Domain Development

Throughout the development of the CIW, the process has been designed to ensure that ordinary Canadians hear their voices and see themselves reflected in the CIW.

For each domain, the CIW Network commissions a literature review or environmental scan and a domain report by one or more experts in the field. These reviews, scans and reports provide state-of-the-art overviews of relevant research, particularly Canadian research, and available time series data, recommend a set of indicators for the domain where data is available, as well as identify additional indicators for when data becomes available.  All domain authors use a set of criteria for selecting the indicators.

The CIW has gone through an extensive and lengthy process of validation and legitimization. The model was presented to and feedback sought from international experts at gatherings such as the 2005 workshop led by composite index experts from the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, at a November 2006 workshop with NGOs leaders and government officials, and the OECD Second World Forum on Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies in Istanbul in 2007.

Each commissioned draft domain report is circulated among the CRAG as a peer review body and then by a group of independent Canadian and international expert reviewers. These external expert reviews are used to validate the work against rigorous academic and technical standards. External reviewers are selected through a broad outreach process using the suggestions of senior staff from Statistics Canada, CRAG and the CIW Network's international partners. To date, over 40 reviews by broad-based groups of people with diverse backgrounds have ensured the work is validated against the common sense and sentiments of all Canadians.

Based on the validation process above, the domain research reports are revised and finalized.

As the world changes, new issues become salient, new knowledge and technology become available, and some of the things that matter most to people today may be supplanted by other things in the future. Validating the CIW is an ongoing process.