Preparing For the 2000 Census Interim Report II (1997) / Chapter Skim
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2 Application of Sampling Procedures
2 Application of Sampling Procedures
Pages 6-12
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From page 6... ...
At this time, the panel finds that the Census Bureau has made substantial progress in developing procedures for conducting nonresponse follow-up on a sample basis and in developing a large-scale sample sunrey for integrated coverage measurement (see Chapters 5 and 6~. It is clear, however, that the Bureau faces additional work to guarantee that the 2000 census will be a well-managed and cost-effective census that meets its constitutional mandate and is of uniformly high quality throughout the nation.
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From page 7... ...
We stress again, as we did in our first interim report. that it would not be feasible ~'L ~' ~, ~ to implement the intensive procedures that would be needed to significantly improve census coverage without the use of sampling.
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From page 8... ...
As a general rule in statistics, one can be 95 percent confident that the process of drawing a sample and computing a range defined by first subtracting and then adding twice the standard error of the estimate to the estimate itself, will yield a range that includes the true value. The coffee drinking example expressed one such 9S percent confidence interval: that 58 percent plus or minus 3 percent of the population drink coffee and, thus, that one can be confident at the 95 percent level that the true value lies between 55 and 61 percent.
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From page 9... ...
In sum, while sampling variability and sampling error are general terms expressing the fact that sample estimates have some measurable variability, standard error and confidence interval are specific measures of the variability of a specific estimate, and the coefficient of variation is a unit-free relative measure that expresses the standard error as a percentage of the estimate. This unit-free measure is easy to compare across different types of estimates and for alternative sample designs.
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From page 10... ...
Other factors, some under the control of the Census Bureau and others not, are much more likely to significantly affect the mad! return rate: public perception of the importance of the census, trust in and respect for government, the cIanty of the instructions, and the use of reminders and replacement forms, are all much more likely to affect the mail return rate than is the use of sampling for nonresponse follow-up.
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From page 11... ...
In fact, as pointed out in the panel's first interim report and above, at such a geographic level there is a good case to be made that the introduction of sampling procedures can lead to an overall net reduction in errors because the errors that can be reduced when sampling is used outweigh the sampling error introduced. Inevitably, however, this does not hold true at very small levels of geography.
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From page 12... ...
Both sampling for nonresponse follow-up and sampling for integrated coverage measurement are key to the successful conduct of an affordable enumeration of adequate quality in all parts of the country. Although each type of sampling improves both efficiency and quality, sampling for nonresponse follow-up will make the greatest contribution to cost savings, while integrated coverage measurement contributes more to improved accuracy.
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