The American Community Survey: practical considerations for researchers

Abstract

Purpose

This paper seeks to provide researchers and librarians with an overview of the US Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), with a specific focus on practical issues that users must face when choosing and using ACS datasets.

Design/methodology/approach

Each of the following issues are explored subsequent to a general overview of the ACS: choosing among census datasets from different census programs, interpreting and choosing between the different ACS period estimates, selecting census geography, understanding and recalculating margins of error, and accessing the data. Samples of ACS tables and formulas for creating derived estimates are used to illustrate how to interpret and work with the data.

Findings

The ACS datasets are fundamentally different from the decennial census as they are period estimates created from rolling sample surveys. The ACS has a steeper learning curve; this complexity is due in part to the number of choices users must make between datasets, but the primary challenge is learning how to understand and work with estimates as opposed to population counts.

Originality/value

While other papers have discussed the benefits and challenges of the ACS, this paper is structured around the practical issues that researchers must face when using it. Special consideration is given to calculating derived estimates using spreadsheet formulas, as this is a key task that many users will need to perform and spreadsheets are the most likely tool users will employ to manipulate the data.

Citation

Donnelly, F.P. (2013), "The American Community Survey: practical considerations for researchers", Reference Services Review, Vol. 41 No. 2, pp. 280-297. https://doi.org/10.1108/00907321311326228