If you'd rather place an order by talking to one of our cheerful order desk clerks, please call 1-888-232-4444 (USA and Canada only) or 250-383-6864. From Europe, ring our UK order desk clerk at local rate number 0845 230 9601 (UK only) or 44 (0)1865 722 113.

American Community Survey Data for Community Planning

by Cynthia M. Taeuber; Foreword by Kenneth Prewitt

185 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); contains B&W charts and graphs; catalogue #06-2809; ISBN 1-4251-1050-9; US$39.95, C$45.94, EUR32.82, £22.97

The American Community Survey provides updated population and housing statistics. Learn how to find the data and use them to investigate issues that challenge your area or population group.

About the Book

American Community Survey Data for Community Planning helps new and expert data users:

• Learn practical skills for finding and using population and housing statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau*s American Community Survey.
  
• Investigate issues that challenge your community, state, the nation, and different population groups.
  

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a powerful new dataset but it is not your mother's decennial census. Learn:

• How to find and analyze demographic, social, economic, and housing statistics for geographic areas and people (e.g., teenage mothers, college graduates, poor families).
  
• The basics for finding and using data in the American Community Survey.
  
• The strengths of the data set and its limitations.

Many of the skills and concepts you learn from American Community Survey Data for Community Planning will help you find and use other data sets from the U.S. Census Bureau including the decennial census.

American Community Survey Data for Community Planning covers:

Part I: American Community Survey Basics —the essentials you need to formulate your questions and identify your data needs.

Part II: Finding Your Data teaches geographic concepts and helps you use the American FactFinder to find the data.

Part III: Making Sense of Your Data describes analytic techniques, sources of error in data, differences between census counts and survey estimates, aspects of data accuracy and accounting for sampling error in your analyses, and how to compare estimates.

Part IV: Writing Your Report describes how to avoid common errors, how to use the multi-year statistics from the American Community Survey's rolling sample, and gives you tips on writing reports.

Part V: Descriptive Measures, Common Errors, and Useful References

At the end of each part, exercises are provided so you can test your understanding of important concepts by making decisions and solving problems.

Reviews

One of the most valuable new Census products in generations, the American Community Survey (ACS) is designed to address concerns expressed by policy makers and data users that demographic data about Americans is typically old and collected only once very ten years. In 2006, the ACS moved into a new phase of data gathering. As more data becomes available on detailed demographics about the US, its states, counties, and communities, it is becoming more valuable to community planners.

Cynthia Taeuber, a long-time leader at Census during the development of the ACS, has written an invaluable guide on what the ACS can do for those of us involved in planning and supporting economic, community, and workforce development. The guidebook is organized to provide basic information about what the ACS does and how it compares with the decennial census and other national surveys. She explains that this "moving video" replaces the traditional "snap-shot" long-form survey that was previously completed as a companion to the decennial census count.

The true value of this book is its role as a reference for data users who are interested in learning more about how the ACS data is structured and delivered and who wish to know more about the advantages and disadvantages of the data. Furthermore, Taeuber goes beyond the data available in ACS to provide tips on how to use the data – and perhaps more importantly, how NOT to use some of the new and unique data elements.

By 2011, the US will have a full picture of the data for all areas of the nation, and the Census will be able to provide annual updates of 5-year average data for every part of the US. These annual updates will likely become an integral part of how we describe our communities and regions. We will be able to monitor annual changes in population, per capita income, racial and ethnic make-up in ways that we were never able to do before. These changes promise to revolutionize policy making and business investment decisions based on much more current, statistically validated estimates than have ever been available previously.

Taeuber's book is a "must-have" for your reference library and could serve as the basis for teaching local users – business persons, researchers, and planners – about how to understand and use basic demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

The 185-page paperback book represents the "manual" for using ACS. It is available at Amazon.com (search for "American Community Survey Data for Community Planning").

The Council for Community and Economic Research

About the Author

Cynthia M. Taeuber, principal of CMTaeuber & Associates, is an award-winning demographer, trainer, and writer. With 30 years of experience at the U.S. Census Bureau, her work encompassed the development of statistics to address public policy issues and the transformation of demographic and economic data into knowledge for decision-makers. She was on the team that developed the American Community Survey and she directed the Analytic Staff for the American Community Survey. In her career at the Census Bureau, she worked on various aspects of decennial censuses, directed the Census Bureau’s Customer Liaison Office, including the State Data Center program, and developed marketing and training materials and technical documentation. She worked often with the Congress and the press. After retiring from the Census Bureau, she became a senior policy advisor at The Jacob France Institute of the University of Baltimore. While there, she used administrative records to study national and state workforce development issues, survey data quality, and offered counsel for projects on community statistics and federal statistical data. She has consulted with the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. and other clients on development of community statistics, metadata issues, and approaches to data confidentiality.

Ms. Taeuber has authored major books and publications on diverse demographic and economic topics, including the older population and women in the American economy. She holds a Master's degree in demography from Georgetown University and a Bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Texas.

Excerpts