About AEI My AEI Support AEI Contact AEI
Home Events Books Short Publications Research Areas Scholars & Fellows


Search


FindAdvanced Search

Browse all books by:
- Date
- Subject
- Author
- Title

BOOKS
About the AEI Press
Orders and Shipping
Book Reviews
Press Releases

E-NEWSLETTERS
Enter e-mail:
 

Home >  Books >  Sampling and the Census
Sampling and the Census
Print Mail
A Case against the Proposed Adjustments for Undercount
By Kenneth Darga
Posted: Saturday, January 1, 2000
Sampling and the Census
Dimensions: 5.5'' x 8.5''
140 pages
AEI Press  (Washington)
Publication Date: February 1999
Paperback
ISBN: 0844741027
Price: $ 16.95
Add to Cart  
Examination Copies

Download file The full text of this book is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format 

The decennial census scheduled for the year 2000 carries out a requirement in the U.S. Constitution first implemented in 1790. Census 2000 has become a highly contentious issue, and the delay in selecting an approach for carrying it out threatens its eventual effectiveness.

In high dispute is the proposed "census sampling" technique for addressing the problem of undercount. Media reports often suggest that experts share a consensus that sampling would heighten the accuracy of the census. But in Sampling and the Census, Kenneth Darga presents a compelling scientific case against the proposed procedure. In an attempt to address an inaccuracy at the national level, the proposed adjustment would seriously undermine the reliability of census data at the state and local levels. These findings show that many people who were missed by the census were missed by the coverage survey as well, and that many of the people who were identified as missed by the census do not seem to have been missed at all.

Kenneth Darga is a senior demographer at the Michigan Department of Management and Budget.



Table of Contents

Foreword: Christopher DeMuth
Preface

  1. Introduction
  2. Straining out Gnats and Swallowing Camels--Unintended Consequences of Adjusting for Undercount
  3. Quantifying Measurement Error and Bias in the 1990 Undercount Adjustments
  4. Concluding Observations

Appendix A
Appendix B
About the Author
Tables
Figures



View Book Summary
Available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Related Links
Press release about the book


Real Education
Real Education

In his new book, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality, AEI's Charles Murray focuses on four simple, hard truths that are rarely discussed or even acknowledged by educators and politicians.


Gross National Happiness
Gross National Happiness

In this provocative new book, Arthur C. Brooks explodes the myths about happiness in America. He examines vast amounts of evidence and empirical research to uncover the truth about who is happy in America, who is not, and why.