Comments on: Embrace bad data, don’t shoot the messenger http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/trenton-should-embrace-bad-census-data-not-complain What would an Economist recommend for Trenton? Sat, 21 Apr 2012 11:23:26 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: admin http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/trenton-should-embrace-bad-census-data-not-complain/comment-page-1#comment-75 admin Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:07:21 +0000 http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/?p=20#comment-75 Maybe I should have made that distinction as well. I felt that the distinction between sampling and census was a bit narrow for the reader in this context. That said, of course you are correct. ACS is a sampling that extrapolates Census (i.e. counted) data. I might have given the Mayor benefit of the doubt, except this isn't his first time complaining about surveys (he derides Morgan Quinto every year) or his first time playing fast and loose with statistics (he boasted about average housing prices that were Trenton MSA not Trenton city). The Mayor is welcome to defend his comment in this space. The modus operandi seems to be to complain about numbers in order to throw the public off the trail of poor performance. My job as a critic is to pay attention and correct the errors. Maybe I should have made that distinction as well. I felt that the distinction between sampling and census was a bit narrow for the reader in this context.

That said, of course you are correct. ACS is a sampling that extrapolates Census (i.e. counted) data.

I might have given the Mayor benefit of the doubt, except this isn’t his first time complaining about surveys (he derides Morgan Quinto every year) or his first time playing fast and loose with statistics (he boasted about average housing prices that were Trenton MSA not Trenton city). The Mayor is welcome to defend his comment in this space.

The modus operandi seems to be to complain about numbers in order to throw the public off the trail of poor performance. My job as a critic is to pay attention and correct the errors.

]]> By: David http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/trenton-should-embrace-bad-census-data-not-complain/comment-page-1#comment-74 David Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:36:45 +0000 http://livingonthenet.com/wordpress/?p=20#comment-74 Hard to say whether this is Palmer's mis-understanding or the Times's, but the ACS is a sampled product, not a census. Indeed, sampling is just what the critics of the decennial census have always wanted as a supplement. Is he really saying he doesn't trust the Census bureau's sampling? Or just that he's focused on the 2010 census? Very hard to tell from the article, and I'd give him the benefit of the doubt in this case. Hard to say whether this is Palmer’s mis-understanding or the Times’s, but the ACS is a sampled product, not a census. Indeed, sampling is just what the critics of the decennial census have always wanted as a supplement. Is he really saying he doesn’t trust the Census bureau’s sampling? Or just that he’s focused on the 2010 census? Very hard to tell from the article, and I’d give him the benefit of the doubt in this case.

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