Consensus for Research Data

This is of considerable interest to retail and marketing. 

In CACM:

This past year was a census year in the U.S. We responded to arguably the most long-lived and broad-based gathering of domiciliary information about the American public anywhere. U.S. Census data, collected every decade, provides a detailed picture of how many of us there are, where we live, and how we're distributed by age, gender, household, ethnic diversity, and other characteristics.

The Census ( http://2010.census.gov/2010census/index.php ) provides an evidence-based snapshot of America. This important information is publicly available and used in a variety of ways—to guide in the planning of senior centers, schools, bridges, and emergency services, to make assessments informed by societal trends and attributes, and to make predictions about future social and economic needs. The Census is particularly valuable as a planning tool in the building of physical infrastructure, as the distribution and characteristics of the population drive the development of hospitals, public works projects, and other essential facilities and services. .... "