harmlessinc (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
harmlessinc) wrote2006-01-23 10:02 pm
harmlessinc) wrote2006-01-23 10:02 pm
What is your favorite color? How about the people living with you, what do they think of it?
So I'm looking at the American Community Survey, a 24 page survey from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Well most people are aware that every 10 years there is a census to decide the Representatives in Congress. Well it seems that wasn't good enough, now they are asking every year (different people in theory) a huge list of invasive questions. Here are a few sample questions:
Last I checked none of this information was needed to figure out census data and they sure as hell don't need my name, birth date, and Social Security number for random statistical data collection.
If you want real amusement consider that if you don't send the form back they resend it with threats:
Do I have to answer the questions on the American Community Survey?
Yes, your response to this survey is required by law (Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141 and 193). Title 13, as changed by Title 18, imposes a penalty for not responding. The survey is approved by the Office of Management and Budget. We estimate this survey will take about 38 minutes to complete.
After they send it to you twice you will get phone calls, after the phone calls, you'll get a Census staffer knocking on your door. How do I know all this? I could say I read online stories of it happening to lots of other people, but it's faster to say they did it to me a few years ago when I was out the in the burbs.
Why am I so annoyed at all of this? Simple:
Amendment XIV - Citizenship rights. Ratified 7/9/1868.
"2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,..."
I see nothing about asking how big my kitchen is (question number 10) or how well my bathroom plumbing works (question number 9).
Comments on the topic are more than welcome, they are strongly encouraged.
Well most people are aware that every 10 years there is a census to decide the Representatives in Congress. Well it seems that wasn't good enough, now they are asking every year (different people in theory) a huge list of invasive questions. Here are a few sample questions:
- What is the main reason members of this household are staying at this address?
- In the past 12 months, what was the cost of water and sewer for this house, apartment, or mobile home?
- When did this person last work, even for a few days?
- What time did this person usually leave home to go to work last week?
- What kind of work was this person doing?
Last I checked none of this information was needed to figure out census data and they sure as hell don't need my name, birth date, and Social Security number for random statistical data collection.
If you want real amusement consider that if you don't send the form back they resend it with threats:
Do I have to answer the questions on the American Community Survey?
Yes, your response to this survey is required by law (Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141 and 193). Title 13, as changed by Title 18, imposes a penalty for not responding. The survey is approved by the Office of Management and Budget. We estimate this survey will take about 38 minutes to complete.
After they send it to you twice you will get phone calls, after the phone calls, you'll get a Census staffer knocking on your door. How do I know all this? I could say I read online stories of it happening to lots of other people, but it's faster to say they did it to me a few years ago when I was out the in the burbs.
Why am I so annoyed at all of this? Simple:
Amendment XIV - Citizenship rights. Ratified 7/9/1868.
"2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State,..."
I see nothing about asking how big my kitchen is (question number 10) or how well my bathroom plumbing works (question number 9).
Comments on the topic are more than welcome, they are strongly encouraged.
What are the answer options for these questions?
If not, I'd just answer the questions that I feel aren't intrusive and turn it in. I didn't see anything there that said it had to be completed or honestly.
Re: What are the answer options for these questions?
And like I mentioned, if you don't give them all the answers they want eventually they will be knocking on your door to conduct a "follow-up" interview.
Re: What are the answer options for these questions?
So, when are you moving?
Re: What are the answer options for these questions?
Re: What are the answer options for these questions?
no subject
For specifics on the legal background and justification for each question, go to: http://www.census.gov/acs/www/SBasics/SQuest/fact.htm
The reason this data is helpful is because a good 85 percent (according to the Brookings Institution) of federal grants to state and local governments, for things like Section 8 housing and job training, is allocated based on population. The census count is inaccurate by the time its data is released (generally a year or more after it's taken.) That means that fast-growing parts of the country, including, say, Will County, often don't get the money they need.
ACS data is also used for transportation planning - the questions regarding where you work, when you leave, how far you go and how you get there - that can be used to determine where/ when/ if a state or city should spend money to widen roads, expand public transportation, or work harder at promoting it to get more cars off the road.
Tangentially, cities in Illinois get a portion of state income tax money, based on their population. Most of a city's budget is spent on wages (as with most businesses) especially public safety. If it's being paid for with income tax money, it's not being paid for with property tax money (which is just as well, as most of that is used to pay for schools anyway.) Therefore, most cities are very interested in making sure that they get their fair share of the state income tax pie, and that means using the most up-to-date data they have available, often to the point where cities contract with the Census Bureau to perform a "special census" of their area for this reason.
Personally, I've been poking around the data sets to try to figure out how to write about professions where annual raises do not match cost-of-living increases, in other words, jobs where the longer you work at them, the worse off economically you are. And you wondered why I need to learn Excel better....
Finally, without ACS data, we would not be able to have comparisons like this, apocryphal or not: Fewer American households have TiVo than outhouses.
But I agree with Amy. You think it's unconstitutional and invasive, don't answer those questions - or the whole thing. You'll be moving in a couple months anyway; it'll take them 10 years to find you and pester you with another one.
no subject
You'll note their track record for good govenence of personal data isn't all that hot.
no subject
Realistically speaking, I doubt you will get hauled off to jail for refusing to fill out an ACS form. They don't survey comprehensively, like they do for the short form, and as you're likely to move soon, and probably multiple times, I doubt you'll get hit up twice.
I suggest you go meet some local libertarians - they seem concerned about many of the same issues regarding the census.
no subject
That's kinda like meeting the local Linux Group, the idea is nice but I can't get past the zealoty.
Can I ask you a question? Do you have no problem filling out a form from your government that asks for your Name, SSN, and the number of bathrooms you have?
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(Anonymous) 2006-03-26 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)What if they asked you how often you have a bowel movement? Or what your favorite color is? According to their rational, since it's asked, you must respond.
no subject