Quality assurance challenges in the United States' Census 2000

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.
The United States' Census 2000 operations were more innovative and complex than ever before. State population totals were required to be produced within nine months and, using the coverage measurement survey, adjusted counts were expected within one year. Therefore, all operations had to be implemented and completed quickly with quality assurance (QA) that had both an effective and prompt turnaround. The QA challenges included: getting timely information to supervisors (such as enumerator re-interview information), performing prompt checks of "suspect" work (such as monitoring contractors to ensure accurate data capture), and providing reports to headquarters quickly. This paper presents these challenges and their solutions in detail, thus providing an overview of the Census 2000 QA program.