Development of a national health promotion survey: the Canadian experience

This paper discusses the development of a national health promotion survey in Canada carried out in June 1985. It does so by describing the events leading up to and surrounding 15 milestones, the last one being the release of the results of the survey in February 1987. A number of lessons are drawn from the experience to date. They include the need to allocate enough time to plan the survey; the need to maintain continuity of staff; the benefits of forming an analysis team; the value of advisory groups; the value of adjusting sampling to political requirements; and the need for researchers and programme people to work together. It is expected that additional lessons will be learned as the process continues and as the survey is repeated in 1988.