Talk:United States Census
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[edit] IBM and the census
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- IBM's first electronic computer was created primarily to deal with the needs of the census in addition to military and academic uses.
Does this really need to be in the section with the 1890 census? -- anonymous posting at 19:54, 2 May 2005 (UTC)
- The comment certainly belongs in this article, as it's important to know that the U.S. census helped early drive the development of computers. I think the real problem is that the sectioning into "nth Census of the United States" just doesn't work. I suspect that when that gets fixed, the text you mention will get moved to a more appropriate section. — DLJessup 14:48, 3 May 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Constitutionally mandated?
I did a quick search through the Wikisource of the Constitution for "census" and the list of powers of Congress, but found 2 mentions and none stated there MUST be a census, unless there was an inferred meaning. Anyone else know? Thanx 68.39.174.91 19:57, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
- Article 1, Section 2: "The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct." The "Enumeration" is what we refer to as the Census. — DLJessup 20:13, 11 July 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Move
- Can't do it without an admin, though. —Mark Adler (markles) 13:15, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
Speedied. —Nightstallion (?) 13:58, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] What data is collected?
A great thing to add to this article would be what questions are asked/what data is collected. Right now I'm trying to find if religious information is taken in the census, but having an exact list would be even more benificial. Wizard191 22:37, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
Religion questions are not asked. The "short form" asks for your name, sex, age and birthdate, tenure (own or rent), race, Hispanic origin. To be able to apportion representatives, the Census Bureau needs to report how many people live where. The reason for name, age, etc. is to ensure that each person is counted once. Get a hold of the 2000 "long form" for the questions to see the questions that are typically asked. --SilverWoodchuck47 01:32, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Estimates between Official Census
I think it would be beneficial for this article and many other articles if there could be some information added regarding intermediate censuses (e.g., "2004 Census"). Frequently, (as of 3/26/06), articles cite the 2005 population. For example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Houston
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlanta_metropolitan_area
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix%2C_Arizona
The official census website [1] frequently lists a 2004 census as semi-official. I haven't found any official 2005 estimates though.
Does anyone know the standards for these intermediate censuses? Methods used? Links to them? I think this would be helpful to many wikipedia articles. User:24.175.64.6
Censuses between the decennial censuses are "test censuses." They are used to evaluate new questions, evaluate rewording of questions, and to try and incorporate new technologies and procedures. The Census Bureau is always to trying to improve data collection quality. There was a 2004 test census and a 2005 test census. There is currently a 2006 test census (data for which won't be available until early next year, I believe) and there will be a 2008 Dress Rehearsal Census. What do you mean by "standards" and "methods?"--SilverWoodchuck47 01:41, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
