SRMS
Session Slot: 8:30-10:20 Thursday
Estimated Audience Size: 100
AudioVisual Request: xxx
Session Title: The Controversy about Sampling in the Census
Plans for the 2000 Census have been complicated by controversies about
the Census Bureau's proposed use of sampling in the census. This session
presents different perspectives in the debate about sampling, in order to
shed light on the issues and contribute to the resolution of differing
points of view.
Theme Session: Yes
Applied Session: Yes
Session Organizer: Obstat, Neal
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Session Timing: 110 minutes total (Sorry about format):
110 minutes total. Opening Remarks by Chair - 5 minutes First Speaker - 25 minutes Second Speaker - 25 minutes Third Speaker - 25 minutes Closing Remarks by the chair - 15 minutes Floor Discussion - 15 minutes
Session Chair: Brown, Lawrence Wharton
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Email: lbrown@stat.wharton
1. The Case Against Sampling and Estimation, Or Why Accuracy Does Matter
Address: 3112 Cave Crt., Lake Ridge, Virginia
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Email: polidata@aol.com
Abstract: The speaker will discuss the intent of the Framers at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 with respect to the federal census and its role in safeguarding an objective and accurate standard for both representation and taxation. He will also talk about the critical role the census plays in the political redistricting process and why accuracy should be considered from the perspective of low-level census geography.
2. Census 2000: The Statistical Case
Killion, Ruth Ann, U. S. Bureau of the Census
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Abstract: This paper reviews the work that led to the statistical decisions for Census 2000. The decisions cover all aspects of sample design and estimation for the One Number Census the bureau plans to conduct in 2000. We include census methodology from precensus through mailout, sampling for census nonresponders, conducting the Integrated Coverage Measurement Survey, processing, estimation and postcensus activities. We discuss some of the options considered and describe the process used to choose the final methods.The paper also addresses some of the issues the Census Bureau faces as it tries to educate and convince people about the soundness of our plans. We have learned that technical words (for example, sampling), while concise and descriptive to the knowledgeable, have totally different meanings colloquially. And those informal understandings are often counter to the technical meanings.
3. Who Counts? Census Controversies and the Millenial Census
Anderson, Margo, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Address: Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WI 53201
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Email: margo@csd.uwm.edu
Fienberg, Stephen E., Carnegie-Mellon University
Abstract: The presentation will review the major points of our forthcoming book, Who Counts?, which analyzes the legal, political and statistical controversies surrounding of the 1990 census. We will relate these controversies to the policy questions framing the 2000 count, and discuss the relative responsibilities of Congress, the Census Bureau, the Department of Commerce, and the statistical community in shaping the methods to be used in 2000. We hope to provide some guidance to the key actors in the 2000 plans, and disentangle the complex legal, political, demographic and statistical issues involved in taking the modern census.
List of speakers who are nonmembers: Bensen