Author Archives: Shelly Hedrick

By Howard Hogan, Ph.D. Chief Demographer   Demography is literally “Writing about people.”  However, it has come to mean the quantative or statistical study of human populations. As such, most of what the U.S. Census Bureau does can be described … Continue reading →

  Nancy Bates Senior Researcher for Survey Methodology, Associate Directorate for Research and Methodology As the statistical agency responsible for enumerating every person residing within the United States, finding and counting the so-called “hard to reach” is in the Census … Continue reading →

Todd Gardner Historian/Survey Statistician, Center for Economic Studies   In a recent presentation at the Census Bureau, Dr. Steven Ruggles, the director of the Minnesota Population Center (MPC) at the University of Minnesota, talked about the history of processing data … Continue reading →

Todd Gardner Historian/Survey Statistician, Center for Economic Studies   When the nation counted 3.9 million residents in the very first census in 1790, the sheer workload of hand-tabulating the results was one of the founders’ greatest challenges.  As the nation … Continue reading →

Michael Ratcliffe Assistant Division Chief, Geography Division   Geography is central to the work of the Census Bureau, providing the framework for survey design, sample selection, data collection, tabulation, and dissemination.  Geography provides meaning and context to statistical data. Given … Continue reading →

James Fitzsimmons Assistant Division Chief, Population Division As a field of study dating from antiquity, geography ranges broadly from the social sciences to the physical sciences and humanities.  The Census Bureau’s work in geography is concentrated in the domain of … Continue reading →

Pam McGovern Quality Program Staff, Research and Metholodogy Directorate   Every two years, the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology (FCSM) Research Conference gathers experts from the U.S. and around the world to discuss current research on statistical and methodological issues … Continue reading →

Lucia Foster Chief, Center for Economic Studies and Chief Economist   This January’s meeting of the Allied Social Science Association and American Economic Association (ASSA /AEA) provided a fascinating overview of the current state of economic research programs.  At the … Continue reading →

Roderick Little Associate Director for Research and Methodology and Chief Scientist, Bureau of the Census   Welcome to Research Matters, a new blog highlighting research at the Census Bureau. We aim to discuss important research in government statistics, and stimulate informed … Continue reading →