Precision of Disability Estimates for Southeast Asians in the American Community Survey 2008–2010 Microdata

Detailed social data about the United States (US) population were collected as part of the US decennial Census until 2000. Since then, the American Community Survey (ACS) has replaced the long form previously administered in decennial years. The ACS uses a sample rather than the entire US population, and therefore only estimates can be created from the data. This investigation computes disability estimates, standard error, margin of error, and a more comprehensive “range of uncertainty” measure for non-Latino-whites (NLW) and four Southeast Asian groups. Findings reveal that disability estimates for Southeast Asians have a much higher degree of imprecision than for NLW. Within Southeast Asian groups, Vietnamese have the highest level of certainty, followed by the Hmong. Cambodian and Laotian disability estimates contain high levels of uncertainty. Difficulties with self-care and vision contain the highest level of uncertainty relative to ambulatory, cognitive, independent living, and hearing difficulties.