2000 Census: Progress Made on Design, but Risks Remain
GGD-97-142
Published: Jul 14, 1997. Publicly Released: Jul 14, 1997.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO updated the information provided in its October 25, 1995, testimony on the Census Bureau's plans for the 2000 Decennial Census, focusing on: (1) the Bureau's progress on its plans concerning the initiatives discussed in GAO's 1997 testimony; and (2) whether the Bureau has demonstrated the feasibility of its plans for carrying out the 2000 Decennial Census.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| U.S. Census Bureau | The Director, Bureau of the Census, should provide Congress and other stakeholders with detailed data, which are updated as necessary to meet the objective of full and open disclosure, on the expected effects of the Bureau's census design proposals on costs and on accuracy and equity at various geographic levels, particularly as they relate to sampling for nonresponse and integrated coverage measurement (ICM) as well as on a design that would not involve sampling nonrespondents and ICM. |
On January 25, 1999, the Supreme Court ruled against the Census Bureau's planned use of statistical sampling for congressional apportionment purposes. With this ruling, it has been determined that the Census Bureau will now pursue a traditional census plan. Therefore, there is no longer a need for the Census Bureau to provide Congress and other stakeholders detailed information on both sampling and nonsampling design proposals for purposes of apportionment. Instead, the Census Bureau will now be expected to provide Congress a plan for conducting a traditional census without the use of sampling, which includes a post-enumeration survey for measuring accuracy.
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| U.S. Census Bureau | The Director, Bureau of the Census, should work with the Department of Commerce and Office of Management and Budget officials in reaching agreement with Congress on the design and funding level as quickly as possible, so that the Census 2000 Dress Rehearsal can be used to demonstrate all key design features planned for the 2000 Census. |
On November 26, 1997, the Administration reached an agreement with Congress on the funding of the 2000 Dress Rehearsal. The agreement included $31 million in fiscal year 1998 to expand the Dress Rehearsal to include dual testing of sampling and nonsampling methodologies at Dress Rehearsal sites.
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| U.S. Census Bureau | The Director, Bureau of the Census, should conduct the Census 2000 Dress Rehearsal to mirror as closely as possible the design features planned for the 2000 Census, including paid advertising, to test the operational feasibility of the design and to determine whether the outcomes achieved in the dress rehearsal are similar to those of the Bureau's research and simulations, and provide these results to Congress in sufficient time to enable it to affect, if it so chooses, the final design for the 2000 Census. |
With the January 1999 Supreme Court ruling against the Census Bureau's planned use of statistical sampling for Congressional apportionment purposes, it has been determined that the Census Bureau will pursue a traditional census plan for 2000 without the use of sampling. The Census Dress Rehearsal tested both sampling and statistical estimation techniques, as well as traditional census-taking methods. Therefore, given the recent decision on sampling, the Census Bureau should be in a position to use dress rehearsal evaluation results to refine the traditional census design that it must now plan on conducting. In addition, in an effort to inform stakeholders, the Census Bureau has issued periodic reports on the status of Census Dress Rehearsal operations over the past year.
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CensusCost controlData collectionData integrityInteragency relationsPlanningPopulation statisticsProjectionsStatistical methodsSurveys