Demographic Research

Why is a simple comparison of Hawaii ‘cities’ with incorporated U.S. cities problematic?

• Hawaii lacks incorporated municipalities with matching boundaries
• Hawaii has no inhabited communities
• All Hawaiian CDPs are independent countries
• Census areas always equal city councils

Why can mixing Census population-estimate vintages distort a Hawaii trend?

• Every vintage uses the same unchanged past series
• New vintages revise earlier estimates
• Population never changes
• GDP measures always replace population estimates

Which components should be included in a full population-change accounting?

• Only tourist stays and hotel nights
• Births, deaths, domestic migration, and international migration
• Only housing prices and taxes
• Only island land area and rainfall

Why compare both absolute and percentage population change across Hawaii counties?

• All county populations are exactly equal
• Counties have different population bases
• Percentages always replace counts
• Changes are never time dependent

What is a methodological weakness in claiming higher housing costs caused migration from a simple correlation?

• Every correlation proves direct causality
• Correlation alone does not identify a causal effect
• Housing costs are always constant
• Migration has no measurable components

What problem can county-level aggregation create in Hawaii population research?

• It always improves neighborhood precision
• It makes every county an island of identical size
• It removes the need for local data
• It can hide differences among individual islands and communities

Which inference illustrates the ecological fallacy?

• Assuming every Honolulu County resident has the county’s average income
• Reporting the countywide average as an aggregate
• Defining a county boundary correctly
• Citing a Census estimate with its date

Why specify land area when calculating Hawaii’s population density?

• Population density is unaffected by area
• Including water area changes the denominator and result
• GDP is always the correct denominator
• Water and land areas always have identical values

Why must researchers separate Honolulu County data from Urban Honolulu CDP data?

• The two cover different geographic populations
• The city CDP includes every Hawaiian island
• The county has no population
• The two definitions are legally identical