Introducing the Statistical Product First Approach

Erika Becker-Medina, 

Senior Advisor to the Chief Scientist and Associate Director

Research and Methodology Directorate

U.S. Census Bureau 

October 24, 2023

The views expressed in this perspective are those 

of the presenter and not the Census Bureau. 
Forces Driving 

Transformation 

Today

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Forces Driving Transformation Today

Our success critically depends on our ability to seize the 

opportunities in front of us to deliver statistical products 

that address the increasingly complex and diverse needs 

of our users.” 

Ron S. Jarmin, Ph.D., Deputy Director 

U.S. Census Bureau

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Flipping the Focus

Determine what information 

stakeholders need to reach 

their objectives 

From there, shape the 

statistical products to be 

developed 
Statistical 

Product First 

Approach
Statistical Product First Approach

Ensures Data Support Purposes and Uses

Purposes 

and Uses

Disseminating 

Products to Meet 

Data User Needs

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What are some purposes and uses? 

Disseminating 

Products to Meet 

Data User Needs

Climate 

Extremes

The Gig 

Economy

Migration

Broadband 

Deployment

The 

Unhoused

Tribal 

Areas

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What are some purposes and uses? 

Disseminating 

Products to Meet 

Data User Needs

Differential 

Undercount

Local 

Businesses

Grant 

Applications

Commuting 

Patterns

Equity 

and Inclusion

Counting 

Children

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Statistical Product First Workflow

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Exemplar: Community Resilience Estimates (CRE) for Heat

Community resilience is the capacity of individuals 

and households within a community to absorb the 

external stresses of a disaster. 

The CRE was published as an experimental data 

product to provide information about the COVID-19 

pandemic but also to garner feedback from data 

users on the quality and usefulness of the new 

product.

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Exemplar: CRE for Heat

Eliciting 

Purpose & 

Use

After the CRE publication, 

Arizona State University’s 

Knowledge Exchange for 

Resilience reached out to Census 

to see how the CRE could be 

leveraged for measuring social 

vulnerability to heat exposure. 

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Exemplar: CRE for Heat

Leveraging All 

Data

Individual and household 

characteristics from the 2019 

American Community Survey 

were modeled, in combination 

with data from to Population 

Estimates Program to create the 

CRE.

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Exemplar: CRE for Heat

Identifying the 

Gaps

While the standard CRE 

measures the social 

vulnerability that inhibits 

community resilience, it lacked 

risk factors for measuring social 

vulnerability specifically in the 

context of extreme heat 

exposure. 

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Exemplar: CRE for Heat

Informing 

New Data 

Acquisition

With consultation from Arizona 

State University’s Knowledge 

Exchange for Resilience, the 

CRE was updated for 

vulnerability to heat exposure. 

Three of the ten standard CRE 

risk indicators were modified, 

taking into account: • housing structure type, • commute type, and • whether the household’s 

housing costs were greater 

than 50%. 

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Exemplar: CRE for Heat

Disseminating 

Statistical 

Products

The CRE for Heat identifies the specific areas across the country most 

socially vulnerable to the effects of heat exposure. Local planners, 

policy makers, public health officials, and community stakeholders can 

use the estimates as one tool to help assess the potential resiliency of 

communities and plan mitigation and recovery strategies. 

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Exemplar: CRE for Heat

The CRE will continue to enable new 

statistical products, including 

methods for the development of 

custom geographies as well as the 

integration of climate extremes and 

disaster data. 

Using small area modeling 

techniques, the CRE remains flexible 

and can be easily modified for a 

broad range of other uses, like 

economic recovery. 

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Illuminating the 

Ecosystem of 

Data Users

to Elicit 

Purpose and Use
Leverage Data Infrastructure

Legal 

Framework 

& Data 

Governance

Data 

Linkage

All 

Data

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Use ALL Data Assets

Opportunity

Data

Procedural

Data

Designed 

Data

Opportunity 

Data

Procedural 

Data

Administrative 

Data

Going beyond the survey data we collect

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Exploit Data Linkage

We collect a variety of linkage fields and tailor linkage methodology 

to each linkage type – people, places, jobs, and organizations. 

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Adhere to 

Legal Framework 

and Data Governance

Title 13 directs us to acquire and 

use external data records 

for statistical purposes.

Foundations for Evidence-Based 

Policymaking Act promotes and 

encourages data sharing.

Confidential Information 

Protection and Statistical 

Efficiency Act sets forth functional separation of 

statistical versus administrative 

uses of data.

Ethical Data Stewardship  Ensure only statistical uses  Disclosure review  Punishing of wrongful disclosure  Secure computing environments

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Statistical Product Spectrum for ALL Users 

Protected 

microdata 

(in FSRDCs)

Simple, public 

use products

An opportunity 

to identify and fill 

the space in between 

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Data Ingest and Collection for 

the Enterprise (all data assets)

Enterprise Data Lake

Data processing, computing, 

and management

Enterprise Linked Frames

4 seamless and linkable frames

Enterprise Dissemination

Services 

Enabling Technologies for the Enterprise

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Summing it up: A Curated Data Enterprise

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Moving this Endeavor Forward

Data User 

Engagement

Stakeholder 

Product 

Development

Expanded 

Dissemination 

Modalities

At an agency level, we seek to determine what types of Census Bureau data users require what 

types of statistical products received through what types of data dissemination mechanisms

over the coming years and decades. 

Our current research efforts for the Statistical Product First approach are focused around three 

core elements:

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Statistical Product First Team Leads

Erika Becker-Medina, 

Data User Engagement

Nate Ramsey, Ph.D. 

Stakeholder Product Development

Emily Molfino, Ph.D.

Expanded Dissemination Modalities

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Data User Engagement

The Census Bureau has an abundance of data users and stakeholders, and we 

aim to serve them broadly, promptly, and equitably. 

As part of this effort, we are: 

• Illuminating the ecosystem of data users and stakeholders to elicit the 

purpose and use needs our statistics are to support. 

• Segmenting data users across a multitude of factors, on an ongoing basis. 

• Approaching different segments of this ecosystem in ways that will make for 

effective solicitation. 

• Engaging data users in the statistical product development. 

• Leveraging what they already do so we add value and are not duplicative. 

• Implementing solutions to ensure purpose and use needs are being met. 

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Stakeholder Product Development 

We need to address what types of statistical products data users 

require—from static tables to FSRDC microdata access.

As part of this effort, we are: 

• Leveraging our experience in experimental product development. 

• Determining the key steps for developing purpose and user-driven 

statistical products.

• Designing and implementing rapid demonstrations. 

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Expanded Dissemination Modalities 

We need to determine what types of dissemination mechanisms data 

users require and expand dissemination modalities to serve diverse levels 

of data sophistication—from the novice user to the power user. 

As part of this effort, we are: 

• Determining what modalities of statistical product dissemination best 

support data user needs—including tiered access. 

• Determining how to maximize data access to meet different levels of 

user needs—including the implications of an expanded FSRDC system. 

• Improving and expanding the contextual information about the data. 

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What do we mean by tiered access?

Current status Future State

• Offer data users, providers, 

partners, and researchers 

standardized access options 

along a spectrum of 

dissemination modalities 

• Recognize and accommodate 

varying data sensitivity 

assessments and risk 

tolerance levels for partner 

agencies 

• Invest in solutions across the 

spectrum

• Only two options: 

 Public Products

 Confidential Access

• Many drivers toward 

expansion and ease of access

 Equity Concerns

 Open Data

 Evidence Building

 Reproducibility 

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Statistical Product First 

Selected Demonstrations
Identifying authoritative statistics to satisfy grant 

application requirements among state and local 

government and non-profit (SLGNP) applicants. 

Identifying

Creating statistical products based on grant application 

requirements that combine multiple data sources to 

better serve SLGNP data users. 

Creating

Exploring dissemination options to maximally benefit 

SLGNP grant applicants in need of authoritative 

statistical information. 

Deploying

We’re conducting 

demonstration projects 

focused on statistics to 

support federal grant 

applications. 

Teams from Census and 

the Georgetown Data 

Science Program are 

working with us. 

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Grant Applications Demonstration
Reviewing SDC websites to gain insight into how SDC 

network leverages data and capturing the statistical tools 

they use and produce. 

Reviewing

Looking for early adopters to participate in the 

demonstration and help characterize broad purpose and 

use needs.

Looking

Building a tiered access model (FSRDC-light) to support 

demonstration focused on special tables and integration 

of local data. 

Building

We’re developing tiered 

access demonstration based 

on engagements with FederalState Cooperative on 

Population Estimates (FSCPE) 

and State Data Centers (SDC). 

We anticipate this will include 

tabular output projects with 

restricted data, expanding 

user base to evidence 

builders—including state 

governments. 

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State Demographers + State Data Centers Demonstration
Engage with American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) 

community to seek input on what questions and issues

they need Census statistical products to support.

Engage

Collaborate on the design of future statistical products 

designed specifically with the AIAN community in mind. Collaborate

Leverage existing data assets and identify new data 

opportunities to support the co-development of future 

statistical products. 

Leverage

We plan to engage 

American Indian and 

Alaska Native (AIAN) 

stakeholders to 

collaborate on the design 

of new statistical products 

to meet their needs. 

We’ll be in Indian Country 

and Native Alaska this fall, 

beginning with the NIEA, 

NCAI, and BIA Providers 

conference to begin 

engagement and 

collaboration. 

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AIAN Product Co-Development Demonstration
AI Readiness Application • Determining how to better 

deliver Census statistics for 

use in AI platforms.

• Enabling the lay person to 

engage with Census 

statistical products through 

large language models.

• Improving and expanding the contextual information 

about statistical products; 

formatting them so they 

will be captured by AI 

systems. 

• Targeting ACS dissemination as early 

exemplar. 

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Imagine the Art of the Possible
We welcome your ideas!

 What are major purposes the 

statistical products need to 

support? 

 What would add value to your 

statistical products?

 What modalities of statistical 

product dissemination support 

data user needs?

 How do we elicit that 

information?

 Who should participate in

development of products?

 How do we ensure the 

solicitation and development of 

statistical products happens 

equitably?

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Thank You 

Erika Becker-Medina,

Senior Advisor to the Chief Scientist and Associate Director 

Research and Methodology Directorate

U.S. Census Bureau

erika.h.becker.medina@census.gov