Sampling and Census 2000: The Concepts

By Tommy Wright

Established statistical methods can reduce net undercounting of the population if they are allowed

Mathematics Policy Statistics

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May-June 1998

Volume 86, Number 3
Page 245

DOI: 10.1511/1998.25.245

Ask anyone what the words "counting" and "sampling" mean in relation to a census. Nearly everyone will respond that a census is a "complete count" of a population and that different counts on different occasions would lead to the same (true) result, whereas sampling would lead to a different result only approximating the true one. Although counting is the most fundamental of mathematical operations and familiar to just about everyone, when it comes to the Census, counting turns out to be not quite as simple as "1, 2, 3."

Bureau of the Census

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