1990 CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS 1. What is the difference between 100% and sample data? 100% data is based on the responses given on both the "long" and "short" census forms. Sample data comes from the additional questions answered by the 15% of households which received the census "long" form. 2. What sorts of data are available? 100% Data population: relationship of persons in household sex race age and year of birth marital status Hispanic origin housing: type of housing number of rooms owned or rented value of home or monthly rent meals included in rent vacancy characteristics Sample Data population: place of birth citizenship year of entry to U.S. education ancestry residence in 1985 language spoken at home ability to speak English veteran status disability fertility economic characteristics: employment/unemployment status place of work journey to work year last worked type of employment (occupation, industry, class of worker) income in 1989 housing: year moved into residence number of bedrooms plumbing facilities kitchen facilities telephone number of vehicles type of heating fuel source of water type of sewage disposal year residence was built residence part of a condominium residence part of a farm yearly costs: utilities, taxes, insurance, mortgages, other fees 3. Why is less information available for smaller areas than for larger ones? Less data is available for smaller areas (places less than 10,000, block level, etc) because of the need to protect the privacy of individuals. 4. Can I see individual responses to census questionnaires? You may obtain an official transcript of information about yourself if you need it as evidence of age, citizenship, etc. Otherwise, individual responses to census questionnaires are kept confidential for 72 years. After 72 years, the responses are made available to the public. The National Archives and some other libraries have microfiche copies of the questionnaires from the 1790 through 1920 censuses. 5. What Census CD-ROM product should I choose? To determine which CD-ROM best matches your needs, first determine: a) What level of information is desired? Do you want a national summary, an individual state, county, or smaller area? Remember, less information will be available at smaller areas. b) What questions do you want answered? See #2 above. c) For what group of people? If you have a special population in mind (the aged, for example), Special Tabulations on that group may be available. If a special tabulation for the group in which you are interested is not available, look at the data levels chart or at the General User's Guide to determine which CD-ROM(s) best match your requirements. 6. What is the difference between printing a table to a disk and copying a table? The difference is format. If you print a table, you can retrieve it into your word processing program (margin adjustments may be necessary) exactly as it appears on the screen. Copy the table if you want to be able to manipulate the data in a software package such as Lotus 1-2-3 or dBase. 7. Is documentation available? Yes, but the user friendliness varies. a. Older CD-ROMs: The documentation is on the CD-ROM. To retrieve it, at the D:> type CD DOCUMENT . Then do a directory (DIR ). To see the desired portion of the documentation, type TYPE filename . Unfortunately, pipe commands do not work, so you must be prepared to press the pause key. This notebook contains paper printouts of the abstracts and tables of contents. If you need to see the rest of the documentation, ask a reference librarian to help you download the documentation files to floppy disks. The files are in ascii and can be read at a DOS prompt or in a wordprocessing program (set margins to zero). To download: At the C:> type D: At the D:> type CD\DOCUMENT At the D:\DOCUMENT> type COPY filename A: Note: be sure you have a formatted 5 1/4" disk in the A drive. DO NOT use copy *.* A:. The files will not all fit onto a single disk! To read at the DOS prompt: At the C:> (or D:>) type A: At the A:> type TYPE filename|MORE . This (the pipe more) command will show one screen of the document at a time. b. Most recent CD-ROMs: At the D:> Type GO . The documentation can be read from within the database. You may of course download any or all of the documentation files to floppies. To do so, follow the onscreen instructions (usually P ). This notebook contains paper printouts of the abstracts and software features. 8. What is GO? GO is the software package included on the census CD-ROMs. It uses menus to allow the user to access data. 9. What other software packages can be used to access census data? EXTRACT, also supplied by the census bureau, can be used to create customized tables. It is more difficult to use than GO, but is more powerful. DBase and dBase compatible packages provide the best access. These packages are not available in the library. Some CD- ROMs allow you to download files in dBase format to take to your own computer. Files also may be downloaded in ascii (regular and delimitated) and spreadsheet format. Answers based on: Census '90 Basics. (GPO: Bureau of the Census, 1990) 1990 Census "Short" Form (Photocopy appended). 1990 Census "Long" Form (Photocopy appended). Technical documentation for, and individual CD-ROM products. Prepared by Sherry Engle, Mankato State University, 11/94