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APDU Call For Board Nominations
Once again it is time to think about next year’s APDU leadership. This year our president, vice-president and one at-large board member positions are up for election. If you are interested in running for one of these positions, please speak with one of the nominating committee members. More details can be found here.
Webinar: User Needs for Calculating Standard Errors in the ACS
October 15, 2010
3pm – 4pm EST
Host: Warren Brown, University of Georgia
Presenters: Doug Hillmer, Independent Consultant, and Jane Traynham, Maryland State Data Center
Description: With the ACS, it is increasingly important that data users pay attention to standard errors. This session is aimed at helping users better understand and calculate those errors. What are the requirements that should be addressed by an online statistical calculator to facilitate users manipulating published tabulations and calculating appropriate measures of reliability?
Users needing to calculate the reliability of various estimates—such as differences between geographic areas, differences over time, ratios, and proportions—need to have an online tool that facilitates the process. This webinar is directed at users of the tabulated data from the ACS who have found it necessary to calculate measures of reliability but find the process to be arduous, time consuming, and with a high likelihood of errors. The presenters will share their ideas for the specification of requirements and seek feedback from the webinar participants.
News Items
Putting America to Work: The Essential Role of Federal Labor Market Statistics
During a roundtable event at Brookings on September 27, APDU President Andrew Reamer facilitated a series of presentations and focused discussions with Federal statistical agencies and leading data users (including representatives from APDU) on:
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The value of current, accurate, detailed federal statistics for the functioning of the nation’s labor markets
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Innovations in labor market information that could substantially improve the decision-making by labor market participants and policymakers
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An assessment of the current state of the federal labor market statistics system
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A vision and roadmap for a system that meets labor market participant and policymaker needs
Full details available, including speaker presentations and handouts provide here.
BLS Develops New Employment Projection Program Catagories
BLS has proposed new education and training categories for use in their Employment Projections Program. These categories are used to characterize occupations according to the typical education and training required, and often appear in career information and policy analysis.
The new categories were published for public comment in the Federal Register on September 29. BLS welcomes your comments by November 30. You can find the Federal Register Notice, the definitions, an experimental data set that applies the new categories to about 100 occupations, and additional information here.
KIDS COUNT Incorporates ACS Poverty Data
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT Data Center has been updated to include poverty data from the 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) that was released on September 28 by the U.S. Census Bureau. The Data Center for the first time breaks down child poverty rates by congressional district, highlighting those with the highest and lowest percent of children living below the poverty line.
APDU Co-Sponsors World Statistics Day Activities
APDU is pleased to announced its co-sponsorship of “National Statistics: Sound Science, Sound Policy, Strong Democracy,” a World Statistics Day event to be held October 20, 2010, 8:30-10:30, on Capitol Hill.
Speakers include Census Bureau Director Robert Groves (“Statistics in a Democracy”), former Census Bureau Director Ken Prewitt (“Federal Statistics Anchor a Science-Based Understanding of Society and Economy”), and Bureau of Economic Analysis Director Steven Landefeld (“75 Years and the Future: Understanding the U.S. Economy through Statistical Data”).
APDU members are encouraged to attend. The invitation, with room information, is available here. To attend, you must RSVP by October 13, 2010.
Notable Data Publications
Each week, APDU Data Update identifies recent statistical agency data releases and discussions of interest to APDU members.
Calls for Comment
APDU maintains a list of open calls for comment on proposed federal data collections ( http://www.apdu.org/advocacy.asp). We periodically alert APDU members to newly added calls for comment. Over the last several weeks, calls for comment on the following proposed data collections were published in the Federal Register (with due date): Bureau of Labor Statistics
- National Compensation Survey (November 3, 2010)
- Annual Refiling Survey Forms (November 5, 2010)
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- 2011 Opioid Treatment Program (OTP) Supplement Survey (December 3, 2010)
Federal Highway Administration
- Heavy Vehicle Travel Information System (November 5, 2010)
APDU encourages its members to take advantage of these opportunities to make their voices heard. All comments, whether a simple affirmation or detailed suggestions on instrument design, are helpful in seeing that data users have access to the statistics we need.
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ASA SRMS/AAPOR Webinar:
Small Area Estimation
Oct. 19, 2010
The Survey Research Methods Section of American Statistical Association and
AAPOR are proud to announce the next webinar in their new web-based training
program.
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS
PUBLIC SEMINAR
Friday, Oct. 22, 2010
Terrell Conference Center, 575 7th St, NW, Washington, DC The Capitol Room
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