Submit Your Questions for Census Director Robert Groves (And Win an Amazon Gift Card!)

Dr. Robert GrovesI have some exciting news.

Our humble blog has been granted an exclusive interview with the U.S. Census Director, Dr. Robert Groves. The videotaped interview will take place this Wednesday, May 23rd, at the headquarters of the Census Bureau in Suitland, Maryland.

Conducting this interview is a great way for us to continue the mission stated in our tagline, to provide “Resources for the Research Community.”

But I need your help.

I have lots of questions for Dr. Groves, but I would like your input. I’m not just representing myself; I’m representing the entire Research Access community.  I want to be sure all your most pressing questions are answered.

So I’m offering a thank you to the person who submits the best question for me to ask Dr. Groves on Wednesday: a digital Amazon.com gift card worth $50 USD (or equivalent).

Here are the rules:

  • Submit a question for me to ask Dr. Groves between now and midnight Eastern time (U.S. East Coast) on Tuesday, May 22nd.
  • There are two ways to submit a question:
  • I will reveal the winner at the same time as I post the video on Research Access.
  • I will send the winner a digital $50 USD (or equivalent) Amazon.com gift card via email.

The winner will, of course, be able to see his or her questions asked in the interview.

Want to bone up on Census-related issues? Here are some places to start:

Dr. Groves’ Blog
“All Thing Census” from the Pew Research Center

Good luck!

You’re No Statesman, Daniel Webster

Congressman Daniel Webster (left), 19th Century Statesman Daniel Webster (right)

Legend has it there was a time in the history of the United States Congress when great statesmen debated the issues of the day.

19th Century Massachusetts Senator Daniel Webster is considered by historians to be one of the greatest statesmen in the history of the United States Congress.

Today we have another Daniel Webster in Congress. Congressman Daniel Webster currently represents the 8th District of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Unforunately, today’s Daniel Webster is no statesman. I could say harsher words, but that would be ungentlemanly.

Here is the definition of “statesman” (fittingly, from Webster’s Dictionary online).

Statesman: noun \ˈstāts-mən\
1. One versed in the principles or art of government; especially : one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government or in shaping its policies.
2. A wise, skillful, and respected political leader.

Technically, by the first definition, Congressman Webster fits the bill. However, he falls far short of the mark by the second definition.

What has Congressman Webster done do draw my ire?

He messed with my data.

Actually, he didn’t just mess with my data. He messed with your data. He messed with our data – data used by social scientists, economists and businesspeople to the benefit of our society.

But it goes even deeper than that. He messed with the very idea of the rightness of collecting and analyzing information for society’s benefit.

Specifically, Rep. Webster sponsored a successful amendment to a congressional funding bill to prohibit any funds from being spent on the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. The ACS is the annual survey which collects a vast amount of information about American society; it is the legacy of the former decennial census “long form.”

The New York Times described Rep. Webster’s ploy as “know-nothingness at a new level.”

U.S. Census Director Robert Groves posted this erudite defense of federal statistics on his blog in a post entitled, “A Future Without Key Social and Economic Statistics for the Country.”

You see, there are two pernicious movements in American politics:

- one which casts aspersions on anything that has to do with knowledge, books, learning or education. These ideas are considered somehow the purview of elite bureaucrats and academics who care little about the common man.
- another which presupposes that the federal government is an Orwellian “big brother” trying to find out intrusive information about average people in order to bring about some sort of dystopian future.

I’m afraid Rep. Webster is trying to cash in politically on these movements. You see, he’s presumably an intelligent man.  Surely he understands the importance of collecting data on our society.

Yet he is willing to sacrifice the data which benefit America and the world for political expediency.

For the political pollsters out there, I say it is incumbent on you to defend the ACS and other federal statistical surveys to your clients in Congress and the federal government, particularly if they are like-minded with Rep. Webster.

Here are a few things regular people can do:

First, be aware. Here is a list of how each member of the U.S. House of Representatives voted on Rep. Webster’s amendment.

Second, make noise. Add your voices to mine, and speak out when you see powerful people disparaging data.

Third, take action. Americans, contact your government leaders to let them know you support the American Community Survey. Citizens of other countries, be on the lookout for similar political phenomena.

We should aspire to act like statesmen, even when our leaders do not.

Have a look at Rep. Webster’s statement as he introduced the amendment last week.

5 Awesome Free Online Data Tools from the U.S. Census

Too often in the day to day business of research, we forget that there’s an astounding set of data resources provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Doubtless other U.S. federal agencies and statistical agencies in other countries have some nice data goodies for us, but the U.S. Census Bureau is the treasure trove.

Here are 5 of my favorite free online data tools provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.

1) The American FactFinder

http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml

The American Fact Finder is often the best place to start on the Census Bureau website. It is a user-friendly front-end to a vast amount of information made available by multiple Census Bureau initiatives, including the Decennial Census, the American Community Survey, and a number of economic surveys.

There is a helpful search interface that allows you to narrow down data by topic (people, housing, business, year, etc.), geography, race and ethnic group, and industry codes.

Or you can use the Quick Start search box to find data using just a few criteria – sort of like using the “I’m feeling lucky” button on Google.

You can also search your own (or any) street address to find out lots of relevant information, including county, town, block, census tract, metropolitan statistical area, congressional district, state legislative district, school district and more.

The American Fact Finder

The American Fact Finder

2) The 2010 Census Interactive Population Map

http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/

This is an interactive visualization of data from the 2010 decennial census.

You can interactively drill down on the map in order to see a map visualization of a particular community on a number of criteria, including total population, race, ethnicity, age, sex, and household characteristics.

The map shows various geographic levels, from states down to census tracts, color coded on criteria from dark (most populous) to light (least populous).

You can also choose up to 5 locations to compare them on the same criteria, and you can even embed the interactive data you select on a website.

2010 Census Interactive Population Map

2010 Census Interactive Population Map

3) County Business and Demographics Map

http://www.census.gov/cbdmap/

The County Business and Demographics Map is very similar to the Census Interactive Population map, except it depicts business data rather than population data.

The County Business and Demographics Map

The County Business and Demographics Map

4) DataFerrett

http://dataferrett.census.gov/

DataFerrett

DataFerrett

In true federal style, the Ferrett in DataFerrett is an acronym (for Federated Electronic Research, Review and Extraction & Tabulation Tool). Coincidentially, it helps you ferret out the right data.

DataFerrett helps you identify, extract and recode data across federal, state and local surveys and statistical data, including both one-off and longitudinal datasets.

With DataFerrett you can search for the right variables and put them in something called a Data Basket.  From the Data Basket you can create spreadsheets, graphs, maps, PDFs and more right within the tool. And of course, you can download the data.

5) Censtats Databases

http://censtats.census.gov/

Looking to skip the bells and whistles and go straight for some of the most commonly requested data? The Censtats databases may be the place to look.

The Censtats databases are a good place to find quick tables on things like state and county population and business data. With the Censtats databases you can run these simple searches, and you can also download the relevant data files.

The Censtats databases also include information such as building permits, international trade data and housing data.

What about you? What are your favorite places to get data from the U.S. Census? How about from other agencies in the U.S. or other countries? What cool data tools can you point us to?

Exactly How Responsible Are We For Privacy?

privacyFacebook recently entered a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission admitting all manner of fraud in its privacy policies.  The list of violations admitted are shocking enough to make the most hardened among us blush.

Here is the list of violations to which Facebook admitted, from the FTC announcement.

  • “Facebook changed its website so certain information that users may have designated as private – such as their Friends List – was made public. They didn’t warn users that this change was coming, or get their approval in advance.”
  • “Facebook represented that third-party apps that users’ installed would have access only to user information that they needed to operate. In fact, the apps could access nearly all of users’ personal data – data the apps didn’t need.”
  • “Facebook told users they could restrict sharing of data to limited audiences – for example with ‘Friends Only.’ In fact, selecting ‘Friends Only’ did not prevent their information from being shared with third-party applications their friends used.”
  • “Facebook had a ‘Verified Apps’ program & claimed it certified the security of participating apps. It didn’t.”
  • “Facebook promised users that it would not share their personal information with advertisers. It did.”
  • “Facebook claimed that when users deactivated or deleted their accounts, their photos and videos would be inaccessible. But Facebook allowed access to the content, even after users had deactivated or deleted their accounts.”
  • “Facebook claimed that it complied with the U.S.- EU Safe Harbor Framework that governs data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. It didn’t.”

We shouldn’t be surprised that Facebook would use every means at its disposal to gain a business advantage (especially if you’ve see The Social Network), but the sheer impunity of the violations is still shocking.

Facebook agreed to a long list of reforms, but do you still feel good about using social media data in your research analysis?

If you have any grounding in the history of market research and its respect for respondent privacy, you should pause to consider the implications of the Facebook settlement for the future of market research.

Research-Live.com editor Brian Tarran writes about this dilemma in his recent post, “What the Facebook FTC settlement means for market research.”

“The question is, how do researchers respond knowing that errors of technology and ethical judgement might be commonplace?” Tarran writes. “Can they – and more importantly, should they – trust the promises a site makes to its users about its terms of service or privacy policy? Legal recourse for misuse of data might land on the website itself, but does that mean researchers are absolved of all ethical and moral responsibility to the people they are taking data from?”

These are important issues, indeed. As an industry, we should keep our eyes wide open and continue to be the skeptical data consumers we have been trained to be.

We should use our professional judgement to exclude data where there is a reasonable supposition that privacy violations exist.

We should lend our strong support to proper regulatory efforts like the FTC’s investigation as privacy advocates and as professionals with an interest in data integrity.

Once we’ve taken those steps, though, we’ve done our part.

We should then keep forging ahead and using social media data in our analyses.

It would be a shame if our noble concern for privacy were to stop us from innovating and taking advantage of new data sources, data collection methodologies and analytical techniques.

The reality is we are limited in our ability to control the privacy policies and practices of other organizations.  We must rely on the proper authorities to enforce privacy violations.  We should have a critical approach to our use of data.

Beyond that, we have satisfied our responsibility, and we should proceed boldly.

Photo Credit:  Alan Cleaver

Liquor Privatization Initiative Accurately Pegged by Pre-Election Online Survey

liquorSurvey Analytics is pleased to report that our recent poll of King County, Washington voters called the outcome of the State of Washington’s liquor privatization initiative with a high degree of precision.

Our political poll marks an exciting and innovative, new approach whereby public opinion researchers, public affairs firms, political consultants and political campaigns themselves can cost-effectively and efficiently take the pulse of the electorate.

1183

Back in late October through early November, we invited likely voters residing in King County and Seattle to weigh in on various ballot measures, candidates and other matters. One of the most prominent issues on the November 8 General Election ballot was Initiative 1183, which will privatize the sales and distribution of liquor.

A total of 2,001 likely King County voters took part in our survey. When asked how they would vote “if the election were held today,” 61% said yes and 33% said no, with 6% undecided. In the actual election results, 60% of ballots cast voted for the initiative and 40% against. A match-back analysis of the survey sample suggests that those who participated were closely representative of the King County electorate, in terms of party affiliation, gender and age.

Liquor Chart

Unlike full-blown telephone surveys typically used by pollsters, our unique approach can be fielded within minutes and produce meaningful results within hours. Complete cross-tabulation data and topline results are available immediately. A complete analysis of our survey and its results is coming soon.

Note: For more information on this survey, check out this post on the SurveyAnalytics Blog:  ”Voter Panels – a real-world application in predicting outcomes of voter initiatives.”  

Election Polls: 5 Tips For Navigating the Clutter

vote buttonTomorrow is Election Day here in the States.  The big vote (for President) isn’t until next year, but we have the usual spate of races for local offices as well as a wide range of citizen-initiated referenda on everything from the mundane (bond measures) to the highly divisive (social issues).

As the expected avalanche of survey results washes over me and everybody else (accompanied by a barrage of television advertising, internet electioneering, and attack mailers), I thought I’d share some tips for understanding which poll results to heed, and which to take with the proverbial grain of salt.

My experience in the world of election polling has given me a bit of insight into this topic; I hope these tips help you find your way on your journey through the sea of election polling data.

1. Understand the Methodology

The best way to judge an election poll – indeed, any survey – is to have a good understanding of the study’s methodology.  Unfortunately, reporting on survey methodology is often woefully inadequate, scarcely going beyond a reporting of the margin of error.  However, sometimes one can read between the lines of a story to gain a better understanding of the circumstances under which the poll was conducted, including: timing, data collection mode and survey length.

If the methodology is completely unclear from the article, be a good citizen and email the editor requesting clarification.  The rest of us will thank you!

2. Think Random

Generally speaking, in election surveys, relative to market research surveys, it is particularly important to have sampling methods that give all likely voters as equal as possible an opportunity to be surveyed.  Look for efforts to ensure a representative sample, including:

- surveying voters at different times of day and on different days of the week
- compensating for sampling limitations such as telephone coverage, cell phone coverage, and internet access
- using a “likely voter” screening question, ensuring only those both registered and likely to vote are considered.

Also, be wary of  polls conducted using automated telephone interviews rather than trained interviewers.

3. Evaluate the News Source

As good a data consumer as you are, you cannot realistically check the fine details of methodology on every study.  Therefore, pay attention to the reputation and track record of both the publishing entity.

More reputable organizations tend to higher publishing standards than less reputable ones; they have more to lose if they publish bad reporting.  Put more stock in a study reported by the Washington Post or the Pew Research Center than a study sponsored by a smaller or less reputable newspaper, website, non-profit organization.

In local elections, sometimes the most reputable (though hardly infallible) source is the state or locality’s largest newspaper.  However, look for critical analysis rather than simple reporting of results.

4. Pay Attention to the Sponsor.  Often a group with a vested interest in an election will privately commission a survey to be used for internal strategy; however, if some of the results support their public relations efforts, they will release an (often-misleading) subset of the data in order to influence the electorate.  Sometimes entire carefully-worded polls will be conducted which are meant for public release.  Be very skeptical of any data paid for by a group or persons with an interest in the election’s outcome.

5. Learn from the Experts.  There is a wealth of great content created by smart people who focus on analyzing election data.  Take advantage of their wisdom!  I’m partial to HuffPost Pollster (formerly Pollster.com) – check out my friends Mark Blumenthal (a.k.a. “@MysteryPollster“) and Margie Omero – and Nate Silver’s Five Thirty Eight blog at the New York Times.

These resources are primarily focused on U.S. Elections; there are undoubtedly many more good resources out there both for the U.S. and everywhere else; please suggest others in the comments section below.

I hope these tips are useful to you.  And if you’re in the U.S., don’t forget to vote tomorrow!

Mobile Polling of the State of the Union

Tomorrow night, President Barack Obama will deliver his State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. Every major political event, but especially a presidential address, is always soon followed by a slew of polling information conducted by media outlets, analyst firms, and so on. We’ll hear news stories that tell us how the President performed, based on the opinion of sampling of a few hundred people.

We all know market research, and those polls can certainly be an accurate representation of public sentiment. But we also know that larger samples equal better data. That’s why I’m following the SurveyAnalytics State of the Union project. This project is a joint effort of SurveyAnalytics, SurveySwipe (a new mobile device research platform), Cooper Strategies, and UMass Amherst.
[Read more...]

How Crowdsourcing is used at FEMA

One of the most interesting and seemingly impactful uses of crowdsourcing technology seems to be taking place within governments. (We’ve talked about this before with Bev Godwin of the GSA and  Haley VanDyck of the FCC.)

Recently, Craig Fugate, Administrator of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) posted to the White House Blog about how FEMA is using crowdsourcing and public challenges to engage the public, gather input and feedback, and generate new ideas.
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Interview with Bev Godwin of the US General Services Administration

Continuing our series of interviews from the Government 2.0 Summit, we spoke with Bev Godwin, Director of New Media and Citizen Engagement for the US General Services Administration (found on Twitter at twitter.com/govnewmedia). Bev sat down to talk with us about ways the GSA is providing new social media-based research and feedback tools to agencies throughout the Federal government to improve the governments connection with the public. She also introduced us to Challenge.gov, a new initiative that allows the public to participate in solving challenges facing the government.

(If you are receiving this post via e-mail or RSS, be sure to click through to the Web version to view the embedded video.)

Interview with Haley VanDyck – Director of Citizen Engagement, FCC

Continuing our series of interview from the Government 2.0 Summit, we sat down with Haley VanDyck. Haley is the Director of Citizen Engagement for the Federal Communications Commission, and she spoke with us about ways that the FCC is using social media technologies like crowdsourcing to engage with citizens and collect public comments on new regulation (see the Broadband.gov IdeaScale instance for an example).

(If you are receiving this post via e-mail or RSS, be sure to click through to the Web version to view the embedded video.)