So, this year everyone had to take part in the 2010 decennial census. Those who did not respond to the census were visited personally by an interviewer to gain an accurate image of this country's population. Something so excruciatingly tedious and time consuming would get the utmost attention to ensure there wouldn't be any problems later on, right?
Well, maybe not. Apparently the automated system used by field personnel when doing personal interviews as well as a personnel and payroll processing system experienced serious IT problems prior to and during the collection period. Other key IT systems also experienced performance shortfalls. They had to race to fix the systems before the immense amount of data came in.
Now I know this is not the most current of issues, but it still struck a chord with me. After returning my census form, I was called during the summer by an interviewer who very kindly and professionally asked me questions to verify my responses...for thirty minutes. My answers were very straightforward and easy, which means that people with confusing living situations had to be questioned for even longer than that. How much time was spent verifying answers? Was this a result of the IT problems faced in the beginning?
This brings me to my main concern...the Census Bureau was so aggressive with their campaign. They wanted the most accurate view of America, but they didn't have their systems in line and fully operational prior to the beginning. So will the census actually be accurate? Or are they just making an educated guess...
Definitely an educated guess. Sounds a bit like the Mrs Fields situation with decisions preceeding the technology. A careful piloting would help all this but oh well, guess we'll have to count the farm animals and pets in order to make it more accurate.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you. This whole census process was so heavily publicized and very aggravating. I filled out my form and sent it in. Weeks later, I was sent another form and then another. The system was for sure not up to par with what they projected to do with the census.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Rebecca. I was sent the US Census form 3 times and filled it out every time because of the 'threat' on the envelope. Their systems might not have been updated in over 10 years since the last census and lack the technology to keep up with the paper trail. I can only imagine them counting multiple forms from individual households to really put the 'true' count out of whack.
ReplyDeleteI too was sent the census form multiple times. If three people that we know of received the form three times, I can only imagine how many others received it multiple times. I dont see how this could possibly result in an accurate depiction of an American household. It definitely seems that this may have been a situation where the elements of the diamond were not aligned - the government had plans that its It system clearly could not keep up with.
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