National Academies Press: OpenBook
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page i

The American Community Survey

Summary of a Workshop

Committee on National Statistics

Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

National Research Council

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page ii

    NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

    Support of the work of the Committee on National Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (Number SBR-9709489). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

    International Standard Book Number 0-309-07315-4

    Additional copies of this report are available from National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, D.C. 20055. Call (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area). This report is also available online at http://www.nap.edu

    Printed in the United States of America

    Copyright 2001 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

    Suggested Citation: National Research Council (2001) The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Committee on National Statistics. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page iii

    THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

    National Academy of Sciences

    National Academy of Engineering

    Institute of Medicine

    National Research Council

    The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.

    The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.

    The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

    The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page iv

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page v

    COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS

    JOHN E. ROLPH (Chair), Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California

    JOSEPH G. ALTONJI, Department of Economics, Northwestern University

    LAWRENCE D. BROWN, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

    JULIE DAVANZO, RAND, Santa Monica, California

    WILLIAM F. EDDY, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University

    ROBERT M. GROVES, Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park

    HERMANN HABERMANN, Statistics Division, United Nations, New York, NY

    JOEL HOROWITZ, Department of Economics, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

    WILLIAM KALSBEEK, Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina

    RODERICK J.A. LITTLE, School of Public Health, University of Michigan

    THOMAS A. LOUIS, Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota School of Public Health

    CHARLES F. MANSKI, Department of Economics, Northwestern University

    DARYL PREGIBON, AT&T Laboratories-Research, Florham Park, NJ

    FRANCISCO J. SAMANIEGO, Division of Statistics, University of California, Davis

    RICHARD L. SCHMALENSEE, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    MATTHEW D. SHAPIRO, Department of Economics, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

    ANDREW A. WHITE, Director

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page vi

    AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY WORKSHOP

    Participants

    * JOHN ROLPH (Chair), University of Southern California

    KATHARINE ABRAHAM, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

    BASHIR AHMED, U.S. Census Bureau

    * CHARLES ALEXANDER, U.S. Census Bureau

    BARBARA BAILAR, University of Chicago

    DONALD BAY, U.S Department of Agriculture

    * ROBERT BELL, RAND, Santa Monica, CA

    * WILLIAM BELL, U.S. Census Bureau

    BENNETT BERTENTHAL, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, U.S. National Science Foundation

    * JAY BREIDT, Iowa State University

    SHAIL BUTANI, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

    WILLIAM BUTZ, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, U.S. National Science Foundation

    LYNDA CARLSON, U.S. Department of Energy

    STEVEN CARLSON, U.S. Department of Agriculture

    JAN CHAIKEN, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice

    CYNTHIA CLARK, U.S. Census Bureau

    STEVE COHEN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

    SEAN CREIGHTON, Education Statistics Services Institute, Washington, DC

    SCOT DAHL, U.S. Census Bureau

    MARSHALL DEBERRY, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice

    MIKE DEPIPO, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S Department of Agriculture

    VIRGINIA DEWOLF, U.S. Office of Management and Budget

    GREGG DIFFENDAL, U.S. Census Bureau

    * CATHRYN DIPPO, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

    ALAN H. DORFMAN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

    LUCY ELDRIDGE, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

    TRENA EZZATI-RICE, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

    RON FECSO, Division of Social and Economic Science, U.S. National Science Foundation

    STEPHEN FIENBERG, Carnegie Mellon University


    * Workshop speaker

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page vii

CAROL FROST, Congressional Budget Office, U.S. Congress

WAYNE FULLER, Iowa State University

GERALD GATES, U.S. Census Bureau

MARY GOLLADAY, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, U.S. National Science Foundation

SUSAN GRAD, U.S. Social Security Administration

DANIEL HESS, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation

HUU HOANG, U.S. Census Bureau

ELAINE HOCK, U.S. Census Bureau

PAUL HSEN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

BRADFORD HUTHER, U.S. Census Bureau

TOM JABINE, Consultant, Washington, DC

KEN JOHNSON, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce

THOM JURKIEWICZ, House Subcommittee on the Census, U.S. Congress

* GRAHAM KALTON, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD

DANIEL KASPRZYK, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education

CHARLES KINDERMAN, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice

NANCY KIRKENDALL, U.S. Office of Management and Budget

ROBERT KNISELY, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation

ROBERT LATTA, Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy

NANCY LEACH, U.S. Department of Energy

DANIEL LEVINE, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD

* DENISE LEWIS, U.S. Census Bureau

JIM LIN, U.S. Census Bureau

* RODERICK LITTLE, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

* TOM LOUIS, University of Minnesota

TERRIANN LOWENTHAL, Consultant, Washington, DC

TIMOTHY MANEY, House Subcommittee on the Census, U.S. Congress

ROSEMARY MARCUSS, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce

DAVID MARKER, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD

EDITH MCARTHUR, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education

LARRY MCGINN, U.S. Census Bureau

DAVID MCMILLAN, House of Representatives, U.S. Congress

DAN MELNICK, Dan Melnick Research Inc., Washington, DC

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page viii

KATHLEEN NEBEKER, National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

JEFFREY NEWMAN, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce

MARK NORD, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture

WENDE O'NEILL, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation

CORDELIA REIMERS, U.S. Council of Economic Advisers

CHRISTEN ROBINSON, National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

ELIZABETH ROGERS, Bernan Associates, Washington, DC

PHILIP L. RONES, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

PATRICIA RUGGLES, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

FRANK SAMANIEGO, University of California, Davis

ALLEN SCHIRM, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Washington, DC

PAULA SCHNEIDER, U.S. Census Bureau

KATHLEEN SCHOLL, U.S. Government Accounting Office

RONALD SEPANIK, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

GARY SHAPIRO, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD

* ERIC SLUD, University of Maryland

AMY SYMENS SMITH, U.S. Census Bureau

GEORGE SMITH, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce

EDWARD SONDIK, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

EDWARD SPAR, Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics, Alexandria, VA

ANGELA STACK, U.S. Census Bureau

LYNNE STOKES, University of Texas, Austin

MICHAEL STOTO, George Washington University

RICHARD SUZMAN, National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

CYNTHIA TAEUBER, U.S. Census Bureau

TONY TESINE, U.S. Census Bureau

HELEN TICE, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce

NANCY TORRIERI, U.S. Census Bureau

CLYDE TUCKER, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce

DAVID VANDENBROUKE, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

PAUL VOSS, University of Wisconsin, Madison

KATHERINE WALLMAN, U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page ix

* LYNN WEIDMAN, U.S. Census Bureau

DANIEL WEINBERG, U.S. Census Bureau

SIGNE WETROGAN, U.S. Census Bureau

JANET WILLIAMS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor

MARTYNAS YCAS, U.S. Social Security Administration, Washington, DC

* ALAN ZASLAVSKY, Harvard Medical School

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page x

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page xi

Acknowledgments

As workshop chair, I would like thank various individuals that contributed to the success of the American Community Survey (ACS), Workshop. Most importantly, I am extremely grateful to the “thought-piece” authors and the discussants for outstanding papers and presentations that contained very useful suggestions for both how to conceptualize various methodological problems and for suggesting methods that could be used to address these methodological problems. This work was also done under extreme time pressure, which makes the resulting contributions all the more remarkable. The thought-piece authors and discussants were Tom Louis, Rod Little, William Bell, Eric Slud, Alan Zaslavsky, Allen Schirm, Robert Bell, Lynn Weidman, Cathryn Dippo, and Jay Breidt.

I would also like to thank the special guests who contributed greatly to the floor discussion at the workshop: Barbara Bailar, Stephen Fienberg, Wayne Fuller, Tom Jabine, Frank Samaniego, Lynne Stokes, and Paul Voss.

The planning of the workshop was supervised by a subcommittee of the Committee on National Statistics, which provided excellent advice on the agenda, thought-piece authors, discussants, and special guests. The subcommittee members were John Rolph, Rod Little, Tom Louis, Paul Rosenbaum, Keith Rust, and Janet Norwood.

Michael Cohen, as study director for the ACS workshop, did the lion's share of the work in designing the workshop and in securing the participation of thought-piece authors, discussants, and special guests. Most critically, his discussion paper articulated the important issues that will need to be addressed

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page xii

in implementing the ACS. The paper served as a starting point for the contributions of the thought-piece authors and the discussants.

The staff received excellent cooperation from the Census Bureau, especially from Charles Alexander, Robert Fay, and Lynn Weidman for help in identifying the problems that were used to focus the workshop, and most especially from Charles Alexander for writing the response to the staff paper used to provide direction to the thought-piece authors, and for giving several excellent short presentations at the workshop to provide the Census Bureau's current methods and perspective on future methods relative to each issue prior to each session's thought-piece presentation. Charles Alexander also was fully accessible to the staff and was involved in myriad e-mail and telephone conversations concerning all aspects of the workshop. It is clearly the case that the workshop could not have been held without his excellent contributions in each area of the workshop.

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the National Research Council (NRC). The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: James R. Chromy, Statistics Research Division, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC; Brenda Cox, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Washington, DC; James Lepkowski, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan; Paul Rosenbaum, Department of Statistics, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Rob Santos, Urban Institute, Washington, DC; and Kirk Wolter, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago.

Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by John F. Geweke, Department of Economics, University of Iowa. Appointed by the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.

I am also indebted to the staff of the Committee on National Statistics. In particular, I would like to thank Miron Straf for his leadership and commit-

Page xiii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page xiii

ment to methodologically oriented activities such as this one. Eugenia Grohman not only carried out her usual exemplary technical editing but was also instrumental in restructuring the report, which greatly improved its clarity. I would like to thank Agnes Gaskin for her careful attention to detail with respect to arrangements and her pleasant and professional style. Finally, I would like to thank Meyer Zitter and Michael Cohen, who drafted the initial version of the workshop report, and Dannelle Dessaint for her work on report production.

John E. Rolph, Chair

American Community Survey Workshop and Committee on National Statistics

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page xiv

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×

Page xv

Contents

1     INTRODUCTION 1
2     COMBINATION OF INFORMATION ACROSS AREAS 7
3     COMBINATION OF INFORMATION ACROSS TIME 12
4     FUNDING FORMULAS 19
5     WEIGHTING AND IMPUTATION 25
6     SAMPLE AND QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN 34
7     CALIBRATION OF THE LONG FORM TO ACS OUTPUT 41
8     CONCLUSION 47
APPENDIX: AN EXAMPLE OF COMBINING INFORMATION 51
REFERENCES 54
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R1
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R2
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R3
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R4
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R5
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R6
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R7
Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R9
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R10
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R11
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R12
Page xiii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R13
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R14
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2001. The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/10051.
×
Page R15
Next: 1. Introduction »
The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $29.00 Buy Ebook | $23.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

The American Community Survey (ACS), to be run by the Census Bureau, will be a large (250,000 housing units a month), predominantly mailout/mailback survey that will collect information similar to that on the decennial census long form. The development of this new survey raises interesting questions about methods used for combining information from surveys and from administrative records, weighting to treat nonresponse and undercoverage, estimation for small areas, sample design, and calibration of the output from this survey with that from the long form. To assist the Census Bureau in developing a research agenda to address these and other methodological issues, the Committee on National Statistics held a workshop on September 13, 1998. This report summarizes that workshop.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!