Counting People in the Information Age (1994) / Chapter Skim
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Summary
Summary
Pages 1-14
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From page 1... ...
The population counts are also used for the redistricting of political jurisdictions at all levels of government and the allocation of federal program funds. In addition to counting people, the decennial census serves as a linchpin of the federal statistical system by collecting data on the characteristics of individuals, households, and housing units throughout the country.
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Measures of gross census error are also important indicators of census data quality. Such measures consider not only omissions (that produce undercounts)
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These decisions should be based on information about the effectiveness and costs of the various alternative methods; the 1995 census test should be a prime source of such information. In subsequent sections of this summary, we list key recommendations, numbered in order of appearance within the report chapters.
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Collection of reliable information in the 1995 census test about the costs and effectiveness of census design components will be essential for their proper evaluation in particular, to inform decisions about allocating resources between efforts to improve primary response and efforts to use sampling and estimation methods to correct the counting operation. The operational constraints on the 1995 census test underscore the importance of learning as much as possible from other research.
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Because it is a fundamentally new approach to measuring census coverage, the CensusPlus operation will require thorough testing alla evaluation prior to approval of its use in a decennial census. Estimation methods that might be used in integrated coverage measurement will require further study using simulations of 1990 census data and field data from the 1995 census test.
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From page 6... ...
Other census design components for example, continuous updating of the master address file and the use of administrative records-might also contribute to reducing the differential undercount. In spite of these actual and potential improvements, however, the panel also concludes that sampling and estimation in particular, as part of an integrated coverage measurement programwill be needed to further reduce coverage differentials to insignificant levels.
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A continuously updated master address file could serve as a national utility for the federal statistical system. Recommendation 2.4: The Statistical Policy Office of the Office of Management and Budget should develop a structure to permit the sharing of address lists among federal agencies and state and local governmentsincluding the Census Bureau and the Postal Servic~for approved uses under appropriate conditions.
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Preferably, such legislation should explicitly allow for such uses, subject to strong protection of the confidentiality of individual information. The panel urges Congress, in considering legislation relevant to health care reform, not to foreclose possible uses of health care enrollment records for the decennial censuses and other basic demographic statistical programs.
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Record linkage technology will also support the development of an administrative record database for the 1995 census test sites. Procedures for integrated coverage measurement could involve the automated comparison of records from the census enumeration and independent operations.
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and the establishment of requirements for such components as address standardization, parsing, and string comparators. Existing record linkage technology should be tested and evaluated in the 1995 census test.
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Potential problems of erroneous enumeration must be assessed during the testing and evaluation of tool-kit methods and other coverage improvement programs, and decisions about inclusion in the 2000 census should consider the relative marginal costs and benefits of these programs. A key question concerning the ability to systematically apply differential treatments to different subpopulations relates to the effective role of the planning database being developed by the Census Bureau for use in the 1995 census test.
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Recommendation 3.2: The Census Bureau should use the 1995 census test and subsequent tests to inform the design of the 800 number call-in system for the 2000 census. The Census Bureau should focus on the public's response to the menu-driven call-routing system, acceptance of the computer-administered interview, possible differential mode effects between a computer-administered interview and one administered by an interviewer, and the technical feasibility of administering interviews using voice recognition and voice recording.
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If the Census Bureau is able to acquire unlisted telephone numbers for a 1995 census test site, it should carefully monitor the results obtained from calling households with unlisted numbers. Findings in the survey research literature and in technology assessments conducted for the Census Bureau suggest that these telephone applications offer the potential for considerable cost savings and improved data quality.
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Recommendation 6.5: The panel endorses the Census Bureau's plan to investigate the impact of form length and content on mail response rates in the 1995 census test. Even if the operational feasibility of multiple sample forms is confirmed in the 1995 census test, the Census Bureau should not introduce matrix sampling without undertaking further research.
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