APPENDIX A. 

 General Explanation 



Page 



TAKING THE CENSUS A-1 



OFFICE PROCESSING A-1 



DEFINITIONS AND EXPLANATIONS A-2 



FARM CLASSIFICATIONS A-4 



RELIABILITY OF DATA A-5 



TAKING THE CENSUS 

 Report Form 



The report form for the 1 987 Census of Agriculture in 

 Guam was prepared by the Outlying Areas Branch of the 

 Agriculture Division, Bureau of the Census, in cooperation 

 with the Department of Commerce of Guam. 



The content of the 1 987 census report form is similar to 

 that of the 1982 form. Some changes were made to 

 provide more meaningful and useful statistics, and to 

 facilitate the processing of the collected data. A new data 

 item was added for type of organization. One other change 

 was listing vegetables and field crops alphabetically in 

 section 3. 



Training Program 



The project manager, crew leaders, and enumerators 

 employed for the census in Guam received special training 

 in accordance with instructions prepared by the Bureau of 

 the Census. The training included classroom practice in 

 interviewing and filling out the report form, and a detailed 

 discussion of the enumerator's instructions. 



{Method of Enumeration 



The statistics in this report represent totals of data 

 collected from farm operators during a 9-week pehod, 

 beginning in February 1988. Prior to enumeration, Guam 

 was divided into 1 9 Enumeration Districts (ED's) and each 

 district was clearly delineated on special ED maps. 



Each enumerator was assigned an ED and furnished 

 with a map of the district to be enumerated. In all areas, 

 except cities and other heavily populated areas, enumer- 

 ators were required to visit each dwelling (or place), list the 

 name of the head of household, and ask a series of 

 screening questions. If the place qualified as an agricul- 

 tural operation, the enumerator was required to complete a 

 report form (see appendix C). For urban and other heavily 

 populated areas, enumerators were given a list of 1982 

 farm operations and were required to enumerate those 

 that still operated as a farm. To ensure as complete an 



enumeration as possible, the enumerators were required 

 to plot the location of each occupied dwelling or place on 

 the ED map. They were also given lists of special and large 

 farms located in each ED and were required to complete a 

 report form for each name listed or an explanation of why 

 one was not necessary. 



Enumerators were to ask enough questions about tracts 

 of land on which there were no dwellings to determine 

 whether a report form should be completed for the owner 

 or person in charge. This procedure was designed to 

 ensure complete coverage of all land used, whether oper- 

 ated by an individual, partnership, corporation, or institu- 

 tion. 



To avoid duplication or overlapping of enumeration, 

 rules were established whereby responsibility for coverage 

 could be determined. If a place was entirely within the 

 boundaries of an ED, the enumerator assigned to it was 

 responsible for completing the report form, regardless of 

 where the operator lived. If a place was partly in one ED 

 and partly in another, the enumerator assigned to the ED in 

 which the operator lived was responsible for completing 

 the report form; including all land the person operated in 

 Guam regardless of ED. 



OFFICE PROCESSING 



The office processing was done in the Agriculture 

 Division at the Bureau of the Census. Each report form was 

 edited and coded prior to being keyed and tabulated. 

 Report forms obtained for places not meeting the census 

 farm definition criteria were voided and removed from 

 further processing. The remaining report forms were exam- 

 ined for accuracy, consistency, and completeness. Errors 

 in computations and in units of measures, inconsistencies, 

 and misplaced entries were corrected. Incomplete reports 

 were adjusted on the basis of related information on the 

 same form or on report forms for nearby farms of similar 

 type and size. 



After all report forms had been reviewed, the data were 

 keyed and subjected to a thorough computer edit analysis. 

 The computer analyzed the data for each farm for com- 

 pleteness and consistency, and recorded all inconsisten- 

 cies. These inconsistencies were reviewed by subject 

 matter specialists, corrected, and keyed into a correction 

 file. The corrected data were then tabulated by the com- 

 puter and printed out for review. Following necessary 

 corrections, the data were retabulated and a printout was 

 provided so that the data tables could be prepared for final 

 publication. 



1987 CENSUS OF AGRICULTURE 



APPENDIX A A-1 



