Rationalizing Rural Area Classifications for the Economic Research Service: A Workshop Summary (2016)
Chapter: Front Matter
Rationalizing Rural Area Classifications
for the Economic Research Service:
A Workshop Summary
Gooloo S. Wunderlich, Rapporteur
Committee on National Statistics
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001
This activity was supported by Award No. AG-32SB-C-14-0026 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service. Support for the Committee on National Statistics is provided by a consortium of federal agencies through a grant from the National Science Foundation (award number SES-124012). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-38056-0
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-38056-1
DOI: 10.17226/21843
Additional copies of this report are available for sale from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu.
Copyright 2016 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2016). Rationalizing Rural Area Classifications for the Economic Research Service: Workshop Summary. G.S. Wunderlich, Rapporteur, Committee on National Statistics. Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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STEERING COMMITTEE FOR RATIONALIZING RURAL AREA
CLASSIFICATIONS FOR THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH SERVICE:
A WORKSHOP
DAVID L. BROWN (Chair), Department of Development Sociology, Cornell University
JAMES D. FITZSIMMONS, Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau
STEPHAN J. GOETZ, Division of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, Pennsylvania State University, and Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development
MARK D. PARTRIDGE, Division of Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics, Ohio State University
DAVID ALLEN PLANE, School of Geography and Development, University of Arizona
BRIGITTE S. WALDORF, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University
NANCY J. KIRKENDALL, Project Director
GOOLOO S. WUNDERLICH, Senior Program Officer
MARY ANN KASPER, Senior Program Assistant
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COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL STATISTICS
LAWRENCE D. BROWN (Chair), Department of Statistics, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
JOHN M. ABOWD, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University
FRANCINE BLAU, Department of Economics, Cornell University
MARY ELLEN BOCK, Department of Statistics, Purdue University
MICHAEL E. CHERNEW, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School
DON A. DILLMAN, Department of Sociology, Washington State University
CONSTANTINE GATSONIS, Center for Statistical Sciences, Brown University
JAMES S. HOUSE, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan
MICHAEL HOUT, Survey Research Center, University of California, Berkeley
THOMAS L. MESENBOURG, Retired, formerly U.S. Census Bureau
SUSAN A. MURPHY, Department of Statistics, University of Michigan
SARAH M. NUSSER, Department of Statistics, Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology, Iowa State University
COLM A. O’MUIRCHEARTAIGH, Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago
RUTH D. PETERSON, Criminal Justice Research Center, Ohio State University
ROBERTO RIGOBON, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
EDWARD H. SHORTLIFFE, Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University and Arizona State University
CONSTANCE F. CITRO, Director
EILEEN LEFURGY, Program Coordinator
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Reviewers
This workshop report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the Report Review Committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the process.
We wish to thank the following individuals for their review of this workshop summary: Bo Beaulieu, Center for Regional Development and Extension Community Development Program, Purdue University; Jeff Hardcastle, Nevada State Demographer, Nevada Department of Taxation, Reno, NV; Keith Mueller, Department of Health Management and Policy, College of Public Health, University of Iowa; Michael R. Ratcliffe, Geography Division, U.S. Census Bureau; and Mildred Warner, City and Regional Planning, Cornell University.
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they did not see the final draft of the workshop summary before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Alicia Carriquiry, Department of Statistics, Iowa State University. Appointed by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, she was responsible for making certain that an independent
examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content of this report rests entirely with the author and the institution.
Contents
2 Official U.S. Rural Area Classification Systems
3 Other Rural Area Classification Systems Used in the United States and Internationally
4 Changes in Society and Economy and Their Impact on Rural Classifications
5 Different Ways to Conceptualize Rural Areas in Metropolitan Society
6 Uses of Current Rural Classification Systems
7 Changes in Social Science Data and Methods
8 Evaluating the Reliability and Validity of Rural Area Classifications
