Census slowdown no problem BY Judi Hasson 03/09/2000 The Census Bureau found that the data capture process required for many write-in items took longer than expected during the bureaus last test-run of the system two weeks ago, Census Director Kenneth Prewitt said Wednesday.

In testimony before the House Government Reform Committees Census Subcommittee, Prewitt said the Census Bureau had to change part of the data capture system to speed up the process. But he assured lawmakers that the change will have no impact on processing census data.

"At this point, 24 days from Census Day, I am aware of no serious problems that would put the census at risk," he said. Census Day refers to the official date people are counted at their usual residence.

To address the data capture problem, Prewitt said, the Census Bureau has implemented a two-pass system. In the first pass, the scanning system will capture all of the data on both long and short census forms. In the second pass, the process will capture data from the long forms.

Most recipients will receive the short form, which includes about a dozen questions, but one out of every six households will receive the long form, which includes 52 questions.

http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2000/0306/web-4census-03-09-00.asp

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 09, 2000