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Weighting Change in 2001 AHS Publication

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You will find that tabulations that you do from the 2001 AHS public use
file (PUF) will not quite match similar tabulations in the report.  This is
because the report uses different geographic weights than the PUF.  This is
how the Census Bureau describes the change:

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Weighting Change: 2001 PUF verses 2001 publication

Prior to 2001 the American Housing Survey (AHS) public use file (PUF) could
be used to reproduce the same tabulations presented in the AHS publication,
series H-150, for most characteristics.  This is not possible in 2001
because the PUF and the publication use different weights.

The 2001 AHS publication, series H-150/01, contains data using 1990
geographic definitions (central cities, suburbs, non-metropolitan, urban,
and rural).  The 2001 AHS public use file (PUF) contains geographic
variables which use 1980 definitions.  Prior to 2001 both the AHS H-150
publication and the PUF used 1980 geographic definitions.

Because the publication uses different definitions for geographic areas,
the weights are also different. For example, a unit classified as rural in
1980 but urban in 1990 would receive a rural weight on the PUF and an urban
weight for the publication.

Although both weighting procedures produce the same total count of housing
units for the United States  (119,117,000) as a whole, differences exist
for most subcategories. The publication should be used to analyze data for
geographic areas using 1990 definitions.  The PUF should be used to analyze
data for geographic areas using 1980 definitions.  The PUF should also be
used when making historical comparisons.

When doing current year (2001) analysis either data set can be used and
both should be considered to be equally accurate.  The differences between
the two sets of data at the level of the United States are for the most
part insignificant.  Analysis of the data from the PUF and the publication
at the United States level for the year 2001 should result in the same
conclusions.

A summary of the level of difference between these two sets of data can be
found in tables H and V of appendix C of the 2001 AHS publication.  The
publication can be found on the Internet at the following location:

http://www.census.gov/prod/2002pubs/h150-01.pdf

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We are planning to put some tables on the Census web site that use the 1980
weights, so that you can check your tabulations against them.

Dav Vandenbroucke
Economist
U.S. Dept. HUD
david_a._vandenbroucke@hud.gov
202-708-1060 ext. 5890