Once, Only Once, and in the Right Place

The usefulness of US decennial census depends critically on the accuracy with which individual people are counted in specific housing units, at precise geographic locations. This book reviews the evolution of residence rules and the way residence concepts are presented to respondents.

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The usefulness of the U.S. decennial census depends critically on the accuracy with which individual people are counted in specific housing units, at precise geographic locations. The 2000 and other recent censuses have relied on a set of residence rules to craft instructions on the census questionnaire in order to guide respondents to identify their correct "usual residence." Determining the proper place to count such groups as college students, prisoners, and military personnel has always been complicated and controversial; major societal trends such as placement of children in shared custody arrangements and the prevalence of "snowbird" and "sunbird" populations who regularly move to favorable climates further make it difficult to specify ties to one household and one place. Once, Only Once, and in the Right Place reviews the evolution of current residence rules and the way residence concepts are presented to respondents. It proposes major changes to the basic approach of collecting residence information and suggests a program of research to improve the 2010 and future censuses.Table of Contents


Front Matter
Executive Summary
I Residence and the Census - 1 Introduction
2 Residence Rules: Development and Interpretation
II Residence Rules Meet Real Life: Challenges in Defining Residence - 3 The Nonhousehold Population
4 Complex and Ambiguous Living Situations
5 Mirroring America: Living Situations and the Census
III Improvements for the Future - 6 Residence Principles for the Decennial Census
7 Nonhousehold Enumeration
8 Operations, Research, and Testing
References
Appendix A Residence Rules of the 2000 Census
Appendix B Residence Concepts and Questions in Selected Foreign Censuses
Appendix C Americans Residing Overseas
Appendix D Biographical Sketches of Panel Members and Staff
Index