The 2000 Census Interim Assessment (2001) / Chapter Skim
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4. Census Operations: Assessment
4. Census Operations: Assessment
Pages 57-76
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From page 57... ...
We also consider briefly the completeness of coverage of the population achieved in the 2000 census, in total and for important population groups, and two outcomes of census operations as they relate to coverage: mail return rates and imputations of whole persons. Details of population coverage are discussed in subsequent chapters.
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From page 58... ...
Some of the increase was likely due to two design features of 2000: the use of a shorter questionnaire with space to record characteristics for six instead of seven household members, and the use of telephone followup, not supplemented by field work, to contact households whose returns appeared to be incomplete (see Chapter 31. However, some of the increase in people requiring imputation is not readily explained; it may have been due to errors in MAF, problems in follow-up operations, or other factors.
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From page 59... ...
The relatively smooth operation of the census was facilitated by generous funding and the dedication and energy of Census Bureau staff. MULTIPLE SOURCES FOR MAF With the bulk of the population enumerated by mailout/mailback and update/leave/mailback techniques, the quality of the 2000 address list was essential to the completeness and accuracy of population coverage.
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From page 60... ...
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From page 61... ...
Further, whether errors in the MAF contributed more or less to population coverage errors than omissions or erroneous inclusions of people in otherwise correctly enumerated households remains to be established from analysis of the A.C.E. and other sources.
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From page 62... ...
In addition, a multivariate regression analysis found that, among counties and places that signed up to participate in LUCA, the 1990 census net undercount rate was a strong predictor that a jurisdiction would participate fully. Case studies also identified instances in which a vigorous coordination effort by a state or regional government facilitated participation by local jurisdictions.
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From page 63... ...
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From page 64... ...
, indicated that mail returns, on balance, were more complete in coverage and content than returns obtained in the field.5 The changes to the 2000 questionnaire and mailings were based on extensive research carried out in the early 1990s. In one test, mail response to a user-friendly "booklet" form of the type used in 2000 was 3.4 percentage points higher than response to the type of form used in 1990; the difference in response rates for areas that were hard to enumerate in 1990 was even greater, 7.6 percentage points (Dillman et al., 19931.
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From page 65... ...
In addition, experience in the dress rehearsal suggested that mailing a second questionnaire to every address would generate adverse publicity and increase the number of duplicate returns that would need to be weeded out from the census count. PAID ADVERTISING AND PARTNERSHIPS An important element of the Census Bureau's strategy in 2000 to reverse the historical decline in mail response rates and to encourage nonrespondents to cooperate with follow-up enumerators was to advertise more extensively and expand local outreach efforts well beyond what was done in the 1990 census.
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From page 66... ...
Alternatively, such variation could have led to greater variability in population coverage across geographic areas than in previous censuses, which is of concern for uses of census data that involve population shares (e.g., allocation of federal funds see Chapter 21. AGGRESSIVE RECRUITMENT OF ENUMERATORS Just as critical to the success of the census as developing the MAF and encouraging mail response was the follow-up effort to visit nonresponding households and either obtain an enumeration or determine that the address was a vacant unit or should not have been included in the MAF.
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From page 67... ...
(Most coverage improvement work involved quality checks on already received returns rather than new enumerations see Appendix A.) Hence, although we cannot be sure, it is possible that the speedier completion of nonresponse follow-up in 2000 contributed to reduction in net undercount.
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From page 68... ...
USE OF CONTRACTORS AND IMPROVED TECHNOLOGY A major innovation for the 2000 census was the use of outside contractors and improved technology for key operations. Three outside vendors were contracted for data capture using imaging and optical mark and character recognition, supplemented by clerical keying; the Census Bureau's National Processing Center at Jeffersonville, Indiana, was the fourth data capture center.
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From page 69... ...
These imputation routines used records from neighboring households or people who matched as closely as possible whatever information was available for the household or individual requiring imputation (see Chapter 81. The advantages expected from greater computerization of data processing included savings in cost and time to complete the data records.
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From page 70... ...
POPULATION COVERAGE The evidence from the A.C.E. indicates that the 2000 census, compared with previous censuses, succeeded in its primary goals to reduce net undercount and to narrow the differences between net undercount rates for historically less-well-counted and better-counted groups (see Chapter 61.
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From page 71... ...
was that rates of erroneous enumerations and missed people were not dissimilar Tom the rates in the 1990 Post-Enumeration Survey (PES) , which should result in similar estimates of net undercount, other things equal.
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From page 72... ...
Census tracts that experienced unusually large increases or decreases iiA 1990 hard-to-count score constructed by the Census Bureau and the 1990 percentage net undercount, percentage people in multi-unit structures, and percentage people who were not high school graduates had large negative effects on mail return rates not only in 1990 but also in 2000; the 1990 percentage population over age 65 had a strong positive effect in both years.
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From page 73... ...
, but they were also disproportionately found among minorities, renters, and children, thus accounting in large part for the reduction in differential net undercount for these groups relative to non-Hispanic whites, owners, and older people. We discuss the types of people requiring imputation, as well as the people reinstated in the census, and the possible implications for the quality of census operations Tom their larger numbers, in Chapter 8.
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From page 74... ...
Another achievement was the reduction in measured net undercount from 1990 levels, overall and for historically less-wellcounted groups. The larger numbers of people requiring imputation largely explained these reductions, which otherwise are not compatible with the estimated rates of omissions and erroneous enumerations in the A.C.E.
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From page 75... ...
to provide long-form information on an annual basis;~4 and the implementation of a simplified short-form-only census in 2010 that makes maximum use of improved technology for enumeration and data capture (see Miskura et al., 2001; Waite et al., 20011. Our sister Panel on Research on Future Census Methods is charged to review the 2000 census evaluation results and the Bureau's evolving plans for 2010 to recommend appropriate research and testing that will lead to a successful 2010 design (see National Research Council, 2000a)
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From page 76... ...
In addition, more time in which to evaluate the census, the A.C.E., and demographic analysis could make it possible to reach a decision about whether to adjust the census data for legislative redistricting without the uncertainties that affected the Bureau's decision last March.~5 Moving Census Day would require changing Title 13 of the U.S. Code, which specifies key delivery dates in terms of months after Census Day rather than a specific day (e.g., 12 months after Census Day for delivery of redistricting data)
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