Using the American Community Survey Benefits and Challenges (2007) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Executive Summary
Pages 1-12
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ACS data products are period estimates that average 12, 36, and 60 months of data, respectively, for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year periods. In contrast, the 2000 long-form sample of over 16 million responding households pertained to a fixed time -- Census Day, April 1.
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For small areas for which 1-year period estimates are not available or sufficiently precise, users must learn to work with 3-year and 5-year period estimates, which are very different from point-in-time estimates. The census long-form sample was heavily used by federal, state, and local government agencies, researchers, the private sector, the media, and the public.
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d. When using ACS data to estimate shares of some total, compare estimates among areas or population groups, or assess trends over time, use ACS estimates that pertain to the same time period (1 year, 3-year, or 5-year)
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For a successful transition that leads to the full use of the ACS, the panel makes five overarching recommendations (identified by chapter number) to the Census Bureau on investment in the ACS, increasing the precision of ACS estimates, a user education and outreach program, priorities for research and development, and looking to the future.
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to develop paths for systematic feedback from users to improve the training materials, identify potential problems with the data, and sug gest ways to improve data products and documentation to maximize the utility of the data and facilitate data use. Recommendation 7-9: The Census Bureau should assign priority to the following topics for research and development: sample size and allocation; the Master Address File (MAF)
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Recommendation 4-3: The Census Bureau should support a continuing research program on the quality of the MAF and the cost-effectiveness of the various operations that are designed to update the MAF. This program should include periodic field checks on MAF addresses, com parisons with housing unit estimates for specific areas, comparisons with the e-StARS database, and comparisons with the results of the 2009 complete block canvass that will be used to prepare the 2010 census MAF.
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Data Products -- Confidentiality Protection Recommendation 4-8: Because of the potential value of month of data collection for analysis of the ACS public use microdata samples, the Census Bureau should revisit its decision to omit this variable as a confidentiality protection measure. If further research determines that including exact month of data collection would significantly increase disclosure risk, the Census Bureau might consider perturbing the month of data collection or taking other steps to protect confidentiality.
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After sufficient information has been gleaned about the extent of data collapsing, and its impact on users, the Census Bureau, in consultation with data users, should assess whether its collapsing rules are sound or should be modified for one or more subject areas. Data Products -- Inflation Adjustments Recommendation 4-11: The Census Bureau should provide users with a full explanation of its inflation adjustment procedures and their ef fects on multiyear ACS estimates of income, housing costs, and housing value.
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In particular, it should investigate an inte grated approach for developing the postcensal housing unit estimates and for continuously updating the MAF that would benefit both and reduce the variability in the housing unit control factor. Recommendation 5-3: As a high priority, the Census Bureau should undertake research to evaluate the effect of the postcensal popula tion controls on ACS estimates and to examine alternative methods of making the adjustment that may be superior to the one currently used (including dispensing with the population controls entirely)
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Recommendation 7-4: The Census Bureau should establish an ongoing advisory group of experienced data users with whom to interact about user education materials, web site design, table content, and other aspects of the data products and education and outreach program for the ACS. Data Quality Monitoring and Improvement Recommendation 7-5: The Census Bureau, in collaboration with user education partners, should carry out research on ways to facilitate un derstanding of the quality measures provided on the ACS web site.
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Recommendation 7-7: The Census Bureau should develop and publish an ongoing quality profile for the ACS to inform users of the survey's data quality, to guide the development of a continuing program of data quality assessments, and to identify areas for survey improvement. The Census Bureau should seek input from users on priority topics for as sessment and design reports that they would find to be useful additions to the technical reports.
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