(Webinar) An Annual Conversation with the U.S. Census Bureau: Addressing Data Quality Challenges in the 2020 American Community Survey

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been demonstrably far reaching and, by now, fairly well documented. One facet of this COVID-related disruption that has recently come to light is the interruption to data collection processes and response patterns for yearly federal surveys, such as the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS), that provide estimates of health insurance coverage for the United States population.

On Wednesday, January 19th, SHADAC researchers Kathleen Call and Robert Hest welcomed U.S. Census Bureau expert Mark Klee for a discussion regarding the unique challenges the Census Bureau faced in both data collection and production efforts for the 2020 ACS, resulting in a more limited set of "experimental" estimates being released this year.  

Attendees had the opportunity to:

• Learn about impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on 2020 estimates and data collection efforts in the ACS
• Learn about the methodology behind the production of the 2020 ACS experimental estimates
• Learn about 2020 ACS-related products from both the Census Bureau and SHADAC

Experts Sharon Stern, Laryssa Mykyta, and Nicole Scaniello from the Census Bureau also be joined the webinar for an open forum question and answer session after the presentation.

Resources

Slides from both SHADAC and the U.S. Census Bureau are available to download.

SHADAC

• Comparing Federal Surveys Annual Brief (2021)
• U.S. Census Bureau Analytic Report Shows Significant Non-Response Bias in the 2020 American Community Survey (Blog)
• Current Population Survey (CPS) will Serve as Primary Source of 2020 State-level Data on Health Insurance (Blog)
• Current Population Survey Shows 2020 National Uninsured Rate Stable, Rising in Three States (Blog)
• 2021 CPS ASEC: Fewer Americans Had Health Insurance Coverage in 2020 — Private Coverage Fell while Public Coverage Rose (Blog)

Census Bureau

• An Assessment of the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impact on the 2020 ACS 1-Year Data (Working Paper)
• Addressing Nonresponse Bias in the American Community Survey during the Pandemic Using Administrative Data (Working Paper)
• How Does the Pandemic Affect Survey Response: Using Administrative Data to Evaluate Nonresponse in the Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (Blog)
• The Influence of COVID-19-Related Data Collection Changes on Measuring Health Insurance Coverage in the 2020 CPS ASEC (Working Paper)
• How Did the Pandemic Affect Survey Response: Using Administrative Data Evaluate Nonresponse in the 2021 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (Blog)