INFO 747 - Social and Economic Data
@ Cornell VirtualRDC

Session 13a: Data Quality Issues in the Decennial Census

Guest speaker: Sanders Korenman, Baruch College

• Lecture Notes (powerpoint) (PDF)

• Assigned Readings
  • Committee on National Statistics, NAS. 2004. The 2000 Census: Counting Under Adversity. National Academy Press. Chapters 5 and 6. If you have time and interest, also read Chapter 8. You can read this book online at WWW.NAS.EDU
  • Read at least one of the following "Ethnographic Evaluations of the 1990 Decennial Census." (I chose three from the New York City area.)
    • Sung, Betty Lee. 1991 "Behavioral Causes of Census Undercount: New York City’s Chinatown". Report #6. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Center for Survey Methods Research. August.
    • Hamid, Ansley. 2001. "Ethnographic follow-up of a Predominantly African American Population Sample in A Sample Area in Central Harlem, New York: Behavioral Causes of the Undercount of the 1990 Census." Report #11. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Center for Survey Methods Research. January.
    • Mahler, Sarah. 1993. "Alternative Enumeration of Undocumented Salvadorans on Long Island". Report #26. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Center for Survey Methods Research. January.
• Assigned Tasks
• Background Readings and Materials
  • Robinson, J. G., A. Adlakha and K. West. "Coverage of Population in Census 2000: Results from Demographic Analysis". Paper presented to the 2002 Meetings of the Population Association of America. Atlanta. May 8, 2002.
  • U.S. Bureau of the Census. Technical Assessment of A.C.E. Revision II. March 12, 2003. Read the Summary (about 10 pages) and as much of the rest as you'd like.
  • U.S. Bureau of the Census. Complete Report of the Executive Steering Committee for Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation Policy (ESCAP). This site is the official record of the decision not to adjust Census 2000.
  • U.S. Bureau of the Census. Decision on Intercensal Population Estimates. March 12, 2003. (skim)
  • Mary H. Mulry; Bruce D. Spencer, "Accuracy of the 1990 Census and Undercount Adjustments," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 88, No. 423. (Sep., 1993), pp. 1080-1091.