Demographic Research

After centuries of using the postal service and in-person visits, U.S. will experiment with contacting people by email or text, pushing them to respond online.

This posting links to a FactTank article about how to obtain census data even though federal websites are closed because of the government shutdown.

We’ve found that there are still several ways to access government data.

A talk with Pew Research Center senior demographer Jeffrey S. Passel on the challenges of counting the nation's unauthorized immigrants.

When the results of the 2011 German census were announced recently, they included an embarrassing error – at least in the demographics world. It showed the German population was 1.5 million people short of what the government had expected. The news dealt a blow to Germany’s reputation for efficient record-keeping, and it’s also relevant to […]

Every decade, new information from the decennial census is used to update a wide range of government demographic estimates and survey benchmarks. In some cases, that results in revisions to previously published data, which researchers need to note.

The Census Bureau released 2011 American Community Survey data today, and this posting looks at news coverage about the newly released estimates. Most coverage focused on economic indicators, with some stories saying the economy was still declining but others concluding the decline may have bottomed out.

This posting includes links to newly released Census Bureau research on how Americans should be asked about their race and ethnicity. It links to a previous posting that explains the background behind this ground-breaking research.

The Census wants to address the mismatch between Americans' identity and the current categories presented on their questionnaires.

The race and Hispanic origin categories on the 2010 Census form (and many other government forms) do not always match people's self-identification, and this is especially true for Hispanics. The Census Bureau will present results of research on alternative questionnaire designs and wording that attempts to address the issue.