The TIMS interface has been designed to allow users to narrow their results for an indicator to a specific population. For example, users interested in abstinence from cigarettes could customize their output by selecting results for males aged 12-18 in the region of York in 2005. To obtain custom results, follow the Information Bar. It will guide you through menu selections to help you narrow your query. TIMS menus are explained next.
Population
Once you’ve selected your desired indicator(s), click Population to further customize your query. Options include obtaining results by age, sex, education, occupation, income. (You must select a single population category to proceed to the next menu, Geography).
Menu Bar
Geography
Once you’ve selected your desired population, select one or more levels of geography (country, province, health region, Tobacco Control Area Network (Ontario only). TIMS will return data for every geographical location you select. (For example, if you want only Health Region data, you do not need to select a province unless you also want the provincial data.)
Within any level of geography (for example, province), multiple items can be selected by using your mouse to click and drag over as many categories as you want. The Ctrl button on your PC keyboard can be used along with your mouse to select/deselect multiple non-adjacent categories (Mac users need to use the Cmd key and their mouse).
Data Source
The Information Bar will direct you to select a single Data Source (for example, CCCHS, CTUMS, CAMH Monitor) and survey year. (Multiple years can be selected if you want trend data.)
Detailed Sub-Population
Once you have selected your data source, you must make Detailed Sub-Population selections, which are derived from your previous Population menu selections. For example, if you selected age under Population, TIMS will ask you to select specific age ranges in detailed groupings (say, 15 years and over or ages 15–19); if you selected education under Population, TIMS will ask you to select one or more levels of education in Detailed Sub-Population (for example, less than high school, high school, some university). Although there is a degree of repetition between the Population and Detailed Sub-Population menus, this repetition is necessary in order to provide users with the most flexible system possible.
Tip: If a menu item is greyed out, your selected indicator has data for this item, but it is not available due to one of your previous selections. For instance, if you select current smoking by income, then health region is greyed out because TIMS does not have these data at this level of geography. However, grey shading is used to indicate that there is current smoking data by health region (that is, if income is not selected). Likewise, if a Data Source is greyed out, it is available for your selected indicator but not for your customized selections.
Tip: The “My Selection” button  can be clicked at anytime to view a list of your current selections.
My Selection Button
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