Isn sampling just a risky scheme that failed in the last census?
No! The adjustment in 1990 was rejected not because of accuracy but because of politics. The experts at the Census Bureau recommended that the 1990 Census be adjusted. The statistical sampling that was used in the last Census would have improved accuracy. President Bush’s Commerce Secretary made the decision not to use sampling despite the recommendation of the Director of the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau has had nearly a decade to learn from the lessons of the 1990 Census and to craft a plan based on the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences. Experts, not politicians, created this plan.
