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Pages 5-20

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From page 5... ... The census also serves as a vehicle for fairness in other contexts, such as the distribution of funds for federal programs. Census data underlie government and business planning, as well as countless private and public uses such as forming the denominators for public health rates. Read the entire page →
From page 6... ... The Census Bureau successfully carried out a census under exceptionally difficult circumstances, not only because of the hard work of its staff, but also because it had honed its development efforts for 2020 on a small number of innovation areas. These key innovations were enabling selfresponse via the internet, shifting most precensus Address Canvassing work from field visits to in-office review of imagery and other data, reengineering field management and case handling systems, and permitting the use of administrative records data to provide enumerations for some nonresponding households. Read the entire page →
From page 7... ... , and there was no evidence of age heaping associated with administrative records. Conclusion 3.2: Findings about age heaping raise concerns about the overall quality of data collected during 2020 Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) Read the entire page →
From page 8... ... : • Differences among race and ethnic groups widened substantially in 2020, with adverse implications for use of the data to allocate fixed resources, such as representation, funding, and services. Some groups saw increases in net overcounts, particularly non Hispanic White Alone people and Asian people, and other groups saw increases in net undercounts, particularly Black people, Hispanic people, and American Indians and Alaska Natives on reservations. Read the entire page →
From page 9... ... Accordingly, it follows that the quality of the decennial census is inextricably linked to the quality of the Census Bureau's geographic resources and, in particular, the address list that is used to mount census data-collection efforts. Prior to the 2000 Census, the address list used as the operational frame to conduct and monitor progress in the decennial census was constructed anew each decade, prior to and during the census. Read the entire page →
From page 10... ... Postal Service data (including the Delivery Sequence File) and potential sources for address addition and revision information between censuses, such as address data recoverable from administrative records extracts, with particular eye toward more regular updating in areas without mail delivery. Read the entire page →
From page 11... ... Telephone Self-Response appears to have slightly more item nonresponse compared with internet, though very few households used the telephone to respond. Paper has the most item nonresponse among the 2020 Self-Response modes, except for the age item. Read the entire page →
From page 12... ... USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS FOR ENUMERATION IN THE 2020 CENSUS Administrative records data have been used in previous censuses for many purposes, including as input to updating the Master Address File and in the Demographic Analysis method of coverage evaluation, but not to replace selfresponse or NRFU. In the 2020 Census, use of administrative records for enumeration in cases where a self-response was not received and one enumerator NRFU visit also failed to produce a return was a successful innovation. Read the entire page →
From page 13... ... Census Bureau deserves commendation for the meaningful steps made in the limited use of administrative records as an alternative to the enumeration of some nonresponding households in the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau acted with appropriate levels of both boldness and caution in settling on conditions under which a nonresponding household at a designated residence would be enumerated using records information after only one enumerator visit rather than six, yet still ensuring that single in-person visit. Read the entire page →
From page 14... ... Census Bureau should convene group quarters (GQ) stakeholders in a discussion of more effective and useful options for electronic provision of data for GQ residents, and on the issues involved in obtaining access to administrative records for GQ facilities. Read the entire page →
From page 15... ... • The 2020 Census exhibited larger coverage errors compared with 2010 for race and ethnic groups. There were increases in net overcounts for some groups, particularly non-Hispanic White Alone people and Asian people, and increases in net undercounts for other groups, particularly Black people, Hispanic people, and American Indians and Alaska Natives. Read the entire page →
From page 16... ... Moreover, the 2020 Census had much higher imputation rates for race and ethnicity for people in group quarters compared with the already high rates in 2010. • The 2020 Disclosure Avoidance System injected noise of con siderable magnitude into the Redistricting File for small race and ethnicity groups in small governmental jurisdictions, such as incorporated places and American Indian tribal lands and Alaska Native villages. Read the entire page →
From page 17... ... Chiefly, the Census Bureau decided in the very late stages of 2020 Census planning to completely replace its Disclosure Avoidance System (DAS) for protecting confidentiality in census data products with an entirely new approach -- one that had not been tested, prototyped, or deployed in the population census context. Read the entire page →
From page 18... ... The decision to continue to deploy the new DAS in the face of serious implementation problems has resulted in marked delays in delivery of data products, with some variables and types of geographic units of questionable utility, and other variables and geographies not provided at all. In addition, it is not clear that the chosen privacy budgets for the various 2020 Census data products, with high values of the ϵ parameter that trade off accuracy with confidentiality protection, provide much actual protection. Read the entire page →
From page 19... ... Recommendation 11.3: For the 2030 Census data product plan, the U.S. Census Bureau should begin immediately on a multipronged research program with ample testing and opportunities for feedback and dialogue with the data user and stakeholder community, broadly defined. Read the entire page →
From page 20... ... Recommendation 12.1: To prioritize its testing and develop ment of both procedures and technical systems for the 2030 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau should take the following as primary objectives: • Maximize self-response to the census, including better matching of contact and communication strategies to the desired response mode, with particular attention to hard to-reach, at-risk populations; • Improve the quality of data in Nonresponse Followup, including reducing if not eliminating the use of low quality proxy reporting when there is an alternative available; • Reduce gaps in coverage and data quality associated with race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status; • Improve the quality of address listings and contact strate gies for all living quarters, including group quarters; and • Realign the balance between utility, timeliness, and confi dentiality protection in 2030 Census data products. Read the entire page →

From page 5...

... The census also serves as a vehicle for fairness in other contexts, such as the distribution of funds for federal programs. Census data underlie government and business planning, as well as countless private and public uses such as forming the denominators for public health rates.

Summary Pages 5-20

Summary
Pages 5-20