Census Catalog and Guide
Description of publication
The Census Catalog and Guide: 1996, the 50th edition of the publication, is both a comprehensive catalog and a substantial guide to the programs and services of the Census Bureau. As a catalog, it describes or lists the products (such as reports and machine-readable files) issued from mid-1993 through 1995. Those issued since 1995 appear in the Monthly Product Annoucement (see Recommended Supplement"). Readers interested in Census Bureau products issued from 1988 through 1993 should refer to Census Catalog and Guide: 1994, which provides a generally complete record of those years. The Census Catalog and Guide: 1996 also includes a number of features, such as a chart on product series in the "Product Overview" chapter and an extensive "Sources of Assistance" appendix. Chapter introductions provide key information about the censuses, surveys, and other programs that are the sources of data products described in the chapters. Most products are organized by subject into such chapters as agriculture, business, and foreign trade; but a special section combines references for the 1990 Census of Population and Housing, which is particularly useful for marketing research.
Business Information (described in Chapter 1 of this text) does an excellent job explaining the census process in the United States. Laven has even written a separate book on the subject, Understanding the Census: A Guide for Marketers, Planners, Grant Writers and Other Data Users (ISBN 0-89774-995-2) at Oryx Press, (800) 279-6799, or at Web site: www.oryxpress.com. Designed as a textbook, a handbook, and a ready-reference tool, Understanding the Census is written in a student-friendly narrative style with research tips, background information, and appendixes that provide valuable support data, answering such important questions as:
- How was the Census planned and conducted?
- What is the purpose of each Census question?
- How are the geographical boundaries determined?
- How are the data organized?
Business Information reports:
One of the most important categories of business information is statistics on people and their characteristics. The mother lode of demographic data in the United States is the decennial Census of Population and Housing. Only the federal government could attempt to collect systematic information about every man, woman, and child. The results of such an immense undertaking are necessarily complex. Census materials are widely regarded as the most difficult and frustrating of all statistical publications. It is essential, however, for researchers to have a clear understanding of what they contain and how they can be used. No other single body of data is as comprehensive as the decennial Census.
In short, the decennial Census provides information on the number and basic characteristics of both the people and the housing situation in the United States. There are, according to Lavin, two reasons the Census is unique among statistical resources: it is the only complete survey of all people in the nation and it is the only one that provides data at the city block level.
Something to Do
If you are thinking of using Census data to solve a research problem, you must first translate the terms of your demographic questions into the Census format. Think you can do it? Find the appropriate terms for the examples given below:
Question Asked: Children per household, Female head of household, Size of household, Currently divorced, Ever divorced, Foreign-born
Census Language: Household relationship, Family composition, Family type, Household type (fill in the right Census terms)
www.census.gov
CD available
Database: Stat- USA
Census Catalog and Guide
Annual publication
ISBN 0-16-048723-4
For more information, call
the Bureau of the Census at (301) 457-4100; fax: (301) 457-4714; Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office: (202) 512-1800
Phone: (301) 457-4714;