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APDU Data Update

Association of Public Data Users

 

APDU Data Update

 

News Items

 

Immediate Reductions in EIA’s Energy Data and Analysis Programs Necessitated by FY 2011 Funding Cut
 

The final FY 2011 budget provides $95.4 million for the Energy Information Administration, a reduction of $15.2 million (14 percent) below the FY 2010 funding level.  Access the list of initial adjustments to learn more about the impacts of this cut on EIA’s data, analysis, and forecasting programs.  
 

 

Census Bureau Releases ACS-AHS Comparison Document

The Census Bureau recently released a Comparison to Selected Housing and Financial Characteristics for the United States from the 2007 American Housing Survey.  This document compares the basic housing information collected by both surveys.  It describes the differences in methods, questions, and results.  The document should be useful for those looking to evaluate or reconcile tabulations or computations using both data sources.
 

 

Director Groves Addresses the Credibility of Government Statistics

In his latest blog entry, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves addresses credibility and transparency in government statistics production methods.  Read more here.

 

 

Version 5.2 of OnTheMap Due Out Next Week

 

The Census Bureau will release Version 5.2 of OnTheMap on May 5.  This update will correct OnTheMap application code to fix a number of bugs and will add some minor functionality, including an enhancement that will enable users to download charts and maps directly from the application.  A list of other key changes will be provided with the release.
 

 

Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study ECLS-K Database for Research and Policy Discussion
June 7-9, 2011
Application Deadline: May 6, 2011
 

The National Center for Education Statistics is sponsoring a 3-day advanced studies seminar on the use of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K) database.  The ECLS-K allows researchers to examine the relationships among a wide range of child, family, teacher, classroom, and school variables and children’s development and performance in elementary and middle school.  The training this year will focus on the ECLS-K restricted data (e.g., special education teacher data, census and geocode information, principal and teacher salary and benefits data, item-level social rating scale data, and head start verification data).

Access more information and apply here.
 

 

Notable Data Publications

 

Each week, the APDU Data Update identifies recent statistical data releases 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):

 

Office of the Chief Information Officer, HUD

  • 2012 Rental Housing Finance Survey (RHFS) (May 23, 2011)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  • Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) National Voluntary Environmental Assessment Information System (NVEAIS) (June 20, 2011)

National Institutes of Health

  • Health Information National Trends Survey 4 (HINTS 4) (June 21, 2011)

 

The APDU Data Update is delivered to you as a membership service. Take advantage of your other membership benefits by accessing the APDU member area.

April 28, 2011

 

Upcoming Events

 

Webinar:
User Perspectives on ACS

5-year Data

May 11, 2011
2:00 – 3:00 PM EDT
Register

Have you been working with the American Community Survey 5-year estimates to produce profiles for small areas?  We have, and we’d like to share what we’ve found and present some tips.  Ken Hodges is a business demographer with Nielsen, and Warren Brown is a state demographer with the University of Georgia.  Drawing upon our work with small places, tracts, and block groups, we’ll explore some of the curious data relating to estimates and their reliability and suggest ways to improve your profiles, such as combining geography and collapsing categories.
 

 

Seminar:
The National Academies’ Committee on National Statistics Public Seminar

May 9, 2011
2:00 – 5:00 PM EDT

 

Venable Conference Center
Terrell Building, 575 7th St, NW

Washington, DC

The Capitol Room

 

Register: Bridget Edmonds, cnstat@nas.edu or

202-334-3096
 

Erik Brynjolfsson, Schussel Family Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, will provide an overview of some of the most promising private sector (or nongovernment) data collections, focusing on their capabilities, likely directions, and implications for the quality and breadth of future economic and social statistics.

 
Discussants will pose questions about how the federal statistical agencies might react to these potentially transformative alternative data.  In addition, some technical issues will be raised, along with possible approaches for integrating these new alternative series with the official ones.