The data are already collected
Demographers also are toying with whether the Bureau should take advantage of existing records, such as social security, tax returns and draft records. This would eliminate the nonresponse problem, but would have to be supplemented with enumeration for those who are not on record with the government.
At the 2010 American Statistical Association's Joint Statistical Meeting to be held this summer in Vancouver, demographers will pitch new ideas for data collection in a session called "What if 2010 was the last census?" Swanson and New York City's chief demographer Joseph Salvo have been invited to share their thoughts on the topic. They both propose using some form of existing documentation. "We have to look for different lists that are already out there," Salvo says. "If a person is part of that list, that might be their way of responding."
Using government records for demographic information is a controversial idea, not only because enumeration is mandated by law but also because people are skeptical about trusting the government to protect their privacy. "We have to talk to people about whether we could use that information," Weinburg says.
Could taking advantage of existing records retire the census, as we know it, for good? Swanson says that combining the Master Address File (a regularly updated map of every household) with preexisting documents would yield about 85 percent of the required data. The remaining 15 percent would come from what Swanson calls his "secret sauce," which he'll reveal during his presentation this summer, and no sooner. "This is how a radically different census could be done," he says.
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7 Comments
Add CommentAlthough 75% of the american population may have internet service. The Authors and a great many people in charge miss the point that the internet has not reached the rural areas of the U.S. , other than dial up. plus not everyone now is computer literate enough to fill out an online form.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile extrapolation of 'representative' samples is commonly used in the social sciences as the article states, it's also used in the 'highly reliable science' of public opinion polls. Don't make me tell the story of the telephone poll predicting President Dewey's election.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSince census data is used by our national government for purposes such as allocating seats in congress and distributing taxes back to the taxpayers for designated purposes, I support the continued full population survey.
My address was also selected for the more in depth Department of Commerce survey, for which they mailed me a letter, two postcards and two surveys. Really has to make you wonder what they were thinking of.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhile we're at counting, let's collect a blood sample from everybody!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThen we can count DNA, too.
Name and address is all they get from me.
The only Constitutionally supported activity is enumeration for the purpose of apportionment of Congressional districts. If they left it at that, instead of asking other questions for social engineering purposes, they would probably have a mush greater response than they do now. What part of 1 person lives here don't they understand?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisssco00 - Well put - I agree, except that without census data they probably couldn't figure out how to get any of our hard earned taxes back to us and our neighbors for programs we think we can't live without.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI just filled out my census form. Did it 10 years ago too. And 10 years before that, etc. I missed the "social engineering" part. Was that in every form or just certain ones that need it?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisp.s. This year I was able to go back to the US 1900 Census archives and found the names and locations for my grandparents, aunts and uncles. I'm sure glad they answered those questions. Now I can trace my family's roots to Europe at least.