Abstract
<p><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>The American Community Survey (ACS) in the United States (US) collects detailed demographic information on the US population. Pressures to use year-to-year population estimates to analyze “trends” (i.e., between-year differences on the characteristics of interest) have motivated the need to explore how single- or multi-year estimates can be used to investigate changes in US population over time. <strong>OBJECTIVE: </strong>The specific aim of this manuscript is to provide empirical evidence that between-year differences in population characteristics have difference levels of uncertainty around point-estimates. <strong>METHODS:</strong> Six ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) single year files from 2005 through 2010 are used to empirically show the heterogeneity of uncertainty in “between-year differences” on level of education, for a birth cohort born between 1960 and 1970 of non-Latino-whites and Mexican Latinos/as. <strong>RESULTS: </strong>The data show the precision of the education estimate decreases as the specificity of the population increases. For example, Mexican’s 99% confidence intervals have wider and more time-varying bandwidths than non-Latino-whites. <strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Inferring meaningful population change requires the challengeable assumption that between-year differences are not the product of data artifacts. Harvesting reputable ACS data demands further research before between-year differences can be treated as “real change.” </p><p> </p>
Highlights
The American Community Survey (ACS) in the United States (US) collects detailed demographic information on the US population
The analysis focuses on showing how the level of precision (e.g., 99% confidence intervals) in the estimates of college education for the 1960-1970 cohort vary over time, between a majority and minority group stratified by sex
It is said to be “notable” because the Mexican male sample is said to have increased by almost 5% in 12 months, which would equate to about 92,000 people—if
Summary
The American Community Survey (ACS) in the United States (US) collects detailed demographic information on the US population. OBJECTIVE: The specific aim of this manuscript is to provide empirical evidence that between-year differences in population characteristics have difference levels of uncertainty around point-estimates. METHODS: Six ACS Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) single year files from 2005 through 2010 are used to empirically show the heterogeneity of uncertainty in “between-year differences” on level of education, for a birth cohort born between 1960 and 1970 of non-Latino-whites and Mexican Latinos/as. The ACS in the United States (US) collects detailed demographic information on about three million people each year to infer the characteristics of the more than the 300 million people in the US population. A growing number of highly trained statisticians, demographers, survey methodologist, economist, psychologist, geographers, mathematicians, and many others make up the ranks of the admirable army tasked with fulfilling the enterprise of providing high quality data to presumably help maintain the social equilibrium on which US democracy is build
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
