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Estimates and Correlates of Enumeration Completeness: Censuses and Maps in Nineteenth-Century Massachusetts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Caren A. Ginsberg
Caren A. Ginsberg*
Affiliation:
University of Georgia, Baldwin Hall, Athens, GA 30602
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Extract

Data quality is a central analytical issue in most studies of historical populations. There is often a need for data correction as well as for a careful consideration of the sources and types of error in data collection. Cross-identification of enumerated or registered events in independent sources often can be used as a check on data quality. This study investigates data quality of two sources by their enumeration comparability and in addition discusses some of the problems with such a comparison. The two sources compared are household listings of the United States manuscript federal censuses and independently prepared maps detailing property owners and the location of their property. The method employed estimates the correspondence of listings in each source based on the other and the combined enumeration correspondence of both sources. Further, this paper examines some of the village-level demographic and economic factors which may be associated with differences in the relative completeness of these sources.

Type
Research Note
Information
Social Science History , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , Spring 1988 , pp. 71 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1988 

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