The NSF-Census Research Network (NCRN) Spring 2014 Meeting Introduction by John Thompson Director, Census Bureau

Purpose  The NSF-Census Research Network provides support for a set of research nodes  Each staffed by a team of scientists conducting interdisciplinary research and educational activities  Focused on methodological questions of interest and significance to the broader research community and to the Federal Statistical System, particularly the U.S. Census Bureau.  Activities advance both fundamental and applied knowledge as well as further the training of current and future generations of researchers 2

3 main objectives for grantees  Perform high quality research of use to the Federal Statistical System  Undertake collaboration that leads to innovative FSS activities  Educate students to become familiar with issues of economic and social measurement 3

NODES  Eight grants (6 medium and 2 small nodes) were awarded, with work beginning 1 October 2011 and each running for 5 years. 4 Medium NodesSmall Nodes Carnegie-MellonU Colorado – Boulder/U Tennessee CornellNorthwester Univ. Duke/NISS Univ. of Michigan Univ. of Missouri-Columbia Univ. of Nebraska - Lincoln  NSF has also awarded a coordination grant (NISS/Cornell); see

Activities  Conferences are held semi-annually  Last conference focused on record linkage and metadata  Also hold series of virtual seminars  Allows sharing between nodes  Series will start back up in October  Previous seminars available for view (see  70 published articles or pre-prints supported in whole or part by NCRN (as of 9/30/13) 5

NCRN and Census: Research examples related to Census guiding principles 6 1.Integrated metadata-driven survey and census designs, processes and products Northwestern: (a) guidelines for studying data use and cost-benefit analysis of data for allocations; (b) methods for trading off cost, sample size, and response rates

NCRN and Census: Research examples related to Census guiding principles 7 2. Implement adaptive design methods in all or our surveys and censuses Nebraska: Key focus: quality of data derived from surveys, including ADAPTIVE DESIGN, Session tomorrow morning, (SURVEY INFORMATICS – RECENT VIRTUAL SEMINAR)

NCRN and Census: Research examples related to Census guiding principles 8 5. Be a Research-Driven Organization Coordinating Node: Perform outreach to Census, non- Census statistical agencies, and larger research community (All nodes contributing toward this principle)

NCRN and Census: Research examples related to Census guiding principles 9 7. Guard against insular thinking Coordinating Node: Virtual Seminars on a broad range of topics; scholars at “Summer at Census” Cornell: Training INFO7470 Duke/Michigan: SIPP Training Workshop Colorado/Tennessee: Training on geo-spatial statistics Michigan: Training for users of novel synthetic data

NCRN and Census: Research examples related to Census guiding principles Provide open data dissemination capabilities Cornell: Standards-driven effort to publish as much information about confidential microdata (see Session 1 today’s agenda) Michigan: Training for users of novel synthetic data

NCRN and Census: Research examples related to Census guiding principles Provide open data dissemination capabilities (con’t.) Cornell, CMU, Duke/NISS: Confidentiality/disclosure avoidance research Colorado/Tennessee: Improved geographic statistics Missouri: ACS focus: ACS small area estimates, spatiotemporal models and estimates, disclosure avoidance

NCRN and Census: Research examples related to Census guiding principles Fully leverage external data sources Michigan Node: Using social media (Twitter) to track job loss. CMU: Matching methods for complex data

Agenda  Today and tomorrow’s agenda focused on: –Data Documentation Initiatives (DDI) –Employer List Linkages - Summer Work Group for Employer List Linkage (SWELL) –Questionnaire design for 21 st century  SWELL project is prime example of collaboration between Census and NCRN (Michigan + Cornell) personnel.  In fact, SWELL grew out of internal Census (DEV10) project (LEHD/ACS). Involves CMU/Cornell/DUKE/Michigan 13

Agenda  Tomorrow’s panel on Adaptive Design -Plans for Adaptive Design at Census Bureau (CAD) -Univ. of Nebraska node on web surveys in adaptive designs -Imputation of continuous data (Duke node) - Privacy Trade-offs versus cost efficiency (Carnegie Mellon) 14

Upcoming events  SIPP Workshop – Univ. of Michigan June  SUMMER AT CENSUS Seminar: "Communicating Uncertainty in Official Economic Statistics” Charles Manski. June 25 at Census HQ.  Next NCRN conference: NYC, Sept

For Additional Information   (contains calendar of events).  Nancy Bates is new Census Bureau NCRN coordinator replacing Dan Weinberg 16