In early January, many Wrangell residents were startled to find workers from the U.S. Census Bureau knocking on doors, collecting information on behalf of the American Community Survey. Some residents felt reluctant to participate, unfamiliar with the relatively new survey which is different from the more widely known 10-year census.
While the full census provides up-to-date population counts for the purpose of redrawing congressional and state legislative district maps nationwide, the community survey is designed to assess social and economic changes taking place in selected communities across the nation, amassing data in categories such as housing, education and employment.
After its creation in 2005, the community survey has been conducted annually, reaching approximately 3.5 million households each year — a sampling of the more than 130 million U.S. households.
According to Naomi Evangelista, public affairs specialist at the Census Bureau, no special circumstance led the survey to collect data in Wrangell. Rather, addresses are “scientifically selected” from the bureau’s address file, an “official inventory of known living quarters,” with the intention that data from each surveyed household represents many others nearby and throughout the region.
In this way, the bureau aims to assess large sectors of a population while limiting the survey’s cost and reducing its overall intrusion on respondents and their communities.
Information is collected through interviews conducted by field representatives.
These workers are typically local to the communities they serve, though some Wrangell residents reported not recognizing the field representatives and were skeptical at their insistence that they lived in the area.
Evangelista said additional field representatives from other locations may assist local workers when necessary. All census employees are hired and supervised from a regional office, with the bureau’s Los Angeles office responsible for operations across Alaska.
On social media, many Wrangell residents expressed doubts and frustrations surrounding the survey. Some questioned its legitimacy, while others were uncertain about the field representatives, who more than one resident felt were overly intrusive.
That suspicion is by no means rare or isolated. According to Evangelista, remote communities sometimes pose “unique challenges, including heightened skepticism or reluctance.”
In response, census workers are trained “to make a good first impression” and learn “techniques to avoid refusal.”
Those who received survey materials but did not fill out the form still have the opportunity to respond on the Census Bureau website http://www.census.gov.
Data will be compiled into reports that cover different statistical categories and released on an annual basis.
There is no indication of when, if ever, the survey will again select Wrangell.
Reader Comments(0)