Anyone recall the 2000 Census “long forms”? Nightmares for respondents and for Census workers, too, I should imagine.
There’s some small improvement in the Census questionnaire that is to begin being mailed out March 1. Only 10 questions, apparently. Download a pdf the Census Bureau has available for review here.
The only question I found really offensive was the question on race. Somehow, I suspect that if I checked “Some other race” and wrote in “Human” that I’d receive a visit asking for clarification… *heh* The phone number question? It’s not as though getting my phone number from a reverse directory is impossible, although in 2000 it would have been a problem (since we didn’t get “real” street addresses on my street until 2005 or so, IIRC).