Skip to main content

The American Community Survey Summary of a Workshop (2001) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

6. Sample and Questionnaire Design
Pages 34-40

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 34...
... Then, using a regressiontype model to combine information, how much could the variances of estimates from the household survey be reduced? How would one change the 1By survey redesign, we mean at least a new sample size, a new sample allocation, and reselection of primary sampling units and households within primary sampling units.
Read the entire page →
From page 35...
... These proposed uses of ACS responses bring up several policy issues, of which one is key: What will be the process for adding questions of interest to other federal agencies to the ACS questionnaire? Other important questions include: Who will decide the priorities and allocate the costs of these additional questions?
Read the entire page →
From page 36...
... , which asks about income, employment, and participation in various governmental aid programs; the National Crime Victimization Survey, discussed above; the Current Population Survey, which deals mainly with employment but has many supplements dealing with a wide range of subjects (particularly each March's demographic supplement) ; the Consumer Expenditure Survey, which details how people spend their money; and the National Health Interview Survey, which requests information on a wide variety of health questions.
Read the entire page →
From page 37...
... Certainly, oversampling individual blocks will not be feasible with ACS. For higher levels of geographic aggregation, one might need to accumulate data over several years to inform targeting, but then the information becomes somewhat dated.
Read the entire page →
From page 38...
... . Discussant Cathryn Dippo focused mainly on the practical issues raised if one were to use the ACS for redesigning current household surveys between decennial censuses.
Read the entire page →
From page 39...
... If the ACS is going to be used to screen for various subpopulations, for example, to expand the CPS to increase the sample for specific race groups, the currency of the information collected when used for this purpose is an important consideration.4 Another consideration, mentioned above, is that the 3-month window used in the ACS for data collection from a sample may miss some recent renters, which is an important issue for the CPI Rent Survey. In addition, any information on the ACS nonsampling error structure would be useful to have.
Read the entire page →
From page 40...
... The two most difficult and important policy issues are data sharing and the use of the ACS for screening. An example is the National Health Interview Survey, which uses screening to support an area sample, which is used since the Census Bureau could not provide access to its address list for a list survey.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • acs questionnaire
  • decennial census
  • current household
  • sample design
  • census bureau

  • household survey
  • address list
  • primary sampling
  • victimization survey
  • national crime

  • crime victimization
  • housing units
  • additional questions
  • questionnaire design
  • acs responses

  • redesigning household
  • adding questions
  • address file
  • master address
  • state estimates

  • consumer expenditure
  • short form
  • acs questions
  • interview survey
  • health interview

  • state level
  • expenditure survey
  • census address
  • sampling units
  • title xiii


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.