Full Citation

Title: Data Consistency Checking

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 1995

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Abstract: Discusses the process by which the consistency of the Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) for the 1850, 1880, and 1920 US censuses was checked. PUMS are random samples of households taken from the decennial censuses that can be used to discern social trends over the course of time. The PUMS datasets for the 1850, 1880, and 1920 censuses were constructed and put into computerized format at the Social History Research Laboratory at the University of Minnesota. After the data was coded into machine-readable form, it was checked for consistency. This entailed a variety of computerized checks that looked for logical inconsistencies that were corrected either by the computer software or human operators. Many problems arose due to familial relationships, and these often had to be solved by the use of inferred data, merging multiple households into one, or merging two households.

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Authors: Ryden, David Beck; Kallgren, Daniel

Periodical (Full): Historical Methods

Issue: 1

Volume: 28

Pages: 66-69

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Methodology and Data Collection

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