surveillance; reputation and privacy; and the body as information.
These priorities were established in 2015 to focus the OPC’s efforts and direct discretionary resource allocation decisions in order to increase the OPC’s chances of making a real difference for Canadians.
The main objective of the research was to explore Canadians’ awareness, understanding and perceptions of privacy-related issues. The findings will be used to inform and guide the OPC’s outreach efforts to Canadians.
A 13-minute random digit dialling (RDD) telephone survey was administered to 1,516 Canadian residents, 16 years of age or older between February 6th and 20th, 2019. An overlapping dual-frame (landline and cell phone) sample was used to minimize coverage error. Interviewing was conducted by Elemental Data Collection Inc. (EDCI) using Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) technology. The results can be considered representative of the population of Canadians aged 16 and older.
The sample frame for the survey was geographically disproportionate to improve the accuracy of regional results.