Assessing data quality

Due to the numerous changes to the census timeline that have led to questions about the quality of the enumeration process, a number of independent groups and advisory bodies have issued reports and recommendations on indicators that the Census Bureau could release in order to help establish confidence in the accuracy of the data. Below are some of those reports.

• 2020 Census quality indicators: A report from the American Statistical Association
• Reports from the Government Accountability Office
  • December 9, 2020: The Bureau Concluded Field Work but Uncertainty about Data Quality and Accuracy, and Protection Remains
  • December 3, 2020: Census Bureau Needs to Assess Data Quality Concerns Stemming from Recent Design Changes
  • August 27, 2020: Recent Decision to Compress Census Timeframes Poses Additional Risks to an Accurate Count
• Testimony from House Oversight and Government Reform Hearing, December 3, 2020
  • Christopher Mihm, Managing Director, Strategic Issues, Government Accountability Office
  • Robert L. Santos, Vice President & Chief Methodologist, Urban Institute
  • Joseph J. Salvo, Chief Demographer, New York
  • Jeff Landry, Attorney General, Louisiana (Minority Witness)
• Evaluating the Accuracy of the Decennial Census: A Primer on the Fundamentals of Census Accuracy & Coverage Evaluation, Georgetown Center on Poverty & Inequality (November 2020)

Impacts of privacy protections

• Briefing papers and perspectives
  • The Challenge of Differential Privacy: Confidentiality vs. Usability - OFM, September 2020
  • Implications of Differential Privacy for Reported Data on Children in the 2020 U.S. Census, William P. O'Hare, Consultant to Count All Kids 2020 Complete Count Committee
  • Perspectives from the Policy Research Center of National Congress of American Indians
• Letters to the Census Bureau and Members of the Biden-Harris Transition
  • OFM Feedback on November 16, 2020 Release of Privacy-Protected Microdata File - Dec. 21, 2020
    • Excel comparison files [zip file: 16 MB in 11 files]
  • FSCPE Letter to Biden-Harris Transition Team - Nov. 24, 2020
  • FSCPE Letter to the Data Stewardship Executive Policy Committee - Nov. 23, 2020
  • OFM's 2020 Count Question Resolution Operation Federal Register Response - Oct. 2, 2020
  • OFM Feedback on May 27, 2020 Release of Privacy-Protect Microdata File - Aug. 20, 2020
    • Supporting charts [zip file]
  • OFM Feedback on October 29, 2019 Release of Disclosure Avoidance System - Feb. 6 2020
    • Excel comparison files [zip file: 84 MB in 15 files]
    • Variables: differs by geodatabase size denoted below:
      • Small: population, housing, occupancy and group quarters population [files size: 103 MB]
      • Medium: same as "small" with the addition of population by race, population by total races tallied and population by sex by 5-year age group [file size: 131 MB]
      • Large: same as "medium" with the addition of population by sex by 5-year age group by race and sex by 1-year age group (tract level only) [files size: 163 MB]
    • Age sex charts
    • Data sets for statistical analysis: SAS summary files (SF1 and DDP)
  • CIC/FSCPE/SDC Feedback on Disclosure Avoidance System - Jan. 28, 2020
• Census Bureau: Data Protection and Privacy Program website
• Other places to find Census Bureau's 2020 Demonstration Files
  • IPUMS website