"The 2020 story: if the Census Bureau remains seriously underfunded into FY’18, as now expected by professionals, the 2020 census will fall below the high quality standard set in 2000 and repeated in 2010. For example, the 2020 census design is based on two never-used procedures—reliance on the internet as the primary mode of response and reliance on administrative records for an expected third or so of the population who do not initially respond. Although these design innovations look good on paper, the Census Bureau planned a thorough field test, knowing that adjustments would be required. Adequate funding for the test was not provided...
Absent effective advertising and active partnerships, the 2020 census—already facing high levels of general public mistrust toward the government—will be handicapped. Small setbacks, unavoidable in any census, will be highlighted and probably exaggerated by intense media coverage, risking further erosion in public confidence. An underfunded Census Bureau will be blamed, however unfairly, and labeled as one more incompetent government agency."
FB: wow, so important "Because census counts, and federal statistics more generally, are widely used and the stakes are high, an underfunded 2020 census will face charges that its “flawed counts” put at risk the statistical tools needed for intelligently governing society and managing the economy and have lessened the nation’s ability to detect and correct social injustices."
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