A Census that Mirrors America Interim Report (1993) / Chapter Skim
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4 ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS: INTRIGUING PROSPECTS FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES
4 ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS: INTRIGUING PROSPECTS FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES
Pages 68-80
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From page 68... ...
The decennial census is part of a population and housing data system that also includes continuing and ~ _ periodic sample surveys of households and persons and a program of intercensal population estimates that already makes use of several kinds of administrative records. Administrative records maintained by program agencies at all levels of government are used by the statistical units in some of those agencies to produce valuable statistical data.
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From page 69... ...
recommended that the Census Bureau: · initiate a separate program of research on uses of administrative records, not directly bed to the 2000 census, focusing primarily on the 2010 census and on current estimates programs. ~ undertake a planning study to develop one or more detailed design options for a 2010 administrative records census (a prospectus for such a study was included as an attachment to the panel's report)
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From page 70... ...
Such records can play an important part In meeting needs for basic demographic data, especially for small geographic areas. hn this section we discuss major policy and technical issues that must be addressed in an effective long-range effort to develop effective uses of administrative records.
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From page 71... ...
The Census Bureau probably has greater legal access to administrative records than any other U.S. statistical agency, but its access is by no means universal, especially with regard to systems maintained at the state level, for which access is controlled by state laws.
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From page 72... ...
Effective use of Internal Revenue Service CRS) records in the decennial census and other Census Bureau programs requires a close working relationship between the two agencies.
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From page 73... ...
that it plans future discussions that will focus specifically on statistical uses of administrative records. However, there has been a tendency on the part of the agencies involved to back away from a public debate for fear that calling attention to these questions might lead to discontinuance of important existing activities, such as the use of tax return and Social Security data in the Census Bureau's intercensal population estimates programs.
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From page 74... ...
Record linkage -- that is, the identification of records belonging to the same unit, either within a single data set or in two different data sets -- is critical to enhanced uses of administrative records, whether in the context of a full administrative records census or a more traditional design. If different administrative data sets are to be used to improve the coverage of the master address file or of persons at known addresses, duplicates must be identified and eliminated.
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From page 75... ...
USE OF ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS ~ THE 2000 CENSUS Dunng the remainder of this decade, the primary goals for expanded uses of adm~nis~ative records should be: to experiment in the 1995 census test with the uses considered most promising for the 2000 census and, based on the results, to make appropriate uses of administrative records in the 2000 census; and to begin an active continuing program of research and development for a possible 2010 census based primarily on administrative records and for other uses of records in demographic data programs. These two streams of activity should proceed in parallel, and they must be carefully coordinated.
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From page 76... ...
Federal systems, particularly those of the TRS and Social Security Administration, are Mown to cover a large proportion of the tote population. If the Census Bureau fails to take advantage of the 1995 test to start exploring the possibilities of a census based largely on administrative records in 2010, there will be a danger of repeating the pattern of the current and earlier decennial census cycles, in which consideration of the administrative records option was begun too late to make it a serious contender for the subsequent census.
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From page 77... ...
As detailed above, the panel recommended in its letter report that the Census Bureau initiate a separate program of research on uses of administrative records, focusing primarily on the 2010 census and on current estimates programs (Committee on National Stadshcs, 19921. It also recommended a planning study to develop one or more detailed design options for a 2010 administrative records census and initiation of a series of administrative records mini-censuses.
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From page 78... ...
If this does not happen, 1ntngulng prospects Will no: oecome real gains. The Census Bureau staff that have been assigned to explore administrative records uses have displayed imagination and competence.
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From page 79... ...
Ideally, these possibilities should be explored jointly, with close collaboration at ah stages, by the Census Bureau, the TRS and the Social Security Administration. Until now, however, the IRS's research on the development of population counts has been undertaken by the Statistics of Income Division with little input from the Census Bureau.
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From page 80... ...
The nation's demographic data programs cannot commit to reliance on admin~s~ative records as a primary or major source of data unless continued and timely access to the key administrative data sets is assured. Access requires both clear legal authority and broad agreement throughout the executive and legislative branches of the government on the desirability of using the records for statistical purposes.
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