Still rolling: Leslie Kish's "rolling samples" and the American Community Survey

This paper discusses in detail issues dealing with the technical aspects of designing and conducting surveys. It is intended for an audience of survey methodologists.

Leslie Kish long advocated the use of the "rolling sample" design. With non-overlapping, monthly panels that can be cumulated over different lengths of time for domains of different sizes, the rolling sample design enables a single survey to serve multiple purposes. The Census Bureau's new American Community Survey uses such a rolling sample design with annual averages to measure change at the state level, and three-year or five-year moving averages to describe progressively smaller domains. This paper traces Kish's influence on the development of the American Community Survey, and discusses some practical methodological issues that had to be addressed during the implementation of the design.