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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
Support of the work of the Committee on National Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (Number SBR-9709489). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.
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Additional copies of this report are available from National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, D.C. 20055. Call (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washington metropolitan area). This report is also available online at http://www.nap.edu
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Copyright 2001 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Suggested Citation: National Research Council (2001) The American Community Survey: Summary of a Workshop. Committee on National Statistics. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
National Academy of Sciences
National Academy of Engineering
Institute of Medicine
National Research Council
The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts is president of the National Academy of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering.
The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy's purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bruce M. Alberts and Dr. William A. Wulf are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the National Research Council.
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COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS
JOHN E. ROLPH (Chair), Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
JOSEPH G. ALTONJI, Department of Economics, Northwestern University
LAWRENCE D. BROWN, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
JULIE DAVANZO, RAND, Santa Monica, California
WILLIAM F. EDDY, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University
ROBERT M. GROVES, Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park
HERMANN HABERMANN, Statistics Division, United Nations, New York, NY
JOEL HOROWITZ, Department of Economics, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
WILLIAM KALSBEEK, Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina
RODERICK J.A. LITTLE, School of Public Health, University of Michigan
THOMAS A. LOUIS, Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota School of Public Health
CHARLES F. MANSKI, Department of Economics, Northwestern University
DARYL PREGIBON, AT&T Laboratories-Research, Florham Park, NJ
FRANCISCO J. SAMANIEGO, Division of Statistics, University of California, Davis
RICHARD L. SCHMALENSEE, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MATTHEW D. SHAPIRO, Department of Economics, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
ANDREW A. WHITE, Director
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AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY WORKSHOP
Participants
* JOHN ROLPH (Chair), University of Southern California
KATHARINE ABRAHAM, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
BASHIR AHMED, U.S. Census Bureau
* CHARLES ALEXANDER, U.S. Census Bureau
BARBARA BAILAR, University of Chicago
DONALD BAY, U.S Department of Agriculture
* ROBERT BELL, RAND, Santa Monica, CA
* WILLIAM BELL, U.S. Census Bureau
BENNETT BERTENTHAL, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, U.S. National Science Foundation
* JAY BREIDT, Iowa State University
SHAIL BUTANI, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
WILLIAM BUTZ, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, U.S. National Science Foundation
LYNDA CARLSON, U.S. Department of Energy
STEVEN CARLSON, U.S. Department of Agriculture
JAN CHAIKEN, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice
CYNTHIA CLARK, U.S. Census Bureau
STEVE COHEN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
SEAN CREIGHTON, Education Statistics Services Institute, Washington, DC
SCOT DAHL, U.S. Census Bureau
MARSHALL DEBERRY, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice
MIKE DEPIPO, Food and Nutrition Service, U.S Department of Agriculture
VIRGINIA DEWOLF, U.S. Office of Management and Budget
GREGG DIFFENDAL, U.S. Census Bureau
* CATHRYN DIPPO, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
ALAN H. DORFMAN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
LUCY ELDRIDGE, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
TRENA EZZATI-RICE, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
RON FECSO, Division of Social and Economic Science, U.S. National Science Foundation
STEPHEN FIENBERG, Carnegie Mellon University
* Workshop speaker
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CAROL FROST, Congressional Budget Office, U.S. Congress
WAYNE FULLER, Iowa State University
GERALD GATES, U.S. Census Bureau
MARY GOLLADAY, Division of Social and Economic Sciences, U.S. National Science Foundation
SUSAN GRAD, U.S. Social Security Administration
DANIEL HESS, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation
HUU HOANG, U.S. Census Bureau
ELAINE HOCK, U.S. Census Bureau
PAUL HSEN, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
BRADFORD HUTHER, U.S. Census Bureau
TOM JABINE, Consultant, Washington, DC
KEN JOHNSON, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce
THOM JURKIEWICZ, House Subcommittee on the Census, U.S. Congress
* GRAHAM KALTON, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD
DANIEL KASPRZYK, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education
CHARLES KINDERMAN, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice
NANCY KIRKENDALL, U.S. Office of Management and Budget
ROBERT KNISELY, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation
ROBERT LATTA, Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy
NANCY LEACH, U.S. Department of Energy
DANIEL LEVINE, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD
* DENISE LEWIS, U.S. Census Bureau
JIM LIN, U.S. Census Bureau
* RODERICK LITTLE, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
* TOM LOUIS, University of Minnesota
TERRIANN LOWENTHAL, Consultant, Washington, DC
TIMOTHY MANEY, House Subcommittee on the Census, U.S. Congress
ROSEMARY MARCUSS, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce
DAVID MARKER, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD
EDITH MCARTHUR, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education
LARRY MCGINN, U.S. Census Bureau
DAVID MCMILLAN, House of Representatives, U.S. Congress
DAN MELNICK, Dan Melnick Research Inc., Washington, DC
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KATHLEEN NEBEKER, National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
JEFFREY NEWMAN, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce
MARK NORD, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
WENDE O'NEILL, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation
CORDELIA REIMERS, U.S. Council of Economic Advisers
CHRISTEN ROBINSON, National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
ELIZABETH ROGERS, Bernan Associates, Washington, DC
PHILIP L. RONES, Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
PATRICIA RUGGLES, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
FRANK SAMANIEGO, University of California, Davis
ALLEN SCHIRM, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Washington, DC
PAULA SCHNEIDER, U.S. Census Bureau
KATHLEEN SCHOLL, U.S. Government Accounting Office
RONALD SEPANIK, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
GARY SHAPIRO, Westat, Inc., Rockville, MD
* ERIC SLUD, University of Maryland
AMY SYMENS SMITH, U.S. Census Bureau
GEORGE SMITH, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce
EDWARD SONDIK, National Center for Health Statistics, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
EDWARD SPAR, Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics, Alexandria, VA
ANGELA STACK, U.S. Census Bureau
LYNNE STOKES, University of Texas, Austin
MICHAEL STOTO, George Washington University
RICHARD SUZMAN, National Institute on Aging, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
CYNTHIA TAEUBER, U.S. Census Bureau
TONY TESINE, U.S. Census Bureau
HELEN TICE, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce
NANCY TORRIERI, U.S. Census Bureau
CLYDE TUCKER, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce
DAVID VANDENBROUKE, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
PAUL VOSS, University of Wisconsin, Madison
KATHERINE WALLMAN, U.S. Office of Management and Budget
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Acknowledgments
As workshop chair, I would like thank various individuals that contributed to the success of the American Community Survey (ACS), Workshop. Most importantly, I am extremely grateful to the “thought-piece” authors and the discussants for outstanding papers and presentations that contained very useful suggestions for both how to conceptualize various methodological problems and for suggesting methods that could be used to address these methodological problems. This work was also done under extreme time pressure, which makes the resulting contributions all the more remarkable. The thought-piece authors and discussants were Tom Louis, Rod Little, William Bell, Eric Slud, Alan Zaslavsky, Allen Schirm, Robert Bell, Lynn Weidman, Cathryn Dippo, and Jay Breidt.
I would also like to thank the special guests who contributed greatly to the floor discussion at the workshop: Barbara Bailar, Stephen Fienberg, Wayne Fuller, Tom Jabine, Frank Samaniego, Lynne Stokes, and Paul Voss.
The planning of the workshop was supervised by a subcommittee of the Committee on National Statistics, which provided excellent advice on the agenda, thought-piece authors, discussants, and special guests. The subcommittee members were John Rolph, Rod Little, Tom Louis, Paul Rosenbaum, Keith Rust, and Janet Norwood.
Michael Cohen, as study director for the ACS workshop, did the lion's share of the work in designing the workshop and in securing the participation of thought-piece authors, discussants, and special guests. Most critically, his discussion paper articulated the important issues that will need to be addressed
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in implementing the ACS. The paper served as a starting point for the contributions of the thought-piece authors and the discussants.
The staff received excellent cooperation from the Census Bureau, especially from Charles Alexander, Robert Fay, and Lynn Weidman for help in identifying the problems that were used to focus the workshop, and most especially from Charles Alexander for writing the response to the staff paper used to provide direction to the thought-piece authors, and for giving several excellent short presentations at the workshop to provide the Census Bureau's current methods and perspective on future methods relative to each issue prior to each session's thought-piece presentation. Charles Alexander also was fully accessible to the staff and was involved in myriad e-mail and telephone conversations concerning all aspects of the workshop. It is clearly the case that the workshop could not have been held without his excellent contributions in each area of the workshop.
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the National Research Council (NRC). The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: James R. Chromy, Statistics Research Division, Research Triangle Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC; Brenda Cox, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Washington, DC; James Lepkowski, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan; Paul Rosenbaum, Department of Statistics, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; Rob Santos, Urban Institute, Washington, DC; and Kirk Wolter, National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by John F. Geweke, Department of Economics, University of Iowa. Appointed by the Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, he was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.
I am also indebted to the staff of the Committee on National Statistics. In particular, I would like to thank Miron Straf for his leadership and commit-
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ment to methodologically oriented activities such as this one. Eugenia Grohman not only carried out her usual exemplary technical editing but was also instrumental in restructuring the report, which greatly improved its clarity. I would like to thank Agnes Gaskin for her careful attention to detail with respect to arrangements and her pleasant and professional style. Finally, I would like to thank Meyer Zitter and Michael Cohen, who drafted the initial version of the workshop report, and Dannelle Dessaint for her work on report production.
John E. Rolph, Chair
American Community Survey Workshop and Committee on National Statistics
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Contents
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