Ethnographic methods in the development of census procedures for enumerating the homeless.

Abstract

The use of ethnographic methods to estimate the number of homeless persons in the United States is explored. The authors describe how "ethnographic methods were integrated with survey procedures in a 1989 Census Bureau pilot test of an experimental daytime count of homeless persons in Baltimore, MD. We demonstrated that ethnographic techniques do not have to be merely supplemental to survey research, but can play an integral part in shaping the entire procedure. Ethnographic data proved valuable for choosing sites, designing questionnaires and developing new interview approaches, and have since proven equally useful in interpreting the test results."