Census Bureau Partners with Committee on National Statistics to Produce New Demonstration Data Files
 
Based on your feedback, and with the support of the Committee on National Statistics’ (CNSTAT) expert group, we have devised a solution to produce updated demonstration data sets.
The detailed summary metrics we released for these Disclosure Avoidance System (DAS) data runs, and that we will continue to release as we make future improvements to the algorithm, allow our data users to assess these improvements and their impact on fitness-for-use in a variety of ways. That said, we recognize that our data users assess accuracy and fitness-for-use for diverse use cases in very different ways.
To assist with these assessments, we are now releasing new “Privacy-Protected Microdata Files” (PPMFs) , which are the underlying microdata files for the entire nation used to generate the Detailed Summary Metrics.
It is important to note that while the data in the PPMFs look like individual records, all of the data are privacy-protected. The microdata records generated by the DAS ensure respondent privacy through the application of differentially private statistical noise. The microdata included in the PPMF do not include any actual census responses. They are simply the microdata format used by the Census Bureau’s production system to produce privacy-protected tables that the DAS generated.
While these PPMFs are untabulated microdata records, members of the CNSTAT expert group are tabulating, formatting and posting data tables after upcoming design sprints. This partnership allows the census staff who would otherwise perform the time-intensive tabulation, data review and release process in-house to continue their focus on other important data collection and processing work.
Please visit the new “Developing the DAS: Progress Metrics and Data Runs” page for the PPMF and, as soon as they are available, data tabulations from the PPMF.
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