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Activity Number:
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327
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Type:
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Contributed
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Date/Time:
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Tuesday, August 4, 2009 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
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Sponsor:
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Section on Survey Research Methods
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| Abstract - #305528 |
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Title:
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Small-Area Variance Modeling with Application to County Poverty Estimates from the American Community Survey
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Author(s):
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Jerry J. Maples*+ and William R. Bell and Elizabeth T. Huang
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Companies:
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U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau
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Address:
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4600 Silver Hill Rd., Washington, DC, 20233,
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Keywords:
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Variance estimation ; generalized variance function ; small area models ; Replication Methods ; American Community Survey
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Abstract:
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Designed-based variances in the American Community Survey (ACS) are estimated using a replicate weight methodology (Fay, 1995). In counties with small sample sizes, the variance estimates of poverty statistics show wide variation as a function of sample size. Generalized Variance Functions (GVF) can be used to smooth out the uncertainty of the design based variance. We propose incorporating GVFs with small area model techniques to smooth out the variability in counties where the precision of the design-based variance is lacking. These smoothed variances can then be used in the small area models for poverty estimates.
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