[Federal Register: May 14, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 94)]
[Notices]
[Page 26806-26807]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr14my04-19]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of the Census
[Docket Number 040421123-4123-01]
American Community Survey Data Products
AGENCY: Bureau of the Census, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is proposing to
revise and expand the data products it produces from the American
Community Survey (ACS), and is requesting comments from current and
potential future users of ACS data products to help guide the redesign
of these products. Our goal is to publish preliminary versions of the
new data products by mid-year 2005 and to give data users another
opportunity to comment further before the redesigned products are in
final form. The ACS has been under development since 1996. Several ACS
data products have been released every year since 1997. With full-scale
implementation scheduled for July 2004, we are proposing significant
enhancements to the ACS data products that the Census Bureau will
produce every year beginning in 2006.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before July 14, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to the Director, U.S. Census
Bureau, Room 2049, Federal Building 3, Washington, DC 20233-0101.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth R. Bryson, Program Analyst,
Outreach and Analysis Staff, Office of the Associate Director for
Decennial Census, on (301) 763-1911, or by e-mail at
kenneth.r.bryson@census.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ACS is a very large nationwide survey
that will collect and publish data about the demographic, social,
economic, and housing characteristics of the population. Full-scale
data collection will begin with the mail-out to 250,000 addresses at
the end of June 2004. The Census Bureau plans to release a set of
redesigned data products from the 2005 ACS, the first full year of data
collection, in the summer of 2006. While some of the data products will
resemble those from the development phase of the ACS, others will be
new or redesigned.
Census Bureau working groups have sought to improve the ACS data
products by taking into account the previous comments and suggestions
of data users. We have developed a preliminary version of the revised
suite of data products and are now asking for feedback from public data
users.
We are requesting public comments on the current data products and
on the proposed new products. In particular, the Census Bureau is
looking for feedback about the basic concept of each product and its
usefulness to you. We welcome all comments and suggestions about how
the product could be improved.
A special link on the ACS Web site (http://www.census.gov/acs/www/product_review/
) will enable you to view examples of current and
proposed data products. Current ACS data products are as follows:
Base Tables (previously known as Detailed Tables)--Simple
descriptive tabulations of basic concepts and variables, similar to
tables in Summary File 3 from Census 2000. Summary File 3 contains
tables of sample items from the long form of Census 2000.
Tabular Profiles--Key summary measures, derived measures
(e.g., medians), and collapsed distributions of variables selected from
the Base Tables.
Narrative Profiles--Short prose narratives with simple
graphs based on some of the summary information in the Tabular
Profiles.
Geographic Ranking Tables--Tables and related graphs that
show the rank order of geographic areas on a key statistics or derived
measure.
In addition to retaining the current data products above, the
Census Bureau proposes to offer the following new products:
Subject Tables--These are similar to the Census 2000 Quick
Tables, and like the Quick Tables, they are derived from the Base
Tables. Quick Tables and Subject Tables are predefined tables with
frequently requested information on a single topic for a single
geographic area.
Subpopulation Profiles--This new product would provide
certain characteristics from the Tabular Profiles for a specific race
or ethnic group (e.g., Alaska Natives) or population subgroup (e.g.,
people ages 60 and over).
Thematic Maps--Thematic maps are similar to Geographic
Ranking Tables. They have the added advantage of visually displaying on
a map the geographic variation of a key summary or derived measure.
Analytic Reports (in an early development phase)--These
could be short documents, two to three pages, on a single topic or
theme, or they could be longer documents covering several topics or the
entire content of the survey.
[[Page 26807]]
Please go to the ACS Web site to review each data product in
detail. If you have questions about any of the data products, please
contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section of this notice.
Paperwork Reduction Act
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person is required
to respond to, nor shall a person be subject to a penalty for failure
to comply with, a collection of information subject to requirements of
the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), unless that collection of
information displays a current, valid Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) control number. In accordance with the PRA, 44 U.S.C., Chapter
35, the OMB approved the ACS survey under OMB Control Number 0607-0810.
We will furnish report forms to organizations included in the survey,
and additional copies will be available upon written request to the
Director, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC 20233-0101.
Dated: May 7, 2004.
Hermann Habermann,
Deputy Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. 04-10757 Filed 5-13-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P