Editing Census (section)

==Uses of data==
Early censuses in the 19th and 20th centuries collected paper documents which had to be collated by hand, so the statistical information obtained was quite basic. The government that owned the data could publish statistics on the state of the nation.<ref>Kathrin Levitan (auth.), ''A Cultural History of the British Census: Envisioning the Multitude in the Nineteenth Century'', {{ISBN|978-1-349-29824-2|978-0-230-33760-2}} Palgrave Macmillan US 2011.</ref> The results were used to measure changes in the population and apportion representation. Population estimates could be compared to those of other countries.

By the beginning of the 20th century, censuses were recording households and some indications of their employment. In some countries, census archives are released for public examination after many decades, allowing genealogists to track the ancestry of interested people. Archives provide a substantial historical record which may challenge established views. Information such as job titles and arrangements for the destitute and sick may also shed light on the historical structure of society.

Political considerations influence the census in many countries. In [[Canada]] in 2010 for example, the government under the leadership of [[Stephen Harper]] abolished the mandatory long-form census. This abolition was a response to protests from some Canadians who resented the personal questions.<ref name="Ditchburn">{{cite news|author1=Jennifer Ditchburn|title=Tories scrap mandatory long-form census|url=https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-scrap-mandatory-long-form-census/article4323276/|website=The Globe and Mail|access-date=September 23, 2017|date=June 29, 2010|archive-date=September 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920010502/https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/tories-scrap-mandatory-long-form-census/article4323276/|url-status=live}}</ref> The long-form census was reinstated by the [[Justin Trudeau]] government in 2016.

===Research===
As governments assumed responsibility for schooling and welfare, large government [[research]] departments made extensive use of census data. Population projections could be made, to help plan for provision in local government and regions. Central government could also use census data to allocate funding. Even in the mid 20th century, census data was only directly accessible to large government departments. However, computers meant that tabulations could be used directly by university researchers, large businesses and local government offices. They could use the detail of the data to answer new questions and add to local and specialist knowledge.<ref name=":2" />

Nowadays, census data are published in a wide variety of formats to be accessible to business, all levels of government, media, students and teachers, charities, and any citizen who is interested; researchers in particular have an interest in the role of Census Field Officers (CFO) and their assistants.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morphy|first1=Frances|title=Agency, Contingency and Census Process: Observations of the 2006 Indigenous Enumeration Strategy in Remote Aboriginal Australia|year=2007|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ydj3AQAAQBAJ&q=researcher%20census%20field%20officer&pg=PR11|publisher=ANU E Press|isbn=978-1921313585|access-date=19 July 2016|quote=One researcher spent time observing... the training of Census Field Officers (CFO) and their assistants....|archive-date=20 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120131341/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ydj3AQAAQBAJ&q=researcher%20census%20field%20officer&pg=PR11|url-status=live}}</ref> Data can be represented visually or analysed in complex statistical models, to show the difference between certain areas, or to understand the association between different personal characteristics. Census data offer a unique insight into small areas and small demographic groups which sample data would be unable to capture with precision.

In the census of agriculture, users need census data to:

# support and contribute to evidence-based agricultural planning and policy-making. The census information is essential, for example, to monitor the performance of a policy or programme designed for crop diversification or to address food security issues;
# provide data to facilitate research, investment and business decisions both in the public and private sector;
# contribute to monitoring environmental changes and evaluating the impact of agricultural practices on the environment such as tillage practices, crop rotation or sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions;
# provide relevant data on work inputs and main work activities, as well as on the labour force in the agriculture sector;
# provide an important information base for monitoring some key indicators of the [[Sustainable Development Goals]] (SDGs), in particular those goals related to food security in agricultural holdings, the role of women in agricultural activities and rural poverty;
# provide baseline data both at the national and small administrative and geographical levels for formulating, monitoring and evaluating programmes and projects interventions;
# provide essential information on [[subsistence agriculture]] and for the estimation of the non-observed economy, which plays an important role in the compilation of the national accounts and the economic accounts for agriculture.<ref name=":1" />