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General
What is TIMS?
TIMS stands for the Tobacco Informatics Monitoring System and is an innovative web-based application from OTRU designed to provide easy access to reliable, up-to-date data on key tobacco control indicators such as rates of current smoking, quitting behaviour, lifetime abstinence from smoking, and workplace exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS). The data handling and integration capabilities of TIMS will support a “big picture” view of not only the burden of tobacco use but also the successes of tobacco control.
Who is this web site for?
TIMS will be of particular interest to researchers, public health professionals, policy makers/analysts, and decision makers who need timely and robust information on key tobacco control indicators.
Is training on how to use TIMS available to me or my organization?
Yes. Please contact the site administrator for additional information. The Ontario Tobacco Research Unit will also be demonstrating TIMS at various public health conferences in the coming year. I have some suggestions on how to improve TIMS. Are these welcome?
Yes. TIMS is a tool built by and for the tobacco control and public health communities. We welcome all suggestions on how to make TIMS work better. Please contact the site administrator with your ideas. I find content in TIMS hard to read. Can I make the font size bigger?
Yes. The font size can be made bigger by pressing the Ctrl button and + sign button on your keyboard at the same time. Pressing Ctrl and the – sign will make the font smaller. You can also open the View menu on your browser and zoom in or zoom out. Advanced users might wish to change their screen resolutions via the Display Properties dialogue box (Control Panel).
Navigation
I’m stuck, what do I do?
At any point in your session, you can select the Reset button on the right side of the black Information Bar to start over. Another option is to reload/refresh the page using the reload/refresh button on your browser (this might work best if, for example, you’ve left TIMS open all night). The New Search button on the bottom of the results page can also be used to reset TIMS.
Why are some indicators not selectable (greyed out)?
Greyed out indicators mean data are available for these indicators but not given your current selections. At start up, all indicators are active. However, if you select an indicator, all remaining indicators are selectable only if they share a common data source with the previously selected indicators.
Why are some menu options not selectable (greyed out) such as health region or a survey?
Greyed out menu options mean that these options are potentially available for your selected indicator but not given your current menu selections. For instance, you can obtain results for current smoking among health regions but if you select current smoking and income first, health region data are not available. If a menu option you want is greyed out, revise your previous menu selections to be more general.
Is there an easy way to select multiple items in the menus (for example, more than one health unit, survey year, or age)?
Yes. Some menus have a select all/deselect all option. You can also use your mouse to click and drag over as many categories as you want. The Ctrl button on your keyboard can be used along with your mouse to select/deselect multiple non-adjacent categories.
Can I create a table or bar/line chart for more that one indicator such as smoking policy in the workplace and secondhand smoke exposure in the workplace?
Yes. Please note that if your subsequent menu selections are too detailed (for example, if multiple levels of geography, years, age and sex are selected), you might have too many factors to display a line or bar chart.
Can multiple indicators be selected from different Topics, for instance prevention and cessation?
Yes. Just select an indicator under one topic, click on a second topic and select an indicator under that topic. Please note that if your subsequent menu selections are too detailed (for example, if multiple levels of geography, years, age, sex are selected), you might have too many factors to display a line or bar chart.
Data Sources
When will TIMS data be updated?
Data owners (such as Statistics Canada or Health Canada) typically release the raw data files to the research community several weeks to several months after they have announced preliminary results in the media. Our aim is to incorporate new data into TIMS within weeks of their release to us.
What data sources does TIMS use?
TIMS houses data from major national and provincial surveys, including the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey (CTUMS), Youth Smoking Survey (YSS), Census of Canada, CAMH Monitor and the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (OSDUHS).
I don’t see a survey listed that is of interest to me. Can it be added?
I don’t see a measure/indicator that is of interest to me. Can it be added?
Can I request data from more than one survey?
We have intentionally limited TIMS to display data from only one data source at a time. Users can open up a second browser window and display results from a second data source if they wish.
Please be cautious about making direct comparisons between surveys. This is not always appropriate because the surveys employ different methodologies (for example, self-administered vs. telephone surveys) and can have different item wording and response categories. Moreover, the population of interest (for example, people aged 12 or over vs. people aged 15 or over) as well as purpose and response rates of surveys can vary.
There is little or no data from my region. Why not?
There are several reasons why your region might not have data. At this point, TIMS primarily houses Ontario data, which is a reflection of its major funding source (the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion). Moreover, some indicators are only on region-specific surveys (CAMH Monitor and OSDUHS are Ontario-based surveys). Some surveys—such as the CCHS—have optional content and content chosen for inclusion by one province or health region might not be chosen for inclusion by another province or health region. In some instances, an indicator might not show data for a region because there were not enough responses to the item to meet release criteria.
Results
Can I say that one value is higher or lower than another value such as current smoking between males and females?
Caution needs to be exercised when comparing results. We would advise that no directional statement be made (higher, lower, bigger, smaller, etc.) if there is overlap between the lower or upper confidence limits (LCL and UCL) of the two estimates being compared.
Sample surveys are designed to provide an estimate of the true value of a particular characteristic in the population such as average tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours (for example, the percentage of Ontario adults who say they have smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days). Because not everyone in a province is surveyed, the true population value is unknown and is estimated from the sample. Sampling error will be associated with this estimate. A confidence interval provides an interval around survey estimates and contains the true population values with a specified probability. The bottom of the confidence interval is called the lower confidence limit (LCL) and the top is called the upper confidence limit (UCL). TIMS uses 95% confidence limits, which means that if samples of the same size are drawn repeatedly from a population and a confidence interval is calculated from each sample (that is, the range between the lower and upper confidence limits), 95% of these intervals will contain the true value of the quantity being estimated in the population. For example, if the prevalence of current smoking among Ontario adults on Survey A is 25% and the 95% confidence interval is 22% to 28%, we are 95% confident that this interval (22% to 28%) will cover the true value in the population.
It is equally true that an estimate of 20% (±3) from Survey A is not statistically different from a 25% (±4) estimate from Survey B (assuming both surveys ask the same question). This occurs because the upper limit on Survey A’s estimate (20 + 3 = 23%) overlaps with the lower limit on Survey B’s estimate (25 – 4 = 21%), albeit a formal test of significance might prove otherwise. This argument holds for comparisons of estimates from different survey years, and between groups within the same survey (for example, prevalence of smoking between men and women). To aid TIMS users in making comparisons, 95% lower and upper confidence limits are provided where possible.
What are release criteria? Why are some results flagged as marginal or not shown at all?
Sometime TIMS output is qualified or suppressed (indicated by symbols or red shading in output and documented in the technical notes at bottom of the output screen). This is done to caution users about the reliability of the results, to limit the dissemination of data of unacceptable quality, or to ensure non-disclosure of individual respondent identity and characteristics.
Why is there no chart displayed for my query?
Your query might have been too complex. Try simplifying it. For example, you can deselect some of your search criteria, such as population, geography, survey year. In TIMS, graphing involves plotting in two dimensions along an X and a Y axis. As a result, only a limited amount of information can be charted in our line and bar graphs. If you select too many menu options (for example, more than one indicator with multiple levels of geography, multiple years, multiple ages), TIMS will not be able to display a chart. However, a table will be displayed.
Why is there no map displayed for my query?
The mapping option is currently under development. At present, no mapping view is available.
Is it possible to display more than one table, chart, or map at a time?
To display more than one table, chart, or map, users will need to open up another window/tab in their browser and run a separate TIMS query.
Print/Download
How do I get TIMS output into my presentation or report?
TIMS will allow you to print or download tables, bar/line charts, and maps in a variety of formats including PDF, Excel, and CSV (comma separated values). If you open the downloaded PDF file, images can be copied to another program by clicking Select Tool or Snapshot Tool in Adobe Acrobat and selecting the image with your mouse.
From within TIMS, output can be selected using a mouse and copied to another program. (Right click your mouse and select Copy or Copy Image from the displayed menu.)
TIMS table results can be downloaded to Excel. From Excel, you can create your own bar or line chart using all the formatting options available in Excel.
How do I reference TIMS output?
Ontario Tobacco Research Unit. Tobacco Informatics Monitoring System (TIMS). Available at: http://tims.otru.org. Accessed [Month, Day, Year]
Terminology, Abbreviations and Acronyms
What is a Health Region?
Health Regions are administrative areas defined by the provincial ministries of health. In some provinces, other terms might be used. For example, in Ontario they are called public health units.
What is a Tobacco Control Area Network (TCAN)?
A TCAN is an administrative unit defined by the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion. TCANs are networks comprising Ontario’s 36 health regions, with 1 to 9 health regions per TCAN.
What do the 95% Confidence Limits (LCL and UCL) mean?
Sample surveys are designed to provide an estimate of the true value of a particular characteristic in the population such as average tobacco-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviours (for example, the percentage of Ontario adults who say they smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days). Because not everyone in a province is surveyed, the true population value is unknown and is estimated from the sample. Sampling error will be associated with this estimate. A confidence interval provides an interval around survey estimates and contains the true population values with a specified probability. The bottom of the confidence interval is called the lower confidence limit (LCL) and the top is called the upper confidence limit (UCL). TIMS uses 95% confidence limits, which means that if samples of the same size are drawn repeatedly from a population and a confidence interval is calculated from each sample (that is, the range between the lower and upper confidence limits), 95% of these intervals will contain the true value of the quantity being estimated in the population. For example, if the prevalence of current smoking among Ontario adults on Survey A is 25% and the 95% confidence interval is 22% to 28%, we are 95% confident that this interval (22% to 28%) will cover the true value in the population.
It is equally true that an estimate of 20% (±3) from Survey A is not statistically different from a 25% (±4) estimate from Survey B (assuming both surveys ask the same question). This occurs because the upper limit on Survey A’s estimate (20 + 3 = 23%) overlaps with the lower limit on Survey B’s estimate (25 – 4 = 21%), albeit a formal test of significance might prove otherwise. This argument holds for comparison of estimates from different survey years, and between groups within the same survey (for example, prevalence of smoking between men and women). To aid TIMS users in making comparisons, 95% lower and upper confidence limits are provided.
What is the difference between the two census types on the mapping function: proportion within region and proportion within province?
This FAQ is under construction.
Abbreviations and Acronyms used in TIMS
AB - Alberta
BC - British Columbia
CAMH Monitor - Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Monitor
CCHS - Canadian Community Health Survey
CDA - Canada
CSV - Comma Separated Values
CTUMS - Canadian Tobacco Use Monitoring Survey
FAQ - Frequently Asked Question
LCL - Lower Confidence Limit
MB - Manitoba
NB - New Brunswick
NL - Newfoundland and Labrador
NS - Nova Scotia
NT - Northwest Territories
NU - Nunavut
ON - Ontario
OSDUHS - Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (formerly OSDUS, Ontario Student Drug Use Survey)
OTRU - Ontario Tobacco Research Unit
PE - Prince Edward Island
QC - Quebec
SHS - Secondhand Smoke
SK - Saskatchewan
TCAN - Tobacco Control Area Network
TIMS - Tobacco Informatics Monitoring System
UCL - Upper Confidence Limit
YSS - Youth Smoking Survey
YT - Yukon
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