The Census
How often is the US census conducted?
Every 10 years
What is the difference between reapportionment and redistricting?
Reapportionment shifts power among states while redistricting shifts power within a specific state.
When and why did the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) begin?
It was founded in 1970 after increased pollution in the air and water in the mid 1900s. Some notable events that led to its founding were the Cuyahoga River fire and the 1966 smog in NYC over Thanksgiving weekend.
How do most agencies get big data?
From outside sources, it is rarely collected by the agency itself.
What are the 3 main sources of data on gun violence?
The NCHS, the FBI, and private advocacy groups.
True or False: The United States was the first country to have a census.
False
What is reapportionment based on?
The census
What did the Clean Air Act of 1970 do?
It authorized legislation for the development of emission regulations as well as air quality standards.
What is the difference between designed and organic data?
Designed data comes from surveys with a specific purpose in mind. Organic data comes from transactions and traces human behavior. Designed data can be a lot more meaningful towards a purpose, while organic data can be filtered to be used for a purpose.
What type of gun violence data can be provided by the FBI?
Homicides
Who is excluded from the census?
Anyone not living in the US except for those working for the military and the State Department.
What did Baker v. Carr establish?
This case established the right of federal courts to hear cases regarding issues of redistricting to silence or amplify the voices of one group over another.
What did the Harvard Six Cities Study show?
The study, conducted over more than a decade, showed that life expectancy was lower in cities that had higher concentrations of fine particulates in the air.
Why are surveys/designed data becoming unsustainable?
There are a few reasons for this. They have to go through testing processes to ensure questions aren't skewed, fewer people want to respond to surveys, it is costly, and it isn't very timely for those that want data on demand.
Why is the National Violent Death Reporting System helpful?
Because it collects information on the shooter as well as relationship to the victim. This can provide crucial situational context which can be helpful in policy making.
Why was the 1920 census not used for reapportionment?
This was the first time that urban populations were larger than rural ones, and this was mostly due to high immigrant populations. To prevent power shifting to these areas, the census wasn't used, but this was deemed unconstitutional and would never happen again.
Which act guaranteed reapportionment after the census?
1929 Apportionment Act
Which party responded with backlash to stronger environmental standards and why?
Republicans responded with backlash to these environmental standards. This was because the results of the Harvard Six Cities Study was not published, so they felt as if these rules were being made from made-up data. To combat these restrictions, they tried to pass legislation against the EPA, but all to date have failed.
What are some downsides of Big Data?
Information is often more behavioral than characteristic, high frequency leads to very large data files, it is often unstructured and requires specific programming, the data is often own by a company, and they are often only insightful to a specific degree.
What is the current situation in government regarding gun research?
The prohibition on gun research funding ended in December of 2019. Congress has recently increased funding for gun research due to an increase in national gun violence, but this is only confirmed for 5 years.
What was the difference between the short and long-forms of the census?
The short-form questionnaire only had basic demographical questions while the long-form had many more questions that were more pertinent to research and policy. Only 15% of the population would get the long-form and the rest would get the short. In 2000 this practice ended and the long-form was replaced by the ongoing American Community Survey while the census maintained the short form with 10 questions.
Which state had a case of gerrymandering taken to its own Supreme Court just recently in 2018 for having districts that unfairly favored Republicans?
Pennsylvania
What measures does the Census Bureau take to protect the identity and sensitive data of respondents?
They truncate identifying information like date of birth and age, group respondents by over 100,000 people, and only release 65% of data. If researchers want access to this data, they can apply for special sworn status.
What happened in the Google Flu situation?
Google developed a system that tracked certain flu-related search terms to show flu prevalence by state in the US. This worked for a few years until the algorithm started predicting significantly higher flu rates than reality. This was a failed attempt at using big data to replace the prediction work of CDC epidemiologists.
What caused the ban on advocacy research on gun violence?
In 1993, researchers publish an article citing increased risk of gun violence in homes with guns in them. The NRA and the Congress at the time (who were very in favor of the Second Amendment) were not fans of this study and thus cut all funding on gun violence research in 1996 vis the Dickey Amendment.