The research reported in this paper seeks to identify and test casual hypotheses of why the undercount (especially of Black males) occurs. Two explanations have been advanced at the Census Bureau to explain the high undercount of Black men: deliberate concealment, and mobile and transient residency patterns. Although these hypotheses are plausible, evidence is sparse and indirect. It is difficult to gain direct evidence about people who deliberately avoid surveys or whose lifestyle leads them to be missed from household- based surveys. However, intensive small-area studies conducted by researchers who live in or are accepted in a neighborhood may tell us a great deal about who is missed in the census, and why, for that small area.

Others in Series

Working Paper

Census Underenumeration Among the American Indians and Alaska Natives

May 1990

This paper focuses on allegations and evidence of the United States of the Census undercount of the American Indian Population.

Working Paper

A Community-Based Study of the Census Undercount

1991

The results of this study indicate that Blacks are more likely to be missed than Whites regardless of economic status.

Working Paper

The Bicentennial Census in a Mixed Neighborhood in Chicago

1991

The primary sources of minority undercount were missed people in missed housing units and inaccurate or incomplete demographic data for "race" or ethnicity.

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Survey Methods Working Papers

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