SM Research can provide two ways to identify the ethnic samples.

We can use the Statistics Canada Census information to find the highly concentrated ethnic population areas (e.g. 70%+) consisting of 300~400 households and then randomly pick up the samples in these areas. The Census has three sections of ethnic information that can be used for this purpose: Population by Home Language, Population by Mother Tongue and Population by Ethnic Origin. Home Language reflects a population's current ethnic status whereas the Ethnic Origin provides a way to trace ethnicity back to predecessors. The advantage of using the Census information is that it is the most official and extensive source of data.

While the Census is a good tool for large concentrated ethnic populations it is often impossible to find areas with significant concentrations of minor ethnic populations. Another problem is that over time the Census data becomes outdated. Therefore, the accuracy of a sample may be lower. However, by using the surnames used exclusively by particular ethnic groups those minor ethnic populations can be pinpointed at the household level.

SM Research's ethnic surname database identifies twenty three major ethnic groups in Canada. These surname lists were selected from the highly concentrated ethnic population areas and then verified by linguists and academics originating from these ethnic backgrounds. We can identify the ethnic samples in two ways: surnames that are most commonly used, or, surnames exclusively used by a particular ethnic group. Over the years, SM Research has used the ethnic database to help clients target the ethnic populations with very satisfactory success rates.