Inspired by a couple of recent conversations, I’m introducing a new section of this blog, provisionally titled “Census Microdata”. When I first started at Census, I was in the role of RDC administrator for the Census Headquarters RDC. My favorite part of that job was when someone would bring me a research question and only a vague idea of how they would use Census data to answer it. I learned so much trying to figure out what data they could use to best address the question and what they needed to do to request it.
It’s been 8 years since I was in that position, and now I know Census data very well (though we keep adding more and people are using it in creative ways, so there is always more to learn). But I forever enjoy the game of trying to answer “How would you answer question X with Census data?”
So, the new “Census Microdata” section of this blog will include occasional blog posts exploring how papers featured in my reading notes blog could be expanded using Census microdata. These posts aren’t meant to criticize the original paper. It’s thinking about how you might expand on it, or adapt it to a US context, or update it if it’s an already published/older paper. I feel like I have a comparative advantage here in a way that I don’t when I write general commentary on papers.
If you’re inspired by a post here to propose an FSRDC project (or if you are one of my colleagues, a new internal project) please let me know. I would be very pleased to hear that my blog has been helpful. I also may be able to help with practical aspects, like making sure there aren’t overlapping projects that might be better as a collaboration, or suggesting Census benefits. I’m perpetually overcommitted, so I probably will not want to be involved in the project itself unless it closely aligns with my own research agenda.
Great initiative!