Robert Groves (academic)
Encyclopedia
Robert Martin Groves is the Director of the United States Census Bureau
Director of the United States Census Bureau
The Director of the Census Bureau is the chief administrator of the United States Census Bureau. The director is appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate...

, a sociologist, and research professor in survey
Statistical survey
Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....

 methodology
Survey Methodology
Survey Methodology is a peer-reviewed open access scientific journal that publishes papers related to the development and application of survey techniques...

 at both the University of Michigan
University of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 and University of Maryland, College Park
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...

. He was an associate director and later a visiting researcher at the Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 from 1990 to 1992, and he has published several books on statistical sampling.

Early life

Groves was born in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

, grew up in Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie, Louisiana
Metairie is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States and is a major part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. Metairie is the largest community in Jefferson Parish. It is an unincorporated area that would be larger than most of the state's cities if it were...

, and graduated in 1966 from De La Salle High School
De La Salle High School (New Orleans)
De La Salle High School is a co-educational parochial high school in New Orleans, Louisiana. De La Salle is part of the New Orleans parochial school system. It was originally opened in 1949 as an all-boys school. However, the school began accepting girls in 1992, and it is today a co-educational...

 in New Orleans. In 1970, he graduated (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...

 with an A.B.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...

. He later earned two M.A. degrees
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 (sociology and statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....

, both 1973) and a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 (sociology, 1975) from the University of Michigan.

United States Census Bureau

When Groves was an associate director at the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 in the early 1990s, he argued that potentially millions of minorities who
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...

 typically voted Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 were being undercounted. Groves advocated for the use of statistical adjustments to account for this discrepancy. George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

's Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher
Robert Mosbacher
Robert Adam Mosbacher, Sr. , was an American businessman, accomplished yacht racer, and a Republican politician. In sailing, Sports Illustrated called him "the unquestioned master of fleet racing." In business in 1954, he found a million-dollar field of natural gas in South Texas...

 blocked this suggestion. The Census Bureau is a component of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

On April 2, 2009, Groves was nominated by President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 to head the Census Bureau. During his confirmation hearings, Republican senators raised concerns based on Groves' previous actions that he would apply statistical adjustments to populations believed to be undercounted, thereby inflating their numbers and affecting the apportionment of congressional seats. Groves ruled out the use of statistical adjustments during the hearings and his nomination quickly proceeded to the full Senate in May. However, senators Richard Shelby
Richard Shelby
Richard Craig Shelby is the senior U.S. Senator from Alabama. First elected to the Senate in 1986, he is the ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and was its chairman from 2003 to 2007....

 and David Vitter
David Vitter
David Vitter is the junior United States Senator from Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party. Previously, he served in the United States House of Representatives, representing the suburban Louisiana's 1st congressional district. He served as a member of the Louisiana House of...

 continued to delay his confirmation due to lingering worries regarding statistical adjustments. They also sought assurance from the Obama administration that the controversial community group ACORN
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now was a collection of community-based organizations in the United States that advocated for low- and moderate-income families by working on neighborhood safety, voter registration, health care, affordable housing, and other social issues...

 would not be involved in grassroots outreach related to the 2010 Census. On July 13, 2009, after several weeks of opposition by the two senators, Senate majority leader Harry Reid
Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...

used a procedural motion to force a vote that confirmed Groves, 76-15. He took office July 15, 2009.

Publishing history

Groves is the author of several books, including:
  • Surveying Victims (2008) ISBN 0309115981
  • Survey Errors and Survey Costs (2004) ISBN 0471678511
  • Survey Methodology (2010) Second edition of the (2004) first edition ISBN 0471483486
  • Survey Nonresponse (2001) ISBN 0471396273
  • Nonresponse in Household Interview Surveys (1998) ISBN 0471182451


Groves is the editor of several books, including:
  • Measurement Errors in Surveys (2004) ISBN 0471692808
  • Telephone Survey Methodology (2001) ISBN 0471209562
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