U.S. Census Return Rate Challenge

The United States Census Bureau has opened a challenge to develop a statistical model to predict census mail return rates. The Bureau will use this model for planning purposes for the decennial census and for demographic sample surveys.

According to the contest site, “Participants are encouraged to develop and evaluate different statistical approaches to proposing the best predictive model for geographic units. The intent is to improve our current predictive analytics.”

The contest is only open to U.S. citizens and residents. The contest ends Thursday, November 1, 2012. First place will receive $14,000, second place will be awarded $7,500, third place will receive $2,500, and visualization first place will receive $1,000. Go to the contest site for full rules and data.

Source: The U.S. Census Bureau