Transcript The American Community Survey

American Community Survey:
Update
New Jersey State Data Center Meeting
June 11, 2008
Nancy Torrieri
American Community Survey Office
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Areas of Emphasis in 2008
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Continue careful management of resources
Submit to Congress the planned questions
for 2010 Census and ACS
Implement new questionnaire in 2008
Finalize 2009 questionnaire changes
Continue critical research priorities
Increase focus on data users
Release both 1- and 3-year estimates
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Management of ACS Resources
• Status: On track
• FY08 budget includes full funding for conducting the
ACS in the U.S. and Puerto Rico
• FY08 Methods Panel was not funded
– Canceled test of multi-lingual brochure
– Canceled test of additional mailing during CATI
• FY09 budget request includes full funding for ACS
including Methods Panel
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Submission of 2010 and ACS
Questions to Congress
• Status: Completed
• Required by law two years prior to
conducting the decennial census
• Submission to Congress includes examples
of questions and brief narrative description of
uses
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Implementation of New
2008 ACS Questionnaire
• Status: Completed
• Obtaining CATI and CAPI interviewer
feedback on new instrument
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2009 ACS Questionnaire
• Status: Partially complete
• Add open-ended Field of Degree
question
• Restore duration of vacancy question to
CAPI operation
• Target date for OMB approval:
July 2008
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Open-ended
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Duration of Vacancy Question
• Data collected from vacant units
currently consists of reasons why it is
vacant (i.e., for rent, for sale only)
• Proposed question for 2009 will ask for
the number of months the unit has been
vacant
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Research and Evaluation Projects
• Status: Ongoing
• Estimation
– multiyear estimates; small area estimation; use of
population and housing controls
• Data quality
– consistency by mode; item nonresponse
• Data usability
– displaying measures of variability; seasonality
• Review and analysis of operations
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2008 Data Release Plans
• Status: On track
• Developing new automated review tool for
multiyear estimates
• Data release schedule
– 2007 ACS data released first (Aug.-Sept.)
– 2005-2007 ACS data released Dec.
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What We Will Release in 2008
• First release of 3-year estimates for
areas with populations of 20,000 and
greater
• 3-year estimates are based on data
collected from housing unit population in
2005, 2006, and 2007; group quarters
population in 2006 and 2007
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What We Will Release in 2008
• First release of 2 sets of ACS estimates
for areas with populations of 65,000 and
greater
– 1-year estimates for 2007
– 3-year estimates for 2005 - 2007
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What We Will Release in 2008
• The types of geographic areas that will
receive 3-year estimates are essentially
the same as those receiving 1-year
estimates
• Many more specific areas will now
qualify
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What We Will Release in 2008
• First release of ACS data for many midsized counties, metropolitan, and
micropolitan statistical areas
• Multiple data sets for states,
Congressional Districts, PUMAs, large
counties, and metropolitan and
micropolitan statistical areas
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What We Will Release in 2008
• Most data products identical to last
year’s data release
• Data profiles will add estimates in
percent format
• Selected Population Profiles
– expanded to include iterations by country
of birth
– drop in threshold to 500,000
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What We Will Release in 2008
• Comparison Profile returns
– Compares 2007 ACS with 2006 ACS
– Includes flags identifying statistical testing
results
• Finalizing plans to release two PUMS
files
– 2007 ACS PUMS
– 2005 - 2007 ACS PUMS
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Organization of ACS Data in the
American FactFinder
• Important to clearly distinguish the
1-year and 3-year data products through
effective labeling and clear terminology
• Important to highlight assistance links
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Organization of ACS Data in the
American FactFinder
• Decision to direct both novice and
expert users to specific data sets as
defaults
• Users can select other data sets
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User Education
Handbooks and Supplementary Materials on
“Understanding and Using ACS Data”
Target Audiences:
General Users
Congressional Staff
Business Community
High School Teachers
University Researchers
State & Local Governments
Rural Areas*
Federal Agencies
PUMS Users
Media
Small Local Governments
American Indians/Alaska Natives
Puerto Rico (in Spanish)*
State Legislators*
* New handbooks
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Web Site Improvements
Training
• New and revised content on ACS web
site
• ACS Training for SDCs
– Scheduled for Oct. 9 at Census Bureau
– “Train the Trainer”
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