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5 Data Dissemination
Pages 78-98

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From page 78...
... ACS DATA PRODUCTS AND DISSEMINATION METHODS Based on the ACS, the Census Bureau publishes annual 1-year ACS estimates for geographic entities with populations of at least 65,000, 3-year estimates for geographic entities with populations of at least 20,000, and 5-year estimates for all statistical and legal entities, including areas as small as census block groups. Table 5-1 provides an overview of the data that have been released between 2006 and 2013 by type of estimate and population threshold.
From page 79...
... TABLE 5‑1  ACS Data Availability by Type of Estimate Year of Release Population Data Product Threshold 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 1-Year Estimates 65,000+ 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 3-Year Estimates 20,000+ 2005-2007 2006-2008 2007-2009 2008-2010 2009-2011 2010-2012 5-Year Estimates All areas 2005-2009 2006-2010 2007-2011 2008-2012 SOURCE: American Community Survey Design and Methodology Report; available at https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/methodology_ main/ [September 2014]
From page 80...
... The annual ACS estimates are produced on the basis of the geographic boundaries as of January 1 of the sample year, while the multiyear estimates reflect the boundaries as of January 1 of the final year of data collection. The initial ACS data products were designed to be comparable to the census long-form data products, and they have undergone only relatively minor revisions based on feedback provided by data users.
From page 81...
... but include more detailed ACS data, classified by subject Detailed Tables The most detailed tabular ACS data and cross tabulations of ACS variables Geographic Comparison Tables Comparison of geographic areas other than states (e.g., counties or congressional districts) for key variables Thematic Maps Interactive, online maps that can be used to display ACS data Custom Tables Rows of data from the ACS detailed tables that can be specified and extracted by users Summary Files Detailed tables that are accessed through a series of comma-delimited text files on the Census Bureau's file transfer protocol site Public Use Microdata Sample ACS microdata that can be accessed by data users Files with SAS and SPSS software experience SOURCE: U.S.
From page 82...
... • Custom tables are tables produced by the Census Bureau on a cost reimbursable basis, to meet data user needs that are not met with the existing products. • Summary files are comma-delimited text files that provide access to all detailed tables based on 1-, 3-, and 5-year estimates.
From page 83...
... , which allows web users and developers to design new ways to access and present data. The Easy Stats is one such app based on the API.1 Table 5-3 shows the data products available through the main current dissemination methods.
From page 84...
... Computing standard errors and confidence intervals for a rate or proportion, p, is one of the oldest problems in statistics and has been a subject of ongoing research (for a review, see Brown et al., 2001)
From page 85...
... 12) cautions users to consider logical boundaries when creating confidence intervals, the crude approach of truncating the interval at 0 or 1 is also unsatisfactory as these intervals may include zero as a "plausible" value for a proportion even though respondents with the characteristic of interest were found in that area.
From page 86...
... Presentation of Uncertainty The measures of error now included in ACS data products are actually used in two distinct ways. First, they are used to provide interval estimates of the form (point estimate)
From page 87...
... RECOMMENDATION 19: The Census Bureau should continue re search into alternative approaches for constructing and presenting measures of uncertainty for the American Community Survey that are suitable for data from complex survey designs and with small propor tions or samples, with the objective of rapidly adopting new methods without the defects apparent in current practice. RECOMMENDATION 20: The data disseminated from the American Community Survey should include both interval estimates (confidence or credible intervals)
From page 88...
... Data Suppression Despite the apparent abundance of data products from the ACS, many of the actual estimates cannot be made available to data users due to the sample size limitations. As noted in Chapter 1, the 1- and 3-year ACS data releases are subject to population thresholds: 1-year estimates are only released for areas with populations of at least 65,000, and 3-year estimates are only released for areas with populations of at least 20,000.
From page 89...
... Subject tables featuring specific population groups (available above certain population thresholds) and "iterated" selected population profiles (population profiles reproduced for selected population groups)
From page 90...
... Total Estimates Published (%) 65-100 1,751,234 1,067,379 39.0 39,909,829 19,291,764 51.7 100-125 1,966,257 1,287,854 34.5 44,809,734 24,043,292 46.3 125-150 1,208,010 825,828 31.6 27,530,081 15,719,855 42.9 150-200 1,152,557 824,418 28.5 26,266,161 16,039,225 38.9 200-250 375,531 279,605 25.5 8,558,133 5,578,457 34.8 250-500 621,152 496,951 20.0 14,155,726 10,318,896 27.1 500-1,000 889,384 763,853 14.1 20,267,929 16,472,240 18.7 1,000+ 372,576 345,598 7.2 8,491,263 7,734,926 8.9 Total 8,336,701 5,891,486 29.3 189,988,856 115,198,655 39.4 SOURCE: Table prepared by the Census Bureau at the panel's request.
From page 91...
... Total Estimates Estimates Published (%) 20-25 2,292,125 1,270,957 44.6 52,258,481 22,483,960 57.0 25-30 1,629,040 956,564 41.3 37,140,976 17,350,205 53.3 30-25 1,136,568 691,950 39.1 25,912,856 12,783,515 50.7 25-40 932,920 591,489 36.6 21,269,888 11,062,808 48.0 40-45 774,237 502,187 35.1 17,652,173 9,492,242 46.2 45-50 614,451 409,548 33.3 14,009,021 7,834,622 44.1 50-55 532,773 361,871 32.1 12,146,781 6,946,337 42.8 55-60 449,893 309,545 31.2 10,257,201 5,997,933 41.5 60-65 409,664 289,336 29.4 9,339,924 5,671,709 39.3 65-100 1,695,308 1,245,080 26.6 38,651,948 24,918,062 35.5 100-125 2,036,363 1,569,758 22.9 46,427,431 32,423,184 30.2 125-150 1,177,927 932,211 20.9 26,856,089 19,559,930 27.2 150-200 1,148,381 933,777 18.7 26,182,277 19,800,966 24.4 200-250 367,013 307,743 16.1 8,367,621 6,585,390 21.3 250-500 619,178 541,800 12.5 14,116,824 11,765,706 16.7 500-1,000 892,792 814,946 8.7 20,353,956 18,087,234 11.1 1,000+ 367,318 351,181 4.4 8,373,107 7,947,806 5.1 Total 17,075,951 12,079,943 29.3 389,316,554 240,711,609 38.2 SOURCE: Table prepared by the Census Bureau at the panel's request.
From page 92...
... The main DRB rules for the ACS data products are summarized below (U.S. Census Bureau, 2013)
From page 93...
... Although making additional data available to users would require a small redesign of some of the dissemination systems and processes, the change would increase the usefulness of the survey to data users. RECOMMENDATION 21: The Census Bureau should revise the sup pression practices for the American Community Survey: rather than suppressing data due to concerns about lack of precision, users should be provided with access to all data that pass confidentiality review.
From page 94...
... Table 5-6 shows the timeline of the main production and dissemination activities over the course of a typical year. The overlaps are naturally TABLE 5-6  Data Production Timeline and Activities September October November December January Release 1-year Release 3-year Prepare 5-year Release 5-year Release 5-year data data data release data PUMS files Conduct 3-year Release 1-year Produce 5-year Release 3-year Release 1-, 3-, data AFF-UAT PUMS files PUMS files and PUMS files and 5-year PRCS start in Spanish verification Prepare 3-year Conduct 5-year Submit product data release AFF-UAT changes for next data year Conduct reasonableness review for 5-year data products Produce 3-year PUMS files and start verification NOTES: AFF-UAT, American Fact Finder User Acceptance Testing; PRCS, Puerto Rico Community Survey; PUMS, Public Use Microdata Sample.
From page 95...
... It is possible that the approach of publishing a very large number of tables for all possible combinations of variables that could be of interest is becoming increasingly obsolete for many users. Now that all of the ACS data products have been published for at least a few consecutive years, a formal evaluation of how the data products are used would provide information about which products are most useful, what might be missing, and whether there are any that could be dropped in order to reallocate resources to meet unfulfilled data user needs.
From page 96...
... In recent years, a small group of researchers in the Census Bureau has been working on developing a new dissemination tool to provide data users with the ability to conduct analyses on the microdata without access to the underlying data files. This Microdata Analysis System (MAS)
From page 97...
... Data user needs would have to be systematically evaluated, but it appears that those who have limited experience with ACS products have difficulty navigating the many options to determine which data products best meet their needs, while more advanced users feel constrained by the limited flexibility and features associated with the current tables. The overarching goal of the query system would be to make typical computations with ACS data easy for users, whether these analyses are aggregated counts or regression models.
From page 98...
... Office should take the lead in developing these tools, working in collaboration with other Census Bureau offices. The Census Bureau should also involve a working group of ACS data users, State Data Centers, and user interface experts from the early stages of the process.


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