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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13135.
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Change and the 2020 Census

NOT WHETHER BUT HOW

Panel to Review the 2010 Census

Thomas M. Cook, Janet L. Norwood, and Daniel L. Cork, Editors

Committee on National Statistics

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS

Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13135.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
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NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

The project that is the subject of this report was supported by contract no. YA1323-09CN0039 between the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Academy of Sciences. Support of the work of the Committee on National Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the National Science Foundation (No. SES-0453930). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for the project.

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Suggested citation: National Research Council. (2011). Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Panel to Review the 2010 Census. Thomas M. Cook, Janet L. Norwood, and Daniel L. Cork, eds. Committee on National Statistics, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13135.
×

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES

Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine


The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences.


The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National Academy of Engineering.


The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine.


The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Academy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M. Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.


www.national-academies.org

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13135.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13135.
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PANEL TO REVIEW THE 2010 CENSUS

THOMAS M. COOK (Co-Chair), Independent Consultant,

Dallas, TX

JANET L. NORWOOD (Co-Chair), Independent Consultant,

Washington, DC

JACK BAKER,

Geospatial and Population Studies Program, University of New Mexico

WARREN BROWN,

Carl Vinson Institute of Government, University of Georgia

DONALD COOKE,

Esri, Redlands, CA

IVAN P. FELLEGI,

Statistics Canada (emeritus), Ottawa

ARTHUR M. GEOFFRION,

Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles (emeritus)

SUSAN HANSON,

Graduate School of Geography, Clark University

DAVID R. HARRIS,*

Office of the Deputy Provost and Department of Sociology, Cornell University

MICHAEL D. LARSEN,

Department of Statistics and Biostatistics Center, George Washington University

GEORGE T. LIGLER,

Private Consultant, Potomac, MD

NATHANIEL SCHENKER,

Office of Research and Methodology, National Center for Health Statistics

JUDITH A. SELTZER,

Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles

C. MATTHEW SNIPP,

Department of Sociology, Stanford University

JOHN H. THOMPSON,

National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago

DANIEL L. CORK, Study Director

CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Senior Program Officer

MICHAEL L. COHEN, Senior Program Officer

ANTHONY S. MANN, Program Associate

*

Resigned from the panel March 23, 2010.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13135.
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COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS 2010–2011

LAWRENCE D. BROWN (Chair),

Department of Statistics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

JOHN M. ABOWD,

School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University

ALICIA CARRIQUIRY,

Department of Statistics, Iowa State University

WILLIAM DUMOUCHEL,

Oracle Corporation, Waltham, MA

V. JOSEPH HOTZ,

Department of Economics, Duke University

MICHAEL HOUT,

Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley

KAREN KAFADAR,

Department of Statistics, Indiana University, Bloomington

SALLIE KELLER,

Science and Technology Policy Institute, Washington, DC

LISA LYNCH,

Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

SALLY MORTON,

Department of Biostatistics, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh

JOSEPH NEWHOUSE,

Division of Health Policy Research and Education, Harvard University

SAMUEL H. PRESTON,

Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania

HAL STERN,

Department of Statistics, University of California, Irvine

ROGER TOURANGEAU,

Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland, and Survey Research Center, University of Michigan

ALAN ZASLAVSKY,

Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School

CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13135.
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Acknowledgments

The Panel to Review the 2010 Census wishes to thank the many people who have contributed to its work during its first year of operation and to this first interim report. The Census Bureau, under the leadership of director Robert Groves and deputy director Thomas Mesenbourg, has been willing and eager to engage with the panel, for which we are grateful; at the U.S. Department of Commerce, under secretary for economic affairs Rebecca Blank and deputy under secretary Nancy Potok supported the work of the panel. Kevin Deardorff very ably served as the panel’s primary liaison with the Bureau for the latter half of the panel’s first period of work, as did Sally Obenski in the panel’s formative days. Early support from and interactions with Daniel Weinberg (assistant director for decennial census and American Community Survey), Frank Vitrano (chief, Decennial Management Division), and Tim Trainor (chief, Geography Division) were critical in getting the study started. We thank all those Census Bureau staff who contributed their time and talents to the panel’s plenary meetings and activities, among them: Patrick Cantwell, Robert Colosi, Arnold Jackson, Gail Leithauser, Brian McGrath, Patricia McGuire, Adrienne Oneto, Michael Palensky, Robin Pennington, Dean Resnick, Dennis Stoudt, and Michael Thieme.

Between February and November 2010, panel members and staff conducted 58 site visits to local census offices, regional census centers, data capture centers, and other locations to observe 2010 census field operations in progress (see Appendix B for a listing). We will say more about these visits and the impressions drawn from them in our later reports but, in this first public report, we would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the temporary census field staff we encountered during these visits and thank them for their service and dedication to a difficult job, their patience in answering our every question, and their candor.

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At the panel’s request, 2011 census program manager Marc Hamel from Statistics Canada participated in a Census Bureau brainstorming session on response options in November 2009. In May 2010, Hamel and assistant chief statistician Peter Morrison hosted a wide-ranging briefing for a working group of the panel on Canadian census operations and the development of Internet response options in Canada. We thank them and the other talented Statistics Canada staff with whom we have spoken, and we look forward to further interactions as the 2011 census of Canada unfolds.

Arnold Greenland (IBM) and Larry Stone (Metron) accepted our invitation to participate in a brainstorming session with Census Bureau staff and a working group of panel members in November 2009 on modern operations engineering and technology insertion in the census context; we thank them for their contribution to that session. We also thank Roger Tourangeau (Joint Program in Survey Methodology, University of Maryland and University of Michigan) for his participation in two of the panel’s site visits and, in so doing, helping to act as a point of contact between the panel and our parent Committee on National Statistics.

We would like to thank Constance Citro and Michael Cohen for their active participation in our panel meetings; their knowledge and expertise on census history and processes were extremely helpful during our deliberations of the panel. Anthony Mann provided timely and excellent logistical support for all our meetings and field trips and took care of the many details necessary for the panel to function effectively. Study director Daniel Cork did and continues to do an outstanding job of helping to lead the panel. He has done an extraordinary job of documenting the panel’s field visits, summaries which have been instrumental in giving the entire panel the benefit of learning from every trip even if he or she was unable to make the trip. He also did a masterful job of drafting this first report and making the appropriate changes in response to the comments of the reviewers.

Finally, it has been a pleasure interacting with the other members of the panel who are extremely talented, knowledgeable, focused, and highly motivated to understand the census process in depth with the goal of improving the quality and cost effectiveness of the 2020 census.

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the National Research Council. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making the published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We thank the following individuals for their participation in the review of this report: Peter Bajcsy, Image

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Research Council. 2011. Change and the 2020 Census: Not Whether But How. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13135.
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Spatial Data Analysis Group, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, and Data Analytics and Pattern Recognition, Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts and Social Science (I-CHASS), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Don A. Dillman, Social and Economic Sciences Research Center, Washington State University; C.A. (“Al”) Irvine, Consultant, San Diego, CA; Sallie Keller, Science and Technology Policy Institute, Washington, DC; Benjamin F. King, Statistical Consultant, Durham, NC; Edward B. Perrin, Professor Emeritus, Department of Health Services, University of Washington; Robert J. Willis, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan; and Kirk M. Wolter, Executive Vice President, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Philip J. Cook, ITT/Sanford Professor of Public Policy Studies, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, and Charles F. Manski, Board of Trustees Professor in Economics, Department of Economics, Northwestern University. Appointed by the National Research Council, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and the institution.


Thomas M. Cook, Co-Chair

Janet L. Norwood, Co-Chair

Panel to Review the 2010 Census

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Sponsored by the Census Bureau and charged to evaluate the 2010 U.S. census with an eye toward suggesting research and development for the 2020 census, the Panel to Review the 2010 Census uses this first interim report to suggest general priorities for 2020 research. Although the Census Bureau has taken some useful organizational and administrative steps to prepare for 2020, the panel offers three core recommendations, and suggests the Census Bureau take and assertive, aggressive approach to 2020 planning rather than casting possibilities purely as hypothetical.

The first recommendation on research and development suggests four broad topic areas for research early in the decade. Second, the report suggest that the Bureau take an aggressive, assertive posture toward research in these priority areas. Third, it identifies the setting of bold goals as essential to underscoring the need for serious reengineering and building commitment to change.

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