For the 21st time since the founding of the Republic, the federal government is gearing up to produce a gold mine of information about U.S. residents that many businesses will not be able to do without.
Next spring, the U.S. Census Bureau -- as it does at the turn of every decade -- will begin a head count of the nation`s citizens, upon which the next reapportionment of congressional representation will be based.
But the affects will go well beyond politics: Observers said that thanks to the increasing prevalence of computer power at many companies, data from the 1990 Census stands to be the most widely used set of statistics since the first national canvass in 1790.
``It is the only such massive survey nationwide for small geographic areas, and the linking of geographic data with socio-economic data is an extraordinary powerful tool for business,`` said Bryant Robey, a founding editor of American Demographics magazine.
Robey works for the Population Reference Bureau, a private, non-profit educational organization based in Washington, D.C.
Ken Baldowski, a spokesman for the Census Bureau`s regional office in Atlanta, said, ``The census provides a snapshot of how 250 million Americans live and work, and business stands to gain a lot from people`s participation in it.``
The census always has been more than a headcount, representing a statistical window through which U.S. residents` social and economic patterns are viewed.
In addition to the basics of age, sex, race, occupation, location of residence and income, census-takers will ask respondents such new questions as what their monthly home equity loan payments and condominium fees amount to, whether they have a solar energy device and whether stepchildren and grandchildren are a part of the household.
Equally important for some marketing professionals in South Florida and elsewhere will be the new wording of some questions, such as the one on ethnic background of Hispanics.
Such major ethnic groups as Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban are listed on the 1990 Census form, as they were in 1980. But next year`s census questionnaire also provides a space for respondents to specify a different background that may apply, such as Colombian or Dominican. In 1980, those respondents had to check ``other.``
``In the business of higher education we use demographics to look at the needs of the community and how the university can serve that constituency,`` said Neuman F. Pollack, dean of the Friedt School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova University.
``The demographics of the black population in South Florida are not monolithic, and just because a group of people are Hispanic doesn`t mean they have the same perspectives,`` Pollack said.
The 1990 Census will include two new categories on the relationship list pertaining to stepchildren and grandchildren. These will allow researchers to estimate ``blended families.``
Another revision is that the partner/roommate category used in 1980 is separated into two categories in 1990, roommate and unmarried partner. That will allow researchers to count the number of cohabitating couples.
Meanwhile, the question on marital history used in the 1980 Census has been deleted from the 1990 survey. Next year, respondents will not be asked whether they have been married before or whether that marriage ended because of the death of a spouse.
Other changes in next year`s census questions are not viewed as improvements by some people, however.
Respondents will not be asked how many bathrooms are in their home -- a question that in the past was regarded as a good indicator of housing value -- or whether they have air conditioning. But the question that asks how a dwelling is heated has been expanded to include solar energy.
``I think that`s nuts,`` said Roger Hall, chairman of Arvida Corp., a Boca Raton-based real estate development firm. ``I think the number of bathrooms is important, and I think the results from the solar question will be meaningless.``
Baldowski at the Census Bureau could not defend that particular change, except to say that 65 public hearings nationwide were held in advance to gather suggestions for the form`s questions.
Robey said that when it comes to the number of bathrooms, ``apparently the Office of Management and Budget didn`t see the value of asking a question like that now, and they took a whole bunch of housing questions off.``
The census questionnaire once asked how many television sets there were in each household, a question that was dropped long ago as obsolete, Robey said.
Regardless, Census Bureau officials maintain that the 1990 Census -- whose questionnaires will be delivered to 88 million addresses next March 23 with an April 1 deadline for returning the forms -- will be better and more accurate in many respects.