Consensus
The effective use of data science - the science and technology of extracting value from data - improves, enhances, and strengthens acquisition decision-making and outcomes. Using data science to support decision making is not new to the defense acquisition community; its use by the acquisition workforce has enabled acquisition and thus defense successes for decades. Still, more consistent and expanded application of data science will continue improving acquisition outcomes, and doing so requires coordinated efforts across the defense acquisition system and its related communities and stakeholders. Central to that effort is the development, growth, and sustainment of data science capabilities across the acquisition workforce.
At the request of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Empowering the Defense Acquisition Workforce to Improve Mission Outcomes Using Data Science assesses how data science can improve acquisition processes and develops a framework for training and educating the defense acquisition workforce to better exploit the application of data science. This report identifies opportunities where data science can improve acquisition processes, the relevant data science skills and capabilities necessary for the acquisition workforce, and relevant models of data science training and education.
154 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-68493-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-68494-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25979
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Empowering the Defense Acquisition Workforce to Improve Mission Outcomes Using Data Science. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Retail trade has experienced dramatic changes over the past several decades in the United States, with changes in the types of outlets where goods are sold, the nature of the transactions that provide goods to consumers, and the structure of retail operations behind the scenes. The recent changes include the rise of warehouse stores and e-commerce and the further growth of imports and large retail chains. These changes highlight and typify many aspects of the broader evolution of the economy as a whole in recent years - with the growing role of large firms and information technology - while taking place in a sector that directly serves the vast majority of the American population and provides substantial employment.
Despite the everyday experience of these dramatic changes in retail, there is concern that the most transformational aspects of those changes may not be captured well by the economic indicators about the sector. In order to develop appropriate economic policies, we need to be able to capture more detailed data, including data about changes to productivity.
At the request of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, this report evaluates changes in the retail trade sector, assesses measures of employment and labor productivity for the sector, and recommends a new satellite account that could measure retail-related employment and labor productivity in ways that would better capture the transformation.
132 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-38153-3
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-38840-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/26101
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. A Satellite Account to Measure the Retail Transformation: Organizational, Conceptual, and Data Foundations. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Government statistics are widely used to inform decisions by policymakers, program administrators, businesses and other organizations as well as households and the general public. Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency, Seventh Edition will assist statistical agencies and units, as well as other agencies engaged in statistical activities, to carry out their responsibilities to provide accurate, timely, relevant, and objective information for public and policy use. This report will also inform legislative and executive branch decision makers, data users, and others about the characteristics of statistical agencies that enable them to serve the public good.
138 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-68114-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-68115-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25885
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency: Seventh Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
The past century has witnessed remarkable advances in life expectancy in the United States and throughout the world. In 2010, however, progress in life expectancy in the United States began to stall, despite continuing to increase in other high-income countries. Alarmingly, U.S. life expectancy fell between 2014 and 2015 and continued to decline through 2017, the longest sustained decline in life expectancy in a century (since the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919). The recent decline in U.S. life expectancy appears to have been the product of two trends: (1) an increase in mortality among middle-aged and younger adults, defined as those aged 25-64 years (i.e., "working age"), which began in the 1990s for several specific causes of death (e.g., drug- and alcohol-related causes and suicide); and (2) a slowing of declines in working-age mortality due to other causes of death (mainly cardiovascular diseases) after 2010.
High and Rising Mortality Rates among Working Age Adults highlights the crisis of rising premature mortality that threatens the future of the nation's families, communities, and national wellbeing. This report identifies the key drivers of increasing death rates and disparities in working-age mortality over the period 1990 to 2017; elucidates modifiable risk factors that could alleviate poor health in the working-age population, as well as widening health inequalities; identifies key knowledge gaps and make recommendations for future research and data collection to fill those gaps; and explores potential policy implications. After a comprehensive analysis of the trends in working-age mortality by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and geography using the most up-to-date data, this report then looks upstream to the macrostructural factors (e.g., public policies, macroeconomic trends, social and economic inequality, technology) and social determinants (e.g., socioeconomic status, environment, social networks) that may affect the health of working-age Americans in multiple ways and through multiple pathways.
596 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-68473-0
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-68474-9
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25976
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. High and Rising Mortality Rates Among Working-Age Adults. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
This Proceedings of a Workshop summarizes the presentations and discussions at the Workshop on the Implications of Convergence for How the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) Measures the Science and Engineering Workforce, which was held virtually and livestreamed on October 22-23, 2020. The workshop was convened by the Committee on National Statistics to help NCSES, a division of the National Science Foundation, set an agenda to inform its methodological research and better measure and assess the implications of convergence for the science and engineering workforce and enterprise. The workshop brought together scientists and researchers from multiple disciplines, along with experts in science policy, university administration, and other stakeholders to review and provide input on defining and measuring convergence and its impact on science and scientists.
108 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-22183-8
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-22191-9
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/26040
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2021. Measuring Convergence in Science and Engineering: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
The Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a 2-day public workshop from December 11-12, 2019, to discuss the suite of data products the Census Bureau will generate from the 2020 Census. The workshop featured presentations by users of decennial census data products to help the Census Bureau better understand the uses of the data products and the importance of these uses and help inform the Census Bureau's decisions on the final specification of 2020 data products. This publication summarizes the presentation and discussion of the workshop.
208 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-68484-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-68485-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25978
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. 2020 Census Data Products: Data Needs and Privacy Considerations: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Interim
Across the United States, millions of acres of land have been so disturbed by human activities or severe climate events that significant portions of their native plant communities have been lost and their ecosystems have been seriously compromised. Restoring impaired ecosystems requires a supply of diverse native plant seeds that are well suited to the climates, soils, and other living species of the system. Native seeds are also in demand for applications in urban land management, roadside maintenance, conservation agriculture, and other restorative activities that take into account the connection between native plant communities and the increasingly urgent need for resilient landscapes. Given the varied climatic and environmental niches of the more than 17,000 native plant species of the United States, supplying the desired seed types and species mixes for this wide range of activities is a challenge.
As the first phase of a nationwide analysis of the full scope of needs for native plant seeds, this interim report describes the participants in the native plant seed supply chain, makes preliminary observations, and proposes an information-gathering plan for the second phase of the assessment.
72 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-68015-8
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-68016-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25859
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. An Assessment of the Need for Native Seeds and the Capacity for Their Supply: Interim Report. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Business structures, employment relationships, job characteristics, and worker outcomes have changed in the United States over the last few decades—in some ways unpredictably. A high level of interest exists among policy makers and researchers in addressing concerns about the future of work in the United States. These concerns are heightened by the perceived fracturing of relationships between workers and employers, the loss of safety net protections and benefits to workers, the growing importance of access to skills and education as the impacts of new technologies and automation are felt, and the market-based pressure that companies face to produce short-term profits, sometimes at the expense of long-term value.
These issues, as well as related ones such as wage stagnation and job quality, are often associated with alternative work arrangements (AWAs)—which include independent-contractor and other nonemployee jobs, work through intermediaries such as temporary help agencies and other contract companies, and work with unpredictable schedules—although they also pertain to many standard jobs. A better understanding of the magnitude of and trends in AWAs, along with the implications for job quality, is needed to develop appropriate policies in response to the changing nature of work.
Measuring Alternative Work Arrangements for Research and Policy reviews the Contigent Worker Supplement (CWS) of the Current Population Survey (CPS) for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the U.S. Department of Labor. The CWS provides key measures of temporary (contingent) work, alternative work arrangements, and the "gig" economy. Disagreements, however, exist among researchers, policy makers, and other stakeholders about the definitions and measures of these concepts and priorities for future data collection. The report also reviews measures of employment, earnings, and worker well-being in temporary and alternative work arrangements that can be estimated using household survey data, such as those generated by the CWS, as well as measures that can be produced using administrative, commercial, and combined data sources. The comparative advantages and complementarities of different data sources will be assessed, as well as methodological issues underpinning BLS's measurement objectives.
172 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-67847-1
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-67848-X
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25822
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Measuring Alternative Work Arrangements for Research and Policy. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Patterns of food consumption and nutritional intake strongly affect the population's health and well-being. The Food Economics Division of USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) engages in research and data collection to inform policy making related to the leading federal nutrition assistance programs managed by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service. The ERS uses the Consumer Food Data System to understand why people choose foods, how food assistance programs affect these choices, and the health impacts of those choices.
At the request of ERS, A Consumer Food Data System for 2030 and Beyond provides a blueprint for ERS's Food Economics Division for its data strategy over the next decade. This report explores the quality of data collected, the data collection process, and the kinds of data that may be most valuable to researchers, policy makers, and program administrators going forward. The recommendations of A Consumer Food Data System for 2030 and Beyond will guide ERS to provide and sustain a multisource, interconnected, reliable data system.
230 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-67071-3
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-67072-1
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25657
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. A Consumer Food Data System for 2030 and Beyond. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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How can states and schools use data to support their efforts to improve educational equity? Building Educational Equity Indicator Systems: A Guidebook for States and School Districts, provides information to help state and school district leaders develop ways of tracking educational equity within their preK – 12 systems.
The guidebook expands on the indicators of educational equity identified in the 2019 National Academies report, Monitoring Educational Equity, showing education leaders how they can measure educational equity within their states and school districts. Some of the indicators focus on student outcomes, such as kindergarten readiness or educational attainment, while others focus on student access to opportunities and resources, such as effective instruction and rigorous curriculum. Together, the indicators provide a robust picture of the outcomes and opportunities that are central to educational equity from preK through grade 12.
For each indicator of educational equity identified in the report, the guidebook describes what leaders should measure and what data to use, provides examples of data collection instruments, and offers considerations and challenges to keep in mind. The guidebook is meant to help education leaders catalogue data they already collect and identify new data sources to help them fill gaps.
42 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-67894-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25833
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Building Educational Equity Indicator Systems: A Guidebook for States and School Districts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
Human trafficking has many names and can take many forms - pimp control, commercial sex, exploitation, forced labor, modern slavery, child labor, and several others - and the definitions vary greatly across countries and cultures, as well as among researchers. In the United States, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) is the cornerstone of counter-trafficking efforts. It provides guidance for identifying and defining human trafficking, and it authorizes legislation and appropriations for subsequent counter-trafficking measures both within and outside of the federal government. First enacted in 2000, the TVPA has since been reauthorized by three administrations, and it includes a directive for the President to establish an Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking. The subsequent Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2018 also includes provisions for victim services and plans to enhance collaboration efforts to fight trafficking abroad.
To explore current and innovative sampling methods, technological approaches, and analytical strategies for estimating the prevalence of sex and labor trafficking in vulnerable populations, a 2-day public workshop, Approaches to Estimating the Prevalence of Human Trafficking in the United States, was held in Washington, D.C. in April 2019. The workshop brought together statisticians, survey methodologists, researchers, public health practitioners, and other experts who work closely with human trafficking data or with the survivors of trafficking. Participants addressed the current state of research on human trafficking, advancements in data collection, and gaps in the data. They discussed international practices and global trends in human trafficking prevalence estimation and considered ways in which collaborations across agencies and among the U.S. government and private-sector organizations have advanced counter-trafficking efforts. This proceedings summarizes the presentations and discussions of the workshop.
84 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-49959-3
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-49960-7
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25614
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Estimating the Prevalence of Human Trafficking in the United States: Considerations and Complexities: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
Disparities in educational attainment among population groups have characterized the United States throughout its history. Education is sometimes characterized as the "great equalizer," but to date, the country has not found ways to successfully address the adverse effects of socioeconomic circumstances, prejudice, and discrimination that suppress performance for some groups.
To ensure that the pursuit of equity encompasses both the goals to which the nation aspires for its children and the mechanisms to attain those goals, a revised set of equity indicators is needed. Measures of educational equity often fail to account for the impact of the circumstances in which students live on their academic engagement, academic progress, and educational attainment. Some of the contextual factors that bear on learning include food and housing insecurity, exposure to violence, unsafe neighborhoods, adverse childhood experiences, and exposure to environmental toxins. Consequently, it is difficult to identify when intervention is necessary and how it should function. A revised set of equity indicators should highlight disparities, provide a way to explore potential causes, and point toward possible improvements.
Monitoring Educational Equity proposes a system of indicators of educational equity and presents recommendations for implementation. This report also serves as a framework to help policy makers better understand and combat inequity in the United States' education system. Disparities in educational opportunities reinforce, and often amplify, disparities in outcomes throughout people's lives. Thus, it is critical to ensure that all students receive comprehensive supports that level the playing field in order to improve the well-being of underrepresented individuals and the nation.
268 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-49016-2
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-49017-0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25389
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Monitoring Educational Equity. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
In 2014, the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) engaged the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene a planning committee to organize a public workshop for an expert open discussion of their then-current livestock models. The models had worked well for some time. Unfortunately beginning in 2013, an epidemic that killed baby pigs broke out in the United States. The epidemic was not fully realized until 2014 and spread to many states. The result was a decline in hog inventories and pork production that was not predicted by the models. NASS delayed the workshop until 2019 while it worked to develop models that could help in times both of equilibrium and shock (disease or disaster), as well as alternative approaches to help detect the onset of a shock. The May 15, 2019, workshop was consistent with NASS's 2014 intention, but with a focus on a model that can help predict hog inventories over time, including during times of shock. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
110 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-49572-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-49573-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25526
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Using Models to Estimate Hog and Pig Inventories: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
One of the pathways by which the scientific community confirms the validity of a new scientific discovery is by repeating the research that produced it. When a scientific effort fails to independently confirm the computations or results of a previous study, some fear that it may be a symptom of a lack of rigor in science, while others argue that such an observed inconsistency can be an important precursor to new discovery.
Concerns about reproducibility and replicability have been expressed in both scientific and popular media. As these concerns came to light, Congress requested that the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conduct a study to assess the extent of issues related to reproducibility and replicability and to offer recommendations for improving rigor and transparency in scientific research.
Reproducibility and Replicability in Science defines reproducibility and replicability and examines the factors that may lead to non-reproducibility and non-replicability in research. Unlike the typical expectation of reproducibility between two computations, expectations about replicability are more nuanced, and in some cases a lack of replicability can aid the process of scientific discovery. This report provides recommendations to researchers, academic institutions, journals, and funders on steps they can take to improve reproducibility and replicability in science.
256 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-48616-5
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-48617-3
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25303
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Reproducibility and Replicability in Science. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop_in_brief
A 2-day public workshop on estimating the prevalence of human trafficking in the United States was held by the Committee on National Statistics in collaboration with the Committee on Population April 8-9, 2019. The workshop explored current and innovative sampling methods, technological approaches, and analytical strategies for estimating the prevalence of sex and labor trafficking in vulnerable populations. The workshop, sponsored by the Office on Women's Health at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), brought together statisticians, survey methodologists, researchers, public health practitioners, and other experts who work closely with human trafficking data or with the survivors of trafficking.
Participants addressed the current state of research on human trafficking, advancements in data collection, and gaps in the data. They discussed international practices and global trends in human trafficking prevalence estimation and considered ways in which collaborations across agencies and among the U.S. government and private-sector organizations have advanced counter-trafficking efforts. The workshop highlighted the importance of understanding the scope of human trafficking in order to inform and receive support from policy makers and change agents.
12 pages
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ISBN Ebook: 0-309-49675-6
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25550
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Estimating the Prevalence of Human Trafficking in the United States: Considerations and Complexities: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Consensus
The strengths and abilities children develop from infancy through adolescence are crucial for their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth, which in turn help them to achieve success in school and to become responsible, economically self-sufficient, and healthy adults. Capable, responsible, and healthy adults are clearly the foundation of a well-functioning and prosperous society, yet America's future is not as secure as it could be because millions of American children live in families with incomes below the poverty line. A wealth of evidence suggests that a lack of adequate economic resources for families with children compromises these children's ability to grow and achieve adult success, hurting them and the broader society.
A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty reviews the research on linkages between child poverty and child well-being, and analyzes the poverty-reducing effects of major assistance programs directed at children and families. This report also provides policy and program recommendations for reducing the number of children living in poverty in the United States by half within 10 years.
618 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-48398-0
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-48399-9
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25246
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. A Roadmap to Reducing Child Poverty. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
Since its origin 23 years ago as a pilot test conducted in four U.S. counties, the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS) has been the focus of continuous research, development, and refinement. The survey cleared critical milestones 14 years ago when it began full-scale operations, including comprehensive nationwide coverage, and 5 years later when the ACS replaced a long-form sample questionnaire in the 2010 census as a source of detailed demographic and socioeconomic information. Throughout that existence and continuing today, ACS research and testing has worked to improve the survey's conduct in the face of challenges ranging from detailed and procedural to the broad and existential.
This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion at the September 26-27, 2018, Workshop on Improving the American Community Survey (ACS), sponsored by the U.S. Census Bureau. Workshop participants explored uses of administrative records and third-party data to improve ACS operations and potential for boosting respondent participation through improved communication.
210 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-49000-6
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-49001-4
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25387
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Improving the American Community Survey: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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Workshop
In 2014 the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided support to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for a series of Forums on Open Science in response to a government-wide directive to support increased public access to the results of research funded by the federal government. However, the breadth of the work resulting from the series precluded a focus on any specific topic or discussion about how to improve public access. Thus, the main goal of the Workshop on Transparency and Reproducibility in Federal Statistics was to develop some understanding of what principles and practices are, or would be, supportive of making federal statistics more understandable and reviewable, both by agency staff and the public. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.
124 pages
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ISBN Paperback: 0-309-48629-7
ISBN Ebook: 0-309-48630-0
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17226/25305
National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Methods to Foster Transparency and Reproducibility of Federal Statistics: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
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