What does a census taker do? >Page 1, 2
What does a census taker do if nobody's home when they come knocking? Keep knocking.
- The enumerator must make up to six attempts to complete a questionnaire.
If no one is home at an occupied housing unit, the enumerator obtains as much information as possible about how to contact the occupants from a neighbor, building manager, or another source.
The enumerator also leaves a notice at the address that they have visited and provides a telephone number so the occupant can call back.
The enumerator then makes up to two additional personal visits (3 in all) and three telephone attempts at contacting the household before obtaining as much information as possible to complete the questionnaire from a knowledgeable source. Enumerators are instructed to make their callbacks on different days of the week and at different times of day.
The enumerator must maintain a record of callbacks that lists each type of callback made (telephone or personal visit) and the exact date and time it occurred. Enumerators are expected to obtain complete interviews but must obtain at least the status (occupied or vacant) and the number of people living in the unit.
If the enumerator submits a questionnaire that contains this minimal level of data, the crew leader must check the enumerator's record of callbacks for the housing unit to determine that procedures were properly followed. The crew leader also holds these cases for possible further follow-up to obtain more complete data.
- Crew leaders meet daily with each enumerator to pick up
and check completed work.
Crew leaders are expected to make sure that the enumerators produce quality work at a rate of 1 to 1.5 completed questionnaires per hour depending on the type of area covered. Crew leaders check each completed questionnaire for completeness and accuracy.
In order to prevent falsification of the data by enumerators, a percentage of each enumerator's work is verified for accuracy by a re-interview staff. This staff verifies a sample of each enumerator's work and may also verify additional questionnaires from enumerators whose work differs significantly from that of other enumerators working for the same crew leader. An enumerator who is discovered falsifying data is dismissed immediately and all the work must be redone by another enumerator.
And so it goes until a completed census questionnaire has been completed and turned into the local census office for every housing unit address in America.
Like all other employees of the Census Bureau, enumerators are subject by law to severe penalties including imprisonment for divulging information outside of the required scope of their job.
Considering the public's overall fondness for the Census 2000 mail-in form, doesn't being a census taker and going out to get those answers in person sound like a fun way to pick up a few extra bucks for the summer?
Reference Links:
Complete Statement by Census Bureau Director Kenneth W. Prewitt
As presented to the House Subcommittee on the Census, April 5, 2000.House Subcommittee on the Census
Chaired by Rep. Dan Miller (R. - FL), they oversee the operations of the Census Bureau.Census 2000 - Help With Forms
Need help filling out your census questionnaire? Look here. You might even be able to complete it online.How the Census Accounts for People Who Don't Respond
The Census Bureau's official answer to this controversial question.Title 13 - United States Code
The complete law on the census from Cornell University.Counting on the Census?
A policy analysis from the Brookings Institute.
Also on US Government Info/Resources |
Discuss Census 2000: Good or Bad?
Read or take part in an online discussion group of this issue on your Guide's public forum.Why Should You Answer the Census?
Find out how your community depends on a complete and accurate census.Census 2000 Fast Facts
What's the schedule for Census 2000? What's on the Census form? What is there to be counted?Jobs at the Census Bureau? Count on It!
Thousands of full and part time workers across the nation are being hired now.
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From other About.com Guide Sites |
Tear Up that Census Form
Civil Liberties Guide J.D. Tuccille presents reasons for not taking part in Census 2000.Senseless Census Mess
With the Census Bureau implicated in the internment of Japanese-Americans, the whole exercise in nosiness is on the ropes. Civil Liberties Guide, J.D. Tuccille reports.Will Census 2000 Hurt Blacks?
African-American Culture Guide, R. Jeneen Jones, examines how Census 2000's new method for identifying race may actually work against African-Americans.The Definition of Self
Will the new expanded race classifications of Census 2000 address the needs of multiracial individuals? Race Relations Guide, Kimberly Hohman reports.Census 2000: Geography NetLinks
Links to all you need to know about the geographic tools of Census 2000 from Geography Guide, Matt Rosenberg.Asian American Groups Gear Up
Guide Vincent Law reports why an accurate count in Census 2000 is of vital importance to Asian-Americans and what APA groups are doing to it happens.
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