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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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1991-05-13
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««Two Hundred Years and Counting:The Future of the Census
Can we streamline census taking? As costs mount, and enumerators
become harder to recruit, are there more efficient methods of enumerat-
ing the population? Do we need a census at all? Can we collect the
needed information from existing records without troubling Americans
with a national inquiry? Or does our Constitution bind us forever to a
headcount?
The Census Bureau has established a planning staff for the 21st
century to study the needs of future data users, forecast Bureau
requirements for enumerators, examine the causes for census error, and
analyze emerging computer systems that might become available to
assist the next census. "We must evaluate our 1990 experience closely,
accurately, and quickly to help the Census Bureau get an early start
on the Year 2000 Census," a Census Bureau directive explains.(35)
After each census the Census Bureau conducts an evaluation to plan
for the next census. These evaluations often suggest major areas where
improvement is needed. For example, the Bureau's decision to build a
better computerized geographic system for the 1990 Census emerged from
evaluation of the many problems with the geographic program in 1980.
However, the Census Bureau typically cannot take full advantage of
new but untested technology without enormous risk because the census
is such a large-scale and infrequent activity. Like companies whose
lead time for new products is very long, the Census Bureau must make
educated guesses about the social environment in which it will conduct
the next census, and the staff, equipment, and money that will be
available long before it will actually deploy these resources.
Thus, while the Census Bureau is an innovator in the field of
statistics, it must proceed slowly. "The pioneering work in statistical
sampling, the increasing sophistication of the evaluation of census
coverage, the use of self-enumeration and the mail system, and the
improvements in census coverage--all of these census innovations have
evolved over many decades," the Bureau observes.(36)
In the middle of 1993, shortly after the last publication from the
1990 Census is released, the Census Bureau will receive money from
Congress to start the Census of 2000. Another countdown will begin.
Soon we will receive the first census portrait of America in the 21st
century.
Source:"Two Hundred Years And Counting," The Population Reference
Bureau, Washington, D.C.