Appendix A
Panel Charge
An ad hoc panel will conduct an in-depth review of the statistical methodology for measuring the group quarters population in the continuous American Community Survey (ACS). The panel will consider user needs for ACS data on the various components of the group quarters population, including inmates of federal, state, and local correctional facilities, residents of nursing homes and other long-term health care facilities, college students living in campus housing, military personnel in barracks or on a ship in home port, and residents of noninstitutional group quarters, such as hospices, convents, monasteries, group homes, and migrant workers quarters. In light of user needs and considerations of operational feasibility and compatibility with the treatment of the household population in the ACS, the panel will recommend alternatives to the current sample design, weighting procedures, and other methodological features that can make the ACS group quarters data more useful for small-area data users, particularly users of ACS 5-year period estimates for small governmental jurisdictions, census tracts, and block groups. The panel will issue an interim report at the end of the first year of the study with recommendations for near-term improvements in the sample design and weighting of group quarters in the ACS and a final report at the conclusion of a 24-month study with findings and recommendations for longer term improvements to the measurement of the group quarters population.
