Housing units - B99259001 - Imputation of Plumbing Facilities - American Community Survey 2008 (ACS08) - Survey ACS 2008 (1-Year Estimates)

Data Dictionary:

ACS 2008 (1-Year Estimates)

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Survey: ACS 2008 (1-Year Estimates)

Data Source:

U.S. Census Bureau

Data set: American Community Survey 2008 (ACS08)

Table:

B99259. Imputation of Plumbing Facilities [3]

Universe: Housing units

Variable Details

B99259.	Imputation of Plumbing Facilities
	Universe: Housing units
	B99259001Housing units Percent base: None - percentages not computed (variable is table universe) Aggregation method: Addition

Relevant Documentation:

Excerpt from:	Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2008 Summary File: Technical Documentation.
	ACS 2008-1yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix B. Subject Definitions -> Quality Measures -> Imputation Rates

Imputation Rates

Missing data for a particular question or item is called item nonresponse. It occurs when a respondent fails to provide an answer to a required item. The ACS also considers invalid answers as item nonresponse. The Census Bureau uses imputation methods that either use rules to determine acceptable answers or use answers from similar housing units or people who provided the item information. One type of imputation, allocation, involves using statistical procedures, such as within-household or nearest neighbor matrices populated by donors, to impute for missing values.

Overall Person Characteristic Imputation Rate

This rate is calculated by adding together the weighted number of allocated items across a set of person characteristics, and dividing by the total weighted number of responses across the same set of characteristics.

Overall Housing Characteristic Imputation Rate

This rate is calculated by adding together the weighted number of allocated items across a set of household and housing unit characteristics, and dividing by the total weighted number of responses across the same set of characteristics. These rates give an overall picture of the rate of item nonresponse for a geographic area.

Excerpt from:	Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2008 Summary File: Technical Documentation.
	ACS 2008-1yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix B. Subject Definitions -> Housing Variables -> Plumbing Facilities

Plumbing Facilities

The data on plumbing facilities were obtained from Housing Question 8 a, b, and c in the 2008 American Community Survey. The question was asked at both occupied and vacant housing units. Complete plumbing facilities include: (a) hot and cold running water, (b) a flush toilet, and (c) a bathtub or shower. All three facilities must be located inside the house, apartment, or mobile home, but not necessarily in the same room. Housing units are classified as lacking complete plumbing facilities when any of the three facilities is not present.

Question/Concept History

The 1996-2007 American Community Survey questions were stand-alone questions that asked the respondent to answer either "Yes, has all three facilities" or "No" to the question of whether the housing unit had complete plumbing facilities, requiring that the facilities all be in the same unit. Starting in 2008, the structure of the question changed and combined plumbing facilities with kitchen facilities and telephone service availability into one question to ask, "Does this house, apartment, or mobile home have -" and provided the respondent with a "Yes" or "No" checkbox for each component needed for complete facilities. An additional change introduced in 2008 included changing the description of the component "hot and cold piped water" to "hot and cold running water."