Demographic Research

This links to a FactTank posting about the Census Bureau's review of questions on the American Community Survey. The agency may drop questions if it determines they do not yield useful, quality data that cannot be found elsewhere.

The U.S. Census Bureau is considering whether to drop some questions that it has used for decades and have been the source of complaints from the public who see them as intrusive or overly burdensome.

Latinos are not the only group of Americans who utilize the “some other race” category on the census form—but they are the most likely to do so. In 2010, 6.2% of Americans selected “some other race,” up from 5.5% in 2000. Among all those who answered the race question this way in 2010, 96.8% were Hispanic.

Organizations representing people of Middle Eastern and North African descent are asking the Census Bureau to add a new ethnic category for them on forms, and it is one of the changes the bureau is exploring.

This posting summarizes a Fact Tank article about the Census Bureau's study of a possible new ethnic category for people of Middle Eastern and North African descent. The bureau has embarked on a broad look at how it asks about race and ethnicity, preparing for the 2020 Census.

This posting links to a Fact Tank article explaining the Census Bureau's research into new question wording about race and ethnicity. The bureau is testing a combined question in an attempt to improve response rates and reduce the number of people who check "some other race."

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.