Collaborative Research: Putting People in Their Place: Constructing a Geography for Census Microdata

科罗拉多大学博尔德分校地理系的Barbara Buttenfield教授和田纳西大学地理系的Nicholas Nagle教授将制定方法，以比公共领域现有的更精细的分辨率在空间中对公众使用的普查微观数据进行分类。他们将使用的方法是估算一组样本权重（概率），将微观数据记录分配给人口普查区，并添加辅助数据，甚至减去区域水平。这些样本权重考虑到了公开的普查区统计数据以及普查数据与辅助土地利用和土地覆盖之间的相关性。重要的是，该方法是使用经验可能性的统计方法得出的，并允许量化的不确定性和模拟小面积人口，从而提供了一个显着的进步，现有的方法。虽然该方法完全依赖于公开的数据，但验证将利用人口普查研究数据中心保存的机密人口普查记录。从这项研究的成果包括方法，工具和使用指南，使样本权重的有效建设。讲习班将向城市地理学家、土地使用规划者、交通专家、人口学家和教育工作者提供这些工具。一个网站将以Matlab、Python和R脚本的形式传播这些方法，作为对网络基础设施的贡献，以便其他人可以利用这些工具。将通过在科罗拉多大学举办为期三周的短期课程、在田纳西州（EPSCOR州）举办规划讲习班以及在地理、城市规划和统计国家会议上举办讲习班，对该网站进行评估。该项目将向美国人口普查局提供具体建议，以便他们能够提高公共数据对小地区研究、估计和政策分析的相关性。

Professor Barbara Buttenfield in the Department of Geography at the University of Colorado Boulder and Nicholas Nagle in the Department of Geography at the University of Tennessee will develop methods that situate public use census microdata in space at finer resolutions than are currently available in the public domain. The methods they will use impute a set of sample weights (probabilities) that allocate microdata records to census tracts with the addition of ancillary data, even to sub-tract levels. These sample weights respect publicly available census tract statistics, as well as correlations between census data and ancillary landuse and land cover. Importantly, the methodology is derived using statistical methods of empirical likelihood, and allows for quantification of uncertainty and simulations of small area populations, thus offering a significant advance over existing methodologies. While the method depends entirely on publicly available data, validation will utilize confidential census records held at the Census Research Data Centers. Deliverables from this research include methods, tools and usage guidelines that allow efficient construction of sample weights. Workshops will make these tools available to urban geographers, landuse planners, transportation specialists, demographers and educators. A website will disseminate the methods as Matlab, Python and R scripts, as a contribution to cyberinfrastructure, so that others may utilize tools. This website will be evaluated through a three-week short-course at the University of Colorado, by a planning workshop at Tennessee (an EPSCOR state) as well as by workshops at geography, urban planning and statistics national conventions. The project will provide specific recommendations to the US Census Bureau so that they may improve the relevance of public data for small area research, estimation and policy analysis.