Comments:

-I know that the ACS survey provides a smaller sample than the census. However, does this mean that only a select few households fill out the ACS form? If so how does the selection process work? Does every other person in a neighborhood receive the ACS form? Does one household per block receive the survey to fill out? If so, wouldn’t the selection method for who fills out the survey compromise the accuracy of the data?

-Beyond the fact that not everyone receives the American community survey, how often does the survey get sent out for citizens to fill out? Is it sent out as frequent as the census? What is the return rate as far as how many people return the survey filled out? If people don’t return the survey, do more people get the survey to fill out considering the sample is already relatively small? Wouldn’t a lack of returned forms make the results inadequate? Why isn’t the ACS distributed to a larger population of people like the census is?

-Yet, although the ACS is based on a smaller sample, I believe its more detailed data will serve as a valuable commodity when researching a respective neighborhood. The ACS survey data encompasses a lot more divisions among a population than the common census form that everyone is suppose to fill out. For example, instead of just race and population in a given area, the ACS data provides information regarding education level, income and rent amongst other things.

-The Social Explorer Program seems to only enhance the data from the ACS survey through interactive maps. I believe the maps on the Social Explorer Program can really be used to quantify visually the field notes from a respective neighborhood in regards to the racial makeup, political landscape and economic power. The more visuals there are in a project, the more appealing the project will be.