2 Aug
2021
2 Aug
'21
5:16 p.m.
I’m still trying to understand what’s going on with the year 2020 American Community
Survey (ACS). I went through the Friday, 7/29/21, PDF of the Census Bureau’s powerpoint
presentation.
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2021/impact-pandemic-2020-acs-1-…
<https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2021/impact-pandemic-2020-acs-1-year.html>
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2021/acs-1-ye…
<https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2021/acs-1-year/20210729-presentation-changes-acs-1-year.pdf>
Census had this to say about “non-response”
All surveys typically have some nonresponse bias because those who do not respond tend to
be different from those who do respond
Our standard methods for mitigating the nonresponse bias are insufficient for this data
year
The 2020 ACS data collection had the lowest response rate ever for the survey at 71%, down
from 86% in 2019
and 92% in 2018
This rate is an average across the entire data collection year
Response rates during the peak pandemic months [March-June 2020] were significantly lower
The big “wow” is the decline in the “non-response rate” from 86 percent in 2019 to 71
percent in 2020. Of course, my followup question is does this mean that 29 percent of
respondents provided “incomplete data” that required their information to be edited /
imputed / allocated? Or does it mean that 29 percent of respondents were “totally
nonrespondent.”
Unfortunately, the 29 percent is “totally nonrespondent”.
Here’s the Census Bureau page that shows overall response rates in the ACS from 2005 to
2019, that is, NO useful information (?) from the selected sample. I think.
https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample-size-and-data-quality/res…
<https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample-size-and-data-quality/response-rates/>
This table is also amazing to show that the “Best” year for the ACS, in terms of response
rates, was 2009, at 98.0 percent response rate.
These are nonresponse rates for the American Community Survey, not the decennial (the
“short form”) Census.
# # #
3 Aug
3 Aug
11:36 a.m.
Thanks for the brief Chuck and the links.
This is a Wow. Especially when we know the Bureau reports a weighted
response rate which as I understand it does not include those households
who got the ACS mailing and did not respond by mail or online, and were
not contacted with a personal visit. (
http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/156802.aspx page 22.). Tells me
we are going to have to look very carefully at our data and check for
weirdness as we start to see it. Overall, though I think we are pretty
good with our data once we know where all the warts are.
On 8/2/2021 5:16 PM, Charles Purvis wrote:
I’m still trying to understand what’s going on with
the year 2020
American Community Survey (ACS). I went through the Friday, 7/29/21,
PDF of the Census Bureau’s powerpoint presentation.
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2021/impact-pandemic-2020-acs-1-…
<https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2021/impact-pandemic-2020-acs-1-year.html>
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2021/acs-1-ye…
<https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2021/acs-1-year/20210729-presentation-changes-acs-1-year.pdf>
Census had this to say about “non-response”
*
All surveys typically have some nonresponse bias because those who
do not respond tend to be different from those who do respond
*
Our standard methods for mitigating the nonresponse bias are
insufficient for this data year
*
The 2020 ACS data collection had the lowest response rate ever for
the survey at 71%, down from 86% in 2019
and 92% in 2018
o
This rate is an average across the entire data collection year
o
Response rates during the peak pandemic months [March-June
2020] were significantly lower
The big “wow” is the decline in the “non-response rate” from
86 percent in 2019 to 71 percent in 2020. Of course, my
followup question is does this mean that 29 percent of
respondents provided “incomplete data” that required their
information to be edited / imputed / allocated? Or does it
mean that 29 percent of respondents were “totally nonrespondent.”
Unfortunately, the 29 percent is “totally nonrespondent”.
Here’s the Census Bureau page that shows overall response
rates in the ACS from 2005 to 2019, that is, NO useful
information (?) from the selected sample. I think.
https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample-size-and-data-quality/res…
<https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample-size-and-data-quality/response-rates/>
This table is also amazing to show that the “Best” year for
the ACS, in terms of response rates, was 2009, at 98.0
percent response rate.
These are nonresponse rates for the American Community Survey,
not the decennial (the “short form”) Census.
# # #
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--
Ed Christopher
Transportation Planning Consultant
708-269-5237
1:10 p.m.
I would presume this is all above and beyond the usual mis-responses and non-response to
specific questions that the Bureau imputes answers for. Just compare notes with the school
districts trying to track down their students that never make the Zoom calls-the hard to
reach population is getting that much harder to reach.
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 3, 2021, at 12:36 PM, Ed Christopher
<edc(a)berwyned.com> wrote:
Thanks for the brief Chuck and the links.
This is a Wow. Especially when we know the Bureau reports a weighted response rate which
as I understand it does not include those households who got the ACS mailing and did not
respond by mail or online, and were not contacted with a personal visit. (
http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/156802.aspx page 22.). Tells me we are going to
have to look very carefully at our data and check for weirdness as we start to see it.
Overall, though I think we are pretty good with our data once we know where all the warts
are.
On 8/2/2021 5:16 PM, Charles Purvis wrote:
I’m still trying to understand what’s going on with the year 2020 American Community
Survey (ACS). I went through the Friday, 7/29/21, PDF of the Census Bureau’s powerpoint
presentation.
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2021/impact-pandemic-2020-acs-1-…
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2021/acs-1-ye…
Census had this to say about “non-response”
All surveys typically have some nonresponse bias because those who do not respond tend to
be different from those who do respond
Our standard methods for mitigating the nonresponse bias are insufficient for this data
year
The 2020 ACS data collection had the lowest response rate ever for the survey at 71%,
down from 86% in 2019
and 92% in 2018
This rate is an average across the entire data collection year
Response rates during the peak pandemic months [March-June 2020] were significantly lower
The big “wow” is the decline in the “non-response rate” from 86 percent in 2019 to 71
percent in 2020. Of course, my followup question is does this mean that 29 percent of
respondents provided “incomplete data” that required their information to be edited /
imputed / allocated? Or does it mean that 29 percent of respondents were “totally
nonrespondent.”
Unfortunately, the 29 percent is “totally nonrespondent”.
Here’s the Census Bureau page that shows overall response rates in the ACS from 2005 to
2019, that is, NO useful information (?) from the selected sample. I think.
https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample-size-and-data-quality/res…
This table is also amazing to show that the “Best” year for the ACS, in terms of response
rates, was 2009, at 98.0 percent response rate.
These are nonresponse rates for the American Community Survey, not the decennial (the
“short form”) Census.
# # #
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list -- ctpp-news(a)mailman.chrispy.net
To unsubscribe send an email to ctpp-news-leave(a)mailman.chrispy.net
--
Ed Christopher
Transportation Planning Consultant
708-269-5237
_______________________________________________
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To unsubscribe send an email to ctpp-news-leave(a)mailman.chrispy.net 
1:57 p.m.
My understanding from Ed's email is "weighted rate" is not applied to
non-response recipients (mail, online and personal visit). No-response will and should be
treated just as the rest of the population who were not part of the survey.
But also, just as Sam's email, I am not sure if there are any "weighted
rates" applied to mis-responses/incomplete-responses. How does ACS handle those
mis-responses/Incomplete-responses. I am sure some incomplete responses will be good
enough and some that are not and should not be included in the final report.
Thank you,
S. Frank Tabatabaee
Forecasting and Trends Office
Florida Department of Transportation[cid:image001.jpg@01D78876.98660420]
605 Suwannee Street, MS 28
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0450
E-Mail/Respond to:
Frank.Tabatabaee@dot.state.fl.us<mailto:Frank.Tabatabaee@dot.state.fl.us>
(850) 414-4931 Office
(850) 414-4876 Fax
(850) 414-4900 Switchboard
Be careful, arrive alive!
Communicate!
From: Sam Granato <sundaydriver8(a)gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, August 3, 2021 2:10 PM
To: CTPP ListServe <ctpp-news(a)mailman.chrispy.net>
Subject: [CTPP] Re: ACS NonResponse Rate in 2020
EXTERNAL SENDER: Use caution with links and attachments.
I would presume this is all above and beyond the usual mis-responses and non-response to
specific questions that the Bureau imputes answers for. Just compare notes with the school
districts trying to track down their students that never make the Zoom calls-the hard to
reach population is getting that much harder to reach.
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 3, 2021, at 12:36 PM, Ed Christopher
<edc@berwyned.com<mailto:edc@berwyned.com>> wrote:
Thanks for the brief Chuck and the links.
This is a Wow. Especially when we know the Bureau reports a weighted response rate which
as I understand it does not include those households who got the ACS mailing and did not
respond by mail or online, and were not contacted with a personal visit. (
http://www.trb.org/Publications/Blurbs/156802.aspx<https://gcc02.safelin…
page 22.). Tells me we are going to have to look very carefully at our data and check
for weirdness as we start to see it. Overall, though I think we are pretty good with our
data once we know where all the warts are.
On 8/2/2021 5:16 PM, Charles Purvis wrote:
I'm still trying to understand what's going on with the year 2020 American
Community Survey (ACS). I went through the Friday, 7/29/21, PDF of the Census Bureau's
powerpoint presentation.
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-kits/2021/impact-pandemic-2020-acs-1-…
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/newsroom/press-kits/2021/acs-1-ye…
Census had this to say about "non-response"
* All surveys typically have some nonresponse bias because those who do not respond
tend to be different from those who do respond
* Our standard methods for mitigating the nonresponse bias are insufficient for this
data year
* The 2020 ACS data collection had the lowest response rate ever for the survey at
71%, down from 86% in 2019
and 92% in 2018
* This rate is an average across the entire data collection year
* Response rates during the peak pandemic months [March-June 2020] were
significantly lower
The big "wow" is the decline in the "non-response rate" from 86
percent in 2019 to 71 percent in 2020. Of course, my followup question is does this mean
that 29 percent of respondents provided "incomplete data" that required their
information to be edited / imputed / allocated? Or does it mean that 29 percent of
respondents were "totally nonrespondent."
Unfortunately, the 29 percent is "totally nonrespondent".
Here's the Census Bureau page that shows overall response rates in the ACS from 2005
to 2019, that is, NO useful information (?) from the selected sample. I think.
https://www.census.gov/acs/www/methodology/sample-size-and-data-quality/res…
This table is also amazing to show that the "Best" year for the ACS, in terms of
response rates, was 2009, at 98.0 percent response rate.
These are nonresponse rates for the American Community Survey, not the decennial (the
"short form") Census.
# # #
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list --
ctpp-news@mailman.chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@mailman.chrispy.net>
To unsubscribe send an email to
ctpp-news-leave@mailman.chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news-leave@mailman.chrispy.net>
--
Ed Christopher
Transportation Planning Consultant
708-269-5237
_______________________________________________
ctpp-news mailing list --
ctpp-news@mailman.chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news@mailman.chrispy.net>
To unsubscribe send an email to
ctpp-news-leave@mailman.chrispy.net<mailto:ctpp-news-leave@mailman.chrispy.net>
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3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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Charles Purvis -
Ed Christopher -
Sam Granato -
Tabatabaee, Frank