Have You Received an "American Community Survey"? (Census)

9/16/13 | Self

[Sopater]

"Is it possible that the Census Bureau is targeting folks like FReepers, collecting data for political purposes?"

Do they know if you "Freep" and where you live?

[Haiku Guy]

six

[Haiku Guy]

Seven.

I roundfiled mine. Haven’t heard from them since. That was a couple of years ago.

[Boogieman]

Yeah, but this isn’t even a good way to see if there is smoke. Say 1000 FReepers see this thread, and only ten of them got the survey. Who is more likely to chime in? The ten who got the survey or the 990 who did not?

So your methodology is determinative of the results.

[Haiku Guy]

Do they know if you "Freep" and where you live?

What do you think the NSA is doing? Tracking terrorists?

The Tsarnaev Brothers would beg to differ...

[brentv]

yes got one too will not reply

[Sopater]

I’ve had two visits to my house now by a “representative of the bureau”.

[Haiku Guy]

If a hundred people who see this thread got the survey, I would say the matter bears further investigation. Wouldn’t you?

We’re up to seven, so far. I wonder if there is a way to count how many unique visitors have seen this thread...

[fwdude]

I won’t even answer the decennial census as they want me to. I listed the number of people living in the house - that’s it. Got a call from a census goon, but told him to get off my property.

[Haiku Guy]

Eight.

[Haiku Guy]

I’ve had two visits to my house now by a “representative of the bureau”.

Did you get the 28-page survey?

[fatnotlazy]

Never received the survey. If I do, I will treat it as I did the last two census forms.

[Sopater]

Yes.

[Haiku Guy]

With all the respect it deserves, I suspect...

[dagogo redux]

Ignored the first, got a second one even more dire a few weeks later - logged on here for advice.

Someone here pointed out the instructions lost in the small print, to simply write on the first page, “I am not farming.”

I did so - pissed off and feeling under duress, with renewed disgust at the federal leviathan, and renewed motivation to work against them in any way I could - I never heard back from them.

Not the America I grew up in.

[Haiku Guy]

That's nine.

I wonder who was the first Tea Partier to say to another, "You would not believe the information request I just got from the IRS", only to have the other one say "Hey! Me too!

[paudio]

The ACS is a common household-individual surveys that many researchers, including myself, use regularly. It is NOT designed to target conservatives or Tea Partiers, since it's been around longer than TeaParties. They use sampling design to choose which household is picked. If they found nobody lives there, they would enter 'zero' or vacant.

For more information, see American Community Survey in Census website.

Do you have to respond to the ACS? Yes. Responding to the American Community Survey (ACS) is about helping national, tribal, state and local officials make informed decisions with timely and accurate data. Just as people are required to respond to jury duty, get a driver’s license in order to drive, pay their taxes and report their income, they also have the obligation to respond to decennial census surveys. The ACS is conducted under the authority of Title 13, United States Code (U.S.C.), Sections 141 and 193, and response is required by law. According to Section 221, persons who do not respond shall be fined not more than $100. Title 18 U.S.C. Section 3571 and Section 3559, in effect amend Title 13 U.S.C. Section 221 by changing the fine for anyone over 18 years old who refuses or willfully neglects to complete the questionnaire or answer questions posed by census takers from a fine of not more than $100 to not more than $5,000.

[Sopater]

That's nine.

This is an unscientific survey for sure, because I think you've counted me three times.

[Haiku Guy]

Is the survey you received different than the American Community Survey?

I will admit that I did not give my copy a lot of scrutiny on the short walk from the mailbox to the trash can...

[Lumper20]

When one is applying for or is even offered a homeowners and/or auto INS policy/renewal these days-Lexis Nexis and/or Dell is now in the old Equifax game. Make no mistake that INS companies know our online life. If they do-the FEDS damn sure do.