American Community Survey: Program Update and Planning for Multiyear Estimates

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American Community Survey Program Update and
Planning for Multiyear Estimates
Susan Schechter Cynthia Hollingsworth U.S.
Census Bureau

• Presented at the CIC/FSCPE/SDC Meeting
• New Orleans, Louisiana
• April 16, 2008

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Areas of Emphasis in 2008

• 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
• Release both 1- and 3-year estimates
• Increase focus on data users needs

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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
• Focus on critical research priorities continue
• FY09 budget request includes full funding for ACS
  including Methods Panel

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FY08 Budget Update

• Impact of not receiving Methods Panel funding
• Canceled test of multi-lingual brochure
• Canceled test of additional mailing during CATI
• Canceled all planning activities
• Additional budget reduction
• Reduced Failed-Edit Follow Up operation
• Canceled cognitive testing of translation of CATI
  and CAPI letters

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ACS Research and Evaluation

• Estimation
• Data quality
• Data usability
• Review and analysis of operations

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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
• First Federal Register Notice (comment period
  ends April 28, 2008)
• 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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Planning for Multiyear EstimatesOverview

• Background of 2006 ACS Data
• What we will release in 2008
• Proposed data release schedule
• Organization of ACS data in AFF
• User education and training

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Background2006 ACS Data

• Released in August September 2007
• Included the population in housing units and in
  group quarters
• Included single-year estimates for calendar year
  2006

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Background2006 ACS Data

• Wide range of products released for geographic
  areas with populations of 65,000 and greater
• State-level tables released for population living
  in group quarters

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Background2006 ACS Data

• Data release rules applied at the table-level
• Based on the reliability of the estimates in each
  table, decisions made on releasing full detail or
  collapsed detail

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Background2006 ACS Data

• Data released on American FactFinder as tables,
  files, maps, and public use microdata files
• User guide, guidance on comparisons, and other
  resources released on the ACS website

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BackgroundMultiyear Estimates Study

• Study completed in 2007 to dress rehearse methods
  for production of multiyear estimates
• Analysis of multiyear estimates data completed in
  2008

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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 mid-sized
  counties, metropolitan micropolitan statistical
  areas
• Multiple data sets for states, Congressional
  Districts, PUMAs, large counties and metropolitan
  micropolitan statistical areas

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What We Will Release in 2008

• Most data products identical to last years data
  release
• Data profiles will add estimates in percent
  format

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What We Will Release in 2008

• Selected Population Profiles expanded to include
  iterations by country of birth
• Comparison Profile returns
• comparing 2007 ACS with 2006 ACS
• includes flags identifying statistical testing
  results

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Draft Example of Comparison Profile
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What We Will Release in 2008

• Finalizing plans to release 2 Public Use
  Microdata Sample (PUMS) files
• 2007 ACS PUMS
• 2005 - 2007 ACS PUMS

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Data Release Schedule in 2008

• 1-Year Estimates
• August 2008 release of 2007 ACS estimates on
  income, earnings, and poverty
• September 2008 release of 2007 ACS estimates on
  all other topics

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Data Release Schedule in 2008

• 3-Year Estimates
• December 2008 release of 2005-2007 ACS estimates
  on all topics

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Organization of ACS Data in American FactFinder

• 3-year estimates will be in unique data sets
  separate from the 1-year estimates
• Selecting tables through the Data Sets page will
  be similar to 2006 ACS data
• Data Sets ? Geography ? Table

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Draft Example of Data Sets Page
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Draft Example of Geography Page
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Draft Example of a Detailed Table
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Organization of ACS Data in 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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Example of Data Sets Page - Labels
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Example of Data Sets Page - Links
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Organization of ACS Data in 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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Data Sets Page
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User Education and Training

• Currently producing a series of handbooks on
  Understanding and Using ACS Data
• Also developing on-line training materials based
  on these handbooks
• Planned Release
• August 2008
• PDF format via ACS web site

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User Education and TrainingTarget Audiences

• Congressional Staff
• High School Teachers
• State Local Governments
• Federal Agencies
• Rural Areas, including Tribal and Small Local
  Governments

• University Researchers
• Media
• Basic Users
• PUMS Users
• Business Community

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User Education and Training

• Currently updating the ACS website and AFF with
  additional user resources and guidance on use of
  single year versus multiyear estimates
• Planning Train the Trainer workshops for a
  variety of users (regional offices, SDCs, etc)