A push to see 'under the hood' of 2020 census Mervis, Jeffrey
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
2021-Sep-10, 2021-09-10, 20210910, Letnik:
373, Številka:
6560
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Letter asks Census Bureau for “noisy” file to measure the impact of differential privacy
Letter asks Census Bureau for “noisy” file to measure the impact of differential privacy
In 1926/27 the Soviet Central Statistical Administration initiated several yearlong expeditions to gather primary data on the whereabouts, economy and living conditions of all rural peoples living in ...the Arctic and sub-Arctic at the end of the Russian civil war. Due partly to the enthusiasm of local geographers andethnographers, the Polar Census grew into a massive ethnological exercise, gathering not only basic demographic and economic data on every household but also a rich archive of photographs, maps, kinship charts, narrative transcripts and museum artifacts. To this day, it remains one of the most comprehensive surveys of a rural population anywhere. The contributors to this volume - all noted scholars in their region - have conducted long-term fieldwork with the descendants of the people surveyed in 1926/27. This volume is the culmination of eight years' work with the primary record cards and was supported by a number of national scholarly funding agencies in the UK, Canada and Norway. It is a unique historical, ethnographical analysis and of immense value to scholars familiar with these communities' contemporary cultural dynamics and legacy.
1. Coomes & Allen (2009) propose a new statistical method to test the Metabolic Scaling Theory prediction for tree growth rate size scaling (scaling constant alpha =1/3) presented in Enquist (1999). ...This method finds values of the scaling constant that yield standardized major axis (SMA) slopes of one in a comparison of allometrically transformed diameter census data. This SMA 'slope-of-one' method produces results that contrast with those generated by maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE; Russo, Wiser & Coomes 2007; Coomes & Allen 2009). 2.We hypothesize that the SMA slope-of-one method is inappropriate for this application because it assumes, unrealistically, that there is no biological or error variance in tree growth size scaling. To test our hypothesis, we simulate 'allometric' tree growth with biological and error variance in parameters and measurements. We find that the SMA slope-of-one method is sensitive to the amount of biological and error variance and consistently returns biassed parameter estimates, while the MLE method displays relatively little bias, particularly at larger sample sizes. 3.Synthesis. The conclusions of Coomes & Allen (2009) should be reconsidered in the light of our findings. Investigations of tree growth rate size scaling must consider the influence of biological and error variance in model-fitting procedures to ultimately unravel the effects of tree architecture and ecological factors on patterns of size-dependent growth.
This book examines in detail the state of the art on census taking to spark a more vivid debate on what some may see as a rather technical – and hence uncontroversial – field of inquiry.
Against the ...backdrop of controversy between instrumental and performative theoretical stances towards census taking, it analyses the historical trajectories and political implications of seemingly technical decisions made during the quantification process by focusing on the 2020 round of censuses, which have been particularly revealing as activities have been affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing containment policies. Through case studies of countries from the Global North and the Global South, the book highlights the consequences of, and innovations and challenges in census taking focusing on three particular areas of concern – the politics of the census in terms of identity politics; the institutional autonomy of the census; and significant and transformative methodological innovations.
This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners of quantification studies, and social demography and more broadly to public policy, governance, comparative politics and the broader social sciences.
A person's racial or ethnic self-identification can change over time and across contexts, which is a component of population change not usually considered in studies that use race and ethnicity as ...variables. To facilitate incorporation of this aspect of population change, we show patterns and directions of individual-level race and Hispanic response change throughout the United States and among all federally recognized race/ethnic groups. We use internal U.S. Census Bureau data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses in which responses have been linked at the individual level (N = 162 million). Approximately 9.8 million people (6.1 %) in our data have a different race and/or Hispanic-origin response in 2010 than they did in 2000. Race response change was especially common among those reported as American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, in a multiple-race response group, or Hispanic. People reported as non-Hispanic white, black, or Asian in 2000 usually had the same response in 2010 (3 %, 6 %, and 9 % of responses changed, respectively). Hispanic/non-Hispanic ethnicity responses were also usually consistent (13 % and 1 %, respectively, changed). We found a variety of response change patterns, which we detail. In many race/Hispanic response groups, we see population churn in the form of large countervailing flows of response changes that are hidden in cross-sectional data. We find that response changes happen across ages, sexes, regions, and response modes, with interesting variation across racial/ethnic categories. Researchers should address the implications of race and Hispanic-origin response change when designing analyses and interpreting results.
Differences in the reporting units of data from diverse sources and changes in units over time are common obstacles to analysis of areal data. We compare common approaches to this problem in the ...context of changes over time in the boundaries of U.S. census tracts. In every decennial census, many tracts are split, consolidated, or changed in other ways from the previous boundaries to reflect population growth or decline. We examine two interpolation methods to create a bridge between years, one that relies only on areal weighting and another that also introduces population weights. Results demonstrate that these approaches produce substantially different estimates for variables that involve population counts, but they have a high degree of convergence for variables defined as rates or averages. Finally, the article describes the Longitudinal Tract Database (LTDB), through which we are making available public-use tools to implement these methods to create estimates within 2010 tract boundaries for any tract-level data (from the census or other sources) that are available for prior years as early as 1970.
The aim of this study is to examine the spatial distribution of pedestrian injury collisions and analyse the environmental (social and physical) risk factors in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. More ...specifically, this study investigates the influence of land use, density, traffic and socio-economic characteristics. This cross sectional study is based on pedestrian injury collision data that were collected by the Municipal Transit Police during 2008-2009. This research presents an analysis of vehicleapedestrian collisions and their spatial risk determinants using mixed methods that included (1) spatial/geographical information systems (GIS) analysis of pedestrian collision data and (2) ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis to explain the density of pedestrian collisions data. In our model, we found a higher probability for pedestrian collisions in census tracts with population and employment density, large concentration of commercial/retail land uses and older people (65 and more). Interventions to alleviate this situation including transportation planning such as decentralisation of municipal transport system, investment in road infrastructure a density of traffic lights, pedestrian crossing, road design, improves lane demarcation. Besides, land use planning interventions should be implemented in commercial/retail areas, in particular separating pedestrian and vehicular spaces.
We use data from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, the Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, and the 2000 U.S. decennial census to analyze how occupational risk relates to the ...earnings of Hispanic immigrant men. Our findings indicate that those with limited English-language fluency received significantly higher compensating wages in unsafe jobs than their English-fluent counterparts. The larger occupational-risk premiums accrued by limited-English-proficient (LEP) foreign-born Hispanic men also hold when further including U.S.-born Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White men in the sample. These findings are consistent with underlying differences in preferences toward wages versus safety between LEP and English-proficient workers and/or differences in coverage under formal workers' compensation programs, perhaps because undocumented workers (many of whom already faced hazardous conditions when migrating illegally to work in the United States) comprise a disproportionate share of the LEP. However, our data and methodologies do not allow us to determine whether these premiums adequately compensate the LEP for the occupational risk they undertake.
Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) cirrhosis is the fastest growing indication for liver transplantation (LT) in the United States. We aimed to determine the temporal trend behind the rise in ...obesity and NASH‐related additions to the LT waitlist in the United States and make projections for future NASH burden on the LT waitlist. We used data from the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network database from 2000 to 2014 to obtain the number of NASH‐related LT waitlist additions. The obese population in the United States from 2000 to 2014 was estimated using data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Based on obesity trends, we established a time lag between obesity prevalence and NASH‐related waitlist additions. We used data from the U.S. Census Bureau on population projections from 2016 to 2030 to forecast obesity estimates and NASH‐related LT waitlist additions. From 2000 to 2014, the proportion of obese individuals significantly increased 44.9% and the number of NASH‐related annual waitlist additions increased from 391 to 1,605. Increase in obesity prevalence was strongly associated with LT waitlist additions 9 years later in derivation and validation cohorts (R2 = 0.9). Based on these data, annual NASH‐related waitlist additions are anticipated to increase by 55.4% (1,354‐2,104) between 2016 and 2030. There is significant regional variation in obesity rates and in the anticipated increase in NASH‐related waitlist additions (P < 0.01). Conclusion: We project a marked increase in demand for LT for NASH given population obesity trends. Continued public health efforts to curb obesity prevalence are needed to reduce the projected future burden of NASH. (Hepatology 2017).