Finding and Using the Best Immigration Data Resources

Immigration is a polarizing topic in the United States, with people sharply divided about whether it is a positive or negative force for the country. Underlying these strong opinions are assumptions about the number and characteristics of foreigners living in the United States. What are the data behind these assumptions and how credible is the information?

On Oct. 16, 2008, the Migration Policy Institute and the Population Reference Bureau convened four experts to discuss how to find and use the most accurate and accessible data on immigration, primarily from government sources. They discussed the opportunities and pitfalls of existing data sources such as the statistics on annual immigration flows from the Department of Homeland Security, and data from the decennial census, the Current Population Surveys, and the American Community Survey. Below are links to the webcasts of the presentations.

+ Immigration: Data Matters (PDF; 2.2 MB)

Webcasts, podcasts, PPT presentations also available.

Source: Population Reference Bureau

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 and is filed under Access to Information, Information Literacy, Information Seeking, Papers and Presentations, Source File, Statistics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.