Abstract #301537

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JSM 2003 Abstract #301537
Activity Number: 370
Type: Contributed
Date/Time: Wednesday, August 6, 2003 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
Abstract - #301537
Title: Impact of Data Capture Technology on Data Quality in Census 2000
Author(s): Jennifer W. Reichert*+ and Joseph D. Conklin
Companies: U.S. Census Bureau and
Address: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Washington, DC, 20233-0001,
Keywords: data capture ; Census 2000 ; imaging technology ; OCR ; OMR ; automatic character recognition
Abstract:

This paper paints in broad outline the performance of automated data capture and imaging technology with respect to the data quality of responses to Census 2000. Census 2000 was the first decennial census to employ this technology. The goal was to vastly increase the speed of translating responses into electronic data files without compromising accuracy compared to the benchmark data capture standard. The multiplicity of census forms, data processing locations, and special variables of interest are explained, and the explanation brings into sharp focus the many challenges that had to be overcome to achieve success. Successful implementation of the data capture was measured in large part by how accurately it interpreted responses to a predetermined sample of Census 2000 forms selected in advance for evaluation purposes. The standards for measuring accuracy are summarized. Analysis revealed excellent global performance, but there were quality issues related to particular types of fields that emerged. We supplement the discussion of the good overall performance with consideration of these issues. We offer possible reasons for these issues, and we speculate on the implications

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