Good data is necessary – but not sufficient in itself – for evidence-based decision making. After all, you can’t make an evidence-based decision without evidence, right?
That’s why it’s dismaying that the folks at the Census are considering removing a crucial set of items when the next Census comes around in 2020. Here’s the proposal. These are the items on the chopping block:
Housing Question No. 6—Is there a business (such as a store or barber shop) or a medical office on this property?
Person Question No. 12—This question focuses on this person’s Bachelor’s Degree. Please print below the specific major(s) of any Bachelor’s Degrees this person has received.
Person Question No. 21a—In the past 12 months did this person get—Married?
Person Question No. 21b—In the past 12 months did this person get—Widowed?
Person Question No. 21c—In the past 12 months did this person get—Divorced?
Person Question No. 22—How many times has this person been married?
Person Question No. 23—In what year did this person last get married?
Let me get a bit lawyerly for a minute. The Census originates from the United States Constitution (Article I, Section 2). The Founders required an “Enumeration” every ten years in order to apportion the number of members of the House of Representatives. Since the very first Census in 1790, Congress has included more than just “enumeration” questions under the necessary and proper clause. And yes, everyone is required by law to answer all of the questions because, according to the government (drumroll please)… missing data is bad!
At TrueBearing, we use Census and ACS data all the time. For those of you that don’t, here’s why these items are important:
- Census data is used for many purposes that are vital to American life. In particular, the data on the chopping block here is used nationally and by states to allocate funding and resources for important social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and TANF.
- Census data also helps public, private, and nonprofit decisionmakers in many crucial ways.
It may not be the spotted owl, or the whales, but we think data is important enough to deserve our protection too.
Compared to the irreparable harm of failing to collect this data, the marginal additional cost of maintaining these items (and the negligible time it takes to respond to these questions) does not justify making this change.
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