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ERIC Number: EJ1223395
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019
Pages: 5
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1933 8341
EISSN: N/A
Providing Context and Meaning to Statistical Data: The Work of Census Bureau Geographers
Ratcliffe, Michael R.
Geography Teacher, v16 n3 p107-111 2019
Geography provides context to the information collected, tabulated, and disseminated by the Census Bureau, whether data for the United States as a whole, a state, a congressional district, a county or city, or a census tract (roughly the size of a neighborhood). Geographers perform the activities necessary to update and maintain the geographic information that the Census Bureau needs to implement its mission to "count everyone once, only once, and in the right place." This article discusses the variety of work in which census geographers engage. The cycle of geographic work at the Census Bureau encompasses four basic stages: (1) Development of geographic update program materials; (2) Communicating with tribal, state, and local government partners and other stakeholders; (3) Collecting, reviewing, and processing geographic updates, including delineation of geographic areas; and (4) Creating and disseminating geographic information products. Given the importance of geography to the Census Bureau, geographers are found throughout the agency, working with demographers, statisticians, and economists. Census geographers collect, manage, and update geographic information to support data collection and tabulation; analyze population, housing, and economic data and patterns of distribution; prepare online and paper maps and geographic data products to enable and support data user analysis; and provide training in the collection and use of statistical and geographic information. [This article can also be used conjunction with the "What Role Does Geography Play in the Census?" activity available on the Census Bureau's Statistics in Schools site at https://www.census.gov/schools/activities/geography/role-geography-play. html (U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics in Schools, n.d.).]
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A