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Any census — or other enumeration exercise — which yields numerical data (counts) may include data collected using a variety of unspecified counting practices, such as ‘rounding’ to the nearest multiples of a ‘base-unit’, e.g. 5 or 10 or a (half-) dozen, as well as ‘exact’ counts. In general, the greater the age of the data-source, the greater the probability that the recorded data represent ‘rounded’ estimates as opposed to ‘exact’ counts. Also, the greater the number and diversity of the persons involved in data-collection, the greater the probability of variation in counting practice. The presence of ‘rounded’ data in many historical sources produces uncertainty when historians — or others — come to analyse such data. This article presents a new technique for analysing numerical data, one which illuminates our understanding of counting behaviour (whether of enumerators or respondents) and its effects on the resulting data. This method can be used to detect the presence of ‘rounded’ data within a data-set and to determine the frequencies of the counting practices involved. The methodology and its underlying principles are described and the method is illustrated by means of a case-study based on church/chapel attendance data from the Religious Census of 1851 for England and Wales.
International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing – Edinburgh University Press
Published: Jan 1, 1997
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