The Washington Statistical Society and George Mason University held a joint seminar on the presidential election on October 11. Edward Wu, election analytics senior producer at CNN interviewed Andrew Gelman, professor of statistics and political science at Columbia University following Gelman’s talk, “Tough Choices in Election Forecasting: All the Things That Can Go Wrong.”
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Establishing and Maintaining Trust in a Federal Statistical Agency: A Discussion from the National Academies
The Office of Management and Budget, Congress, and National Academies deem professional independence necessary for an agency to establish trust in its products. Professional independence includes an agency’s autonomy over its budget, information technology, hiring, publications, contracting, and data collection and analysis. To further the understanding of the importance of statistical agency autonomy, we include the autonomy portions of a discussion between Robert Groves and Hermann Habermann, James Lynch, and Charles Rothwell.
Meet Robert Santos, US Census Bureau Director
Robert Santos’s career spans more than 40 years in survey research, statistical design and analysis, and executive-level management.
State of the Data Infrastructure Series: Census Bureau
For the latest State of the Data Infrastructure feature, Count on Stats spoke with three experts about the US Census Bureau: Margo Anderson of the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, an expert on the history of the bureau and federal statistical system; Allison Plyer, chief demographer of The Data Center and recent chair of the bureau’s Scientific Advisory Committee; and Nancy Potok, most recently chief statistician of the US who, most notably, has also been deputy director and chief operating officer of the bureau and deputy undersecretary for economic affairs at the US Department of Commerce.
Census Quality Indicators Task Force Wraps Up
The task force produced two reports: 2020 Census Quality Indicators: A Report from the American Statistical Association, released in October 2020, and Final Report: 2020 Census State Population Totals: A Report from the American Statistical Association Task Force on 2020 Census Quality Indicators, released in September 2021.
Response to ‘Demystifying Apportionment Computations for the US House of Representatives’
ASA Member Michael Fay responds to Tommy Wright’s July 2021 Amstat News article on apportionment computations for the US House of Representatives with an alternative perspective.
ASA, COPAFS, Partners Urge Bolstering of Federal Statistical Agencies
Federal statistics have undergirded our democracy, society, and economy since the nation’s founding. Even as their importance has increased over the centuries—especially recently with the focus on evidence-based policymaking—the agencies producing the data have been neglected, lost important autonomy and statutory protections, and been pushed deeper into the federal bureaucracy.
Advocating for the Federal Data Infrastructure: What, Why, When, and How
ASA Science Policy Fellow Daniel Elchert helps answer the question: What is our federal data infrastructure, and when and how might statisticians go about advocating for this system as a means to leverage data for the public good?
LGBTQ+ Advocacy Committee Engages in Good
The ASA is fortunate to have the LGBTQ+ Advocacy Committee. Jack Miller, the current chair, discusses the committee’s latest advocacy activities and how to get involved.
ASA Issues Statement on New Political Positions at Census Bureau
The US Census Bureau announced two new political appointments in newly created leadership positions, and the ASA asked the Census Bureau director to provide a justification for the appointments.