Exploring the U.S. Census

Exploring the U.S. Census

Author: Frank Donnelly

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2019-10-07

Total Pages: 562

ISBN-13: 1544355440

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The United States census provides researchers, students, and the public with some of the richest and broadest information available about the American people. Exploring the U.S. Census by Frank Donnelly gives social science students and researchers alike the tools to understand, extract, process, and analyze data from the decennial census, the American Community Survey, and other data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. More than just a data collection exercise performed every ten years, the census is a series of datasets updated on an ongoing basis. With all that data comes opportunities and challenges: opportunities to teach students the value of census data for studying communities and answering research questions, and the challenges of navigating and comprehending such a massive data source and transforming it into usable information that students and researchers can analyze with basic skills and software. Just as important as showing what the census can tell social researchers is showing how to ask good questions of census data. Exploring the U.S. Census provides a thorough background on the data collection methods, structures, and potential pitfalls of the census for unfamiliar researchers, collecting information previously available only in widely disparate sources into one handy guide. Hands-on, applied exercises at the end of the chapters help readers dive into the data. The first chapter of the book places the census into context, discussing the history and the role of the census in society as well as in the larger universe of government, open, and big data. The book then moves onto the essentials of the data structure including the variety of sources and searching mechanisms, geography from nation down to zip code, and the fundamental subject categories (social, economic, and geographic) that are used for summarizing data in all of the various datasets. The next section delves into the individual datasets, discussing the purpose and structure of each, with separate chapters devoted to the decennial census, ACS, Population Estimates Program, and business datasets. A final chapter for this section pulls everything together, with a focus on writing and presenting your research on the data. The final section covers advanced topics and applications including mapping, geographic information systems, creating new variables and measures from census data, historical census data, and microdata. Along the way, the author shows how best to analyze census data with open-source software and tools, such as QGIS geographic information system, LibreOffice® Calc, and the DB Browser for SQLite®. Readers can freely evaluate the data on their own computers, in keeping with the free and open data provided by the Census Bureau. By placing the census in the context of the open data movement, this text makes the history and practice of the census relevant so readers can understand what a crucial resource the United States census is for research and knowledge.


Book Synopsis Exploring the U.S. Census by : Frank Donnelly

Download or read book Exploring the U.S. Census written by Frank Donnelly and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2019-10-07 with total page 562 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States census provides researchers, students, and the public with some of the richest and broadest information available about the American people. Exploring the U.S. Census by Frank Donnelly gives social science students and researchers alike the tools to understand, extract, process, and analyze data from the decennial census, the American Community Survey, and other data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. More than just a data collection exercise performed every ten years, the census is a series of datasets updated on an ongoing basis. With all that data comes opportunities and challenges: opportunities to teach students the value of census data for studying communities and answering research questions, and the challenges of navigating and comprehending such a massive data source and transforming it into usable information that students and researchers can analyze with basic skills and software. Just as important as showing what the census can tell social researchers is showing how to ask good questions of census data. Exploring the U.S. Census provides a thorough background on the data collection methods, structures, and potential pitfalls of the census for unfamiliar researchers, collecting information previously available only in widely disparate sources into one handy guide. Hands-on, applied exercises at the end of the chapters help readers dive into the data. The first chapter of the book places the census into context, discussing the history and the role of the census in society as well as in the larger universe of government, open, and big data. The book then moves onto the essentials of the data structure including the variety of sources and searching mechanisms, geography from nation down to zip code, and the fundamental subject categories (social, economic, and geographic) that are used for summarizing data in all of the various datasets. The next section delves into the individual datasets, discussing the purpose and structure of each, with separate chapters devoted to the decennial census, ACS, Population Estimates Program, and business datasets. A final chapter for this section pulls everything together, with a focus on writing and presenting your research on the data. The final section covers advanced topics and applications including mapping, geographic information systems, creating new variables and measures from census data, historical census data, and microdata. Along the way, the author shows how best to analyze census data with open-source software and tools, such as QGIS geographic information system, LibreOffice® Calc, and the DB Browser for SQLite®. Readers can freely evaluate the data on their own computers, in keeping with the free and open data provided by the Census Bureau. By placing the census in the context of the open data movement, this text makes the history and practice of the census relevant so readers can understand what a crucial resource the United States census is for research and knowledge.


The American Census

The American Census

Author: Margo J. Anderson

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2015-08-25

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 0300216963

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This book is the first social history of the census from its origins to the present and has become the standard history of the population census in the United States. The second edition has been updated to trace census developments since 1980, including the undercount controversies, the arrival of the American Community Survey, and innovations of the digital age. Margo J. Anderson’s scholarly text effectively bridges the fields of history and public policy, demonstrating how the census both reflects the country’s extraordinary demographic character and constitutes an influential tool for policy making. Her book is essential reading for all those who use census data, historical or current, in their studies or work.


Book Synopsis The American Census by : Margo J. Anderson

Download or read book The American Census written by Margo J. Anderson and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first social history of the census from its origins to the present and has become the standard history of the population census in the United States. The second edition has been updated to trace census developments since 1980, including the undercount controversies, the arrival of the American Community Survey, and innovations of the digital age. Margo J. Anderson’s scholarly text effectively bridges the fields of history and public policy, demonstrating how the census both reflects the country’s extraordinary demographic character and constitutes an influential tool for policy making. Her book is essential reading for all those who use census data, historical or current, in their studies or work.


Exploring the U.S. Census

Exploring the U.S. Census

Author: Frank Donnelly

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2019-10-07

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 1544355459

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Exploring the U.S. Census gives social science students and researchers the tools to understand, extract, process, and analyze census data, including the American Community Survey and other datasets. This text provides background on the data collection methods, structures, and potential pitfalls for unfamiliar researchers with applied exercises and software walk-throughs.


Book Synopsis Exploring the U.S. Census by : Frank Donnelly

Download or read book Exploring the U.S. Census written by Frank Donnelly and published by SAGE Publications. This book was released on 2019-10-07 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the U.S. Census gives social science students and researchers the tools to understand, extract, process, and analyze census data, including the American Community Survey and other datasets. This text provides background on the data collection methods, structures, and potential pitfalls for unfamiliar researchers with applied exercises and software walk-throughs.


The Sum of the People

The Sum of the People

Author: Andrew Whitby

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2020-03-31

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 1541619331

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This fascinating three-thousand-year history of the census traces the making of the modern survey and explores its political power in the age of big data and surveillance. In April 2020, the United States will embark on what has been called "the largest peacetime mobilization in American history": the decennial population census. It is part of a tradition of counting people that goes back at least three millennia and now spans the globe. In The Sum of the People, data scientist Andrew Whitby traces the remarkable history of the census, from ancient China and the Roman Empire, through revolutionary America and Nazi-occupied Europe, to the steps of the Supreme Court. Marvels of democracy, instruments of exclusion, and, at worst, tools of tyranny and genocide, censuses have always profoundly shaped the societies we've built. Today, as we struggle to resist the creep of mass surveillance, the traditional census -- direct and transparent -- may offer the seeds of an alternative.


Book Synopsis The Sum of the People by : Andrew Whitby

Download or read book The Sum of the People written by Andrew Whitby and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2020-03-31 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating three-thousand-year history of the census traces the making of the modern survey and explores its political power in the age of big data and surveillance. In April 2020, the United States will embark on what has been called "the largest peacetime mobilization in American history": the decennial population census. It is part of a tradition of counting people that goes back at least three millennia and now spans the globe. In The Sum of the People, data scientist Andrew Whitby traces the remarkable history of the census, from ancient China and the Roman Empire, through revolutionary America and Nazi-occupied Europe, to the steps of the Supreme Court. Marvels of democracy, instruments of exclusion, and, at worst, tools of tyranny and genocide, censuses have always profoundly shaped the societies we've built. Today, as we struggle to resist the creep of mass surveillance, the traditional census -- direct and transparent -- may offer the seeds of an alternative.


Counting Americans

Counting Americans

Author: Paul Schor

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 019991785X

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By telling how the US census classified and divided Americans by race and origin from the founding of the United States to World War II, this text shows how public statistics have been used to create an unequal representation of the nation


Book Synopsis Counting Americans by : Paul Schor

Download or read book Counting Americans written by Paul Schor and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By telling how the US census classified and divided Americans by race and origin from the founding of the United States to World War II, this text shows how public statistics have been used to create an unequal representation of the nation


Census

Census

Author: Jesse Ball

Publisher: HarperCollins

Published: 2018-03-06

Total Pages: 189

ISBN-13: 0062676156

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NAMED A RECOMMENDED BOOK OF 2018 BY TheNew York Times•TheChicago Reader • Nylon • The Boston Globe • TheHuffington Post • The Rumpus •The AV Club •Southern Living •The Millions • Buzzfeed • Esquire • Publishers Weekly A powerful and moving new novel from an award-winning, acclaimed author: in the wake of a devastating revelation, a father and son journey north across a tapestry of towns When a widower receives notice from a doctor that he doesn’t have long left to live, he is struck by the question of who will care for his adult son—a son whom he fiercely loves, a boy with Down syndrome. With no recourse in mind, and with a desire to see the country on one last trip, the man signs up as a census taker for a mysterious governmental bureau and leaves town with his son. Traveling into the country, through towns named only by ascending letters of the alphabet, the man and his son encounter a wide range of human experience. While some townspeople welcome them into their homes, others who bear the physical brand of past censuses on their ribs are wary of their presence. When they press toward the edges of civilization, the landscape grows wilder, and the towns grow farther apart and more blighted by industrial decay. As they approach “Z,” the man must confront a series of questions: What is the purpose of the census? Is he complicit in its mission? And just how will he learn to say good-bye to his son? Mysterious and evocative, Census is a novel about free will, grief, the power of memory, and the ferocity of parental love, from one of our most captivating young writers.


Book Synopsis Census by : Jesse Ball

Download or read book Census written by Jesse Ball and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-03-06 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NAMED A RECOMMENDED BOOK OF 2018 BY TheNew York Times•TheChicago Reader • Nylon • The Boston Globe • TheHuffington Post • The Rumpus •The AV Club •Southern Living •The Millions • Buzzfeed • Esquire • Publishers Weekly A powerful and moving new novel from an award-winning, acclaimed author: in the wake of a devastating revelation, a father and son journey north across a tapestry of towns When a widower receives notice from a doctor that he doesn’t have long left to live, he is struck by the question of who will care for his adult son—a son whom he fiercely loves, a boy with Down syndrome. With no recourse in mind, and with a desire to see the country on one last trip, the man signs up as a census taker for a mysterious governmental bureau and leaves town with his son. Traveling into the country, through towns named only by ascending letters of the alphabet, the man and his son encounter a wide range of human experience. While some townspeople welcome them into their homes, others who bear the physical brand of past censuses on their ribs are wary of their presence. When they press toward the edges of civilization, the landscape grows wilder, and the towns grow farther apart and more blighted by industrial decay. As they approach “Z,” the man must confront a series of questions: What is the purpose of the census? Is he complicit in its mission? And just how will he learn to say good-bye to his son? Mysterious and evocative, Census is a novel about free will, grief, the power of memory, and the ferocity of parental love, from one of our most captivating young writers.


Modernizing the U.S. Census

Modernizing the U.S. Census

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1994-02-01

Total Pages: 479

ISBN-13: 0309051827

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The U.S. census, conducted every 10 years since 1790, faces dramatic new challenges as the country begins its third century. Critics of the 1990 census cited problems of increasingly high costs, continued racial differences in counting the population, and declining public confidence. This volume provides a major review of the traditional U.S. census. Starting from the most basic questions of how data are used and whether they are needed, the volume examines the data that future censuses should provide. It evaluates several radical proposals that have been made for changing the census, as well as other proposals for redesigning the year 2000 census. The book also considers in detail the much-criticized long form, the role of race and ethnic data, and the need for and ways to obtain small-area data between censuses.


Book Synopsis Modernizing the U.S. Census by : National Research Council

Download or read book Modernizing the U.S. Census written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1994-02-01 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. census, conducted every 10 years since 1790, faces dramatic new challenges as the country begins its third century. Critics of the 1990 census cited problems of increasingly high costs, continued racial differences in counting the population, and declining public confidence. This volume provides a major review of the traditional U.S. census. Starting from the most basic questions of how data are used and whether they are needed, the volume examines the data that future censuses should provide. It evaluates several radical proposals that have been made for changing the census, as well as other proposals for redesigning the year 2000 census. The book also considers in detail the much-criticized long form, the role of race and ethnic data, and the need for and ways to obtain small-area data between censuses.


Who Counts?

Who Counts?

Author: Margo Anderson

Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation

Published: 1999-08-19

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1610440056

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One of Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic Books of 2000 For those interested in understanding the historical and scientific context of the census adjustment controversy, Who Counts? is absolutely essential reading. —Science Ever since the founding fathers authorized a national headcount as the means of apportioning seats in the federal legislature, the decennial census has been a political battleground. Political power, and more recently the allocation of federal resources, depend directly upon who is counted and who is left out. Who Counts? is the story of the lawsuits, congressional hearings, and bureaucratic intrigues surrounding the 1990 census. These controversies formed largely around a single vexing question: should the method of conducting the census be modified in order to rectify the demonstrated undercount of poor urban minorities? But they also stemmed from a more general debate about the methods required to count an ever more diverse and mobile population of over two hundred million. The responses to these questions repeatedly pitted the innovations of statisticians and demographers against objections that their attempts to alter traditional methods may be flawed and even unconstitutional. Who Counts? offers a detailed review of the preparation, implementation, and aftermath of the last three censuses. It recounts the growing criticisms of innaccuracy and undercounting, and the work to develop new enumeration strategies. The party shifts that followed national elections played an increasingly important role in the politization of the census, as the Department of Commerce asserted growing authority over the scientific endeavors of the Census Bureau. At the same time, each decade saw more city and state governments and private groups bringing suit to challenge census methodology and results. Who Counts? tracks the legal course that began in 1988, when a coalition led by New York City first sued to institute new statistical procedures in response to an alleged undercount of urban inhabitants. The challenge of accurately classifying an increasingly mixed population further threatens the legitimacy of the census, and Who Counts? investigates the difficulties of gaining unambiguous measurements of race and ethnicity, and the proposal that the race question be eliminated in favor of ethnic origin. Who Counts? concludes with a discussion of the proposed census design for 2000, as well as the implications of population counts on the composition and size of Congress. This volume reveals in extraordinary detail the interplay of law, politics, and science that propel the ongoing census debate, a debate whose outcome will have a tremendous impact on the distribution of political power and economic resources among the nation's communities. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Census Series


Book Synopsis Who Counts? by : Margo Anderson

Download or read book Who Counts? written by Margo Anderson and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 1999-08-19 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of Choice Magazine's Outstanding Academic Books of 2000 For those interested in understanding the historical and scientific context of the census adjustment controversy, Who Counts? is absolutely essential reading. —Science Ever since the founding fathers authorized a national headcount as the means of apportioning seats in the federal legislature, the decennial census has been a political battleground. Political power, and more recently the allocation of federal resources, depend directly upon who is counted and who is left out. Who Counts? is the story of the lawsuits, congressional hearings, and bureaucratic intrigues surrounding the 1990 census. These controversies formed largely around a single vexing question: should the method of conducting the census be modified in order to rectify the demonstrated undercount of poor urban minorities? But they also stemmed from a more general debate about the methods required to count an ever more diverse and mobile population of over two hundred million. The responses to these questions repeatedly pitted the innovations of statisticians and demographers against objections that their attempts to alter traditional methods may be flawed and even unconstitutional. Who Counts? offers a detailed review of the preparation, implementation, and aftermath of the last three censuses. It recounts the growing criticisms of innaccuracy and undercounting, and the work to develop new enumeration strategies. The party shifts that followed national elections played an increasingly important role in the politization of the census, as the Department of Commerce asserted growing authority over the scientific endeavors of the Census Bureau. At the same time, each decade saw more city and state governments and private groups bringing suit to challenge census methodology and results. Who Counts? tracks the legal course that began in 1988, when a coalition led by New York City first sued to institute new statistical procedures in response to an alleged undercount of urban inhabitants. The challenge of accurately classifying an increasingly mixed population further threatens the legitimacy of the census, and Who Counts? investigates the difficulties of gaining unambiguous measurements of race and ethnicity, and the proposal that the race question be eliminated in favor of ethnic origin. Who Counts? concludes with a discussion of the proposed census design for 2000, as well as the implications of population counts on the composition and size of Congress. This volume reveals in extraordinary detail the interplay of law, politics, and science that propel the ongoing census debate, a debate whose outcome will have a tremendous impact on the distribution of political power and economic resources among the nation's communities. A Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Census Series


Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records

Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records

Author: Loretto Dennis Szucs

Publisher: Ancestry Publishing

Published: 2001-12

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9780916489984

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Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records is a comprehensive guide to understanding and using U.S. Census records, in particular those of the federal census. Aimed at the general family history audience, this book is especially useful for the beginning to intermediate researcher. Along with a description of the history and structure of the federal census there is a guide to each decennial census. Three appendixes offer a description of major census data providers, major stare and national archives with census collections, and specially designed census extraction forms. Includes a complete index.


Book Synopsis Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records by : Loretto Dennis Szucs

Download or read book Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records written by Loretto Dennis Szucs and published by Ancestry Publishing. This book was released on 2001-12 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finding Answers in U.S. Census Records is a comprehensive guide to understanding and using U.S. Census records, in particular those of the federal census. Aimed at the general family history audience, this book is especially useful for the beginning to intermediate researcher. Along with a description of the history and structure of the federal census there is a guide to each decennial census. Three appendixes offer a description of major census data providers, major stare and national archives with census collections, and specially designed census extraction forms. Includes a complete index.


Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920

Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920

Author: William Thorndale

Publisher: Genealogical Publishing Com

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 0806311886

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Genealogical research in U.S. censuses begins with identifying correct county jurisdictions ??o assist in this identification, the map Guide shows all U.S. county boundaries from 1790 to 1920. On each of the nearly 400 maps the old county lines are superimposed over the modern ones to highlight the boundary changes at ten-year intervals. Accompanying each map are explanations of boundary changes, notes about the census, & tocality finding keys. In addition, there are inset maps which clarify ??erritorial lines, a state-by-state bibliography of sources, & an appendix outlining pitfalls in mapping county boundaries. Finally, there is an index which lists all present day counties, plus nearly all defunct counties or counties later renamed-the most complete list of American counties ever published.


Book Synopsis Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 by : William Thorndale

Download or read book Map Guide to the U.S. Federal Censuses, 1790-1920 written by William Thorndale and published by Genealogical Publishing Com. This book was released on 1987 with total page 453 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Genealogical research in U.S. censuses begins with identifying correct county jurisdictions ??o assist in this identification, the map Guide shows all U.S. county boundaries from 1790 to 1920. On each of the nearly 400 maps the old county lines are superimposed over the modern ones to highlight the boundary changes at ten-year intervals. Accompanying each map are explanations of boundary changes, notes about the census, & tocality finding keys. In addition, there are inset maps which clarify ??erritorial lines, a state-by-state bibliography of sources, & an appendix outlining pitfalls in mapping county boundaries. Finally, there is an index which lists all present day counties, plus nearly all defunct counties or counties later renamed-the most complete list of American counties ever published.