The Methods and Materials of Demography

This book is a thorough update of the original "Methods and Materials of Demography" (1976). Every chapter is new, written exclusively for this edition. Like the original, "Red Book", the second edition presents a systematic and comprehensive exposition of the methods used by technicians and research workers in dealing with demographic data. It is concerned with the ways data on population are gathered, classified, and treated to produce tabulations and various summarizing measures that reveal the significant aspects of the composition and dynamics of populations. It also sets forth the sources, limitations, underlying definitions, and bases of classification, as well as the techniques and methods that have been developed for summarizing and analyzing the data.

Jacob S. Siegel has had three overlapping careers: former senior statistician for demographic research and analysis for the U.S. Census Bureau, former senior research scholar and professorial lecturer in demography in the Department of Demography, Georgetown University, and currently, private consultant, J. Stuart Siegel Demographic Services. In his career at the U.S. Census Bureau, Siegel received both the Gold Medal Award and the Silver Medal Award from the Department of Commerce. He is formerly President of the Population Association of America and is currently a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. For the past 20 years, Siegel has been working privately as an expert witness and a commissioned author of various technical documents in applied demography and gerontological demography. He is the author or co-author of three books, numerous monographs, papers, and book reviews. Applied Demography reflects the wide-ranging experience of the author as researcher, practitioner, and teacher of demography over the last several decades. He has been intimately involved in developments relating to population estimates and projections, evaluating census data for undercounts and other errors and serving as consultant and expert witness in high-profile cases on these and related matters.