AI-Assisted Automated Testing for Electronic Questionnaires

Research & Development

What it collects

Operational data

Anonymized data

Electronic questionnaire content and test configurations used by Statistics Canada for survey instruments. This is administrative and operational data about questionnaire structure, not personal data about survey respondents.

Run by: Statistics Canada (StatCan)
Where: No fixed location
Kept: Not stated by the Helpful Places.
Shared with: Accountable organization
Your copy: You cannot see the data it holds about you. What you can do

What it is for

Research & Development

This system automates parts of the testing process for Statistics Canada's electronic questionnaires used to collect data from Canadians. It is used internally by Government of Canada employees and is currently under development. The system is not intended to make decisions about members of the public, but rather to improve the quality and efficiency of survey instruments before they are deployed.

What it collects and what happens to it

Data taken in

Operational data

Anonymized data

Electronic questionnaire content and test configurations used by Statistics Canada for survey instruments. This is administrative and operational data about questionnaire structure, not personal data about survey respondents.

Processing

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

What it does

Deciding (Analytical AI)

Human decides

The system analyzes electronic questionnaire components to identify testing issues or quality gaps. GC employees review the outputs and decide on questionnaire changes.

Outputs

Operational data

Anonymized data

Test results, quality flags, and automated testing reports about electronic questionnaire components, used by GC employees to improve survey instruments before deployment.

Run by

Statistics Canada (StatCan)

Statistics Canada is the federal department responsible for producing data to help Canadians better understand their country. It deploys this tool internally to automate testing of electronic questionnaires.

Government of Canada Automated Decision Registry — Automated EQ Testing Tool (2526-StatCan-009)

Built by

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada developed this tool in-house. No external vendor is identified in the register entry.

Government of Canada Automated Decision Registry — Automated EQ Testing Tool (2526-StatCan-009)

Kept for

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

Shared with

Not available to me

This is an internal government tool. Outputs are not accessible to members of the public or survey respondents.

Available to the accountable organization

Test results and automated quality assessments are available to Statistics Canada GC employees who use the tool.

Stored

Not stated by the Helpful Places.

How to read the colours

Can it identify you?

Anonymized data: Data about people with the link to who is broken. Stripped of identifiers, blurred, aggregated, or noised so this system can’t reasonably tie a record back to an individual.
Pseudonymous data: Each person’s data is tied to a token (hash, ID, template) that lets this system recognise the same person across events, but the token itself doesn’t reveal a name. Reidentification is possible with extra information.
Identifiable data: The data either contains a direct identifier (name, address, account name, recognisable face or voice, plate number) or carries a token this system uses to look up legal identity during processing.

Who completes the loop?

Human decides: This mode suggests; a person decides what to do next. The AI is always advisory — a human is in the loop on every decision. Example: a triage tool ranks cases for a clinician who chooses which to see first.
Human executes: This mode decides; a person carries out the result. Example: an optimizer plans the day’s trash-collection routes, and drivers run them.
Autonomous: This mode decides and acts on its own. No person reviews each decision or carries out the resulting action.

Definitions from the DTPR standard. Amber is about your data, violet about who decides. The fuller the shape and the deeper the colour, the more identifying the data or the less a person is involved.

What you can do

Ask about this system

Questions go to the Helpful Places, not the vendor.

Your rights

The Helpful Places has not listed specific rights for this system.

Risks and safeguards

No risks or safeguards have been published for this system yet.