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Doubt Cast On Study
UJC pulls plan to release National Jewish Population
Survey after learning some data was lost.
JOE BERKOFSKY
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
uch-anticipated parts of
the National Jewish
Population Survey will
not be released as
expected next week because some of
the data has been lost.
The United Jewish Communities,
which is funding the $6 million study,
is canceling all events about the 2000-
01 NJPS at the Philadelphia gathering
of its General Assembly, which begins
Nov. 20 (related story: page 20).
And the UJC, the umbrella of the
North American federation system, is
launching an independent investiga-
tion into the lost data, JTA has
learned. "It is true we are delaying the
release of the study," Stephen
Hoffman, UJC's president and chief
executive officer, told JTA on
Wednesday. "The reason is there have
been some questions raised that I don't
believe we have adequate time to get
answers to."
The revelations could cast doubt on
the entire NJPS, the most extensive
and most costly demographic study
ever conducted of the American
Jewish community.
The lost data apparently concerned
methodological details about who was
surveyed, rather than their responses
to survey questions.
"Some people with serious reputa-
tions believe the study is sound and it
could have gone forward and will stand
up to the test of time," Hoffman said.
"That could be the case — but I
didn't feel comfortable with these
questions to go forward" with releas-
ing further NJPS data next week as
planned, Hoffman said.
Last month, the UJC released initial
findings from the NJPS, showing the
American Jewish population declined 5
percent to 5.2 million since the last
study in 1990, and that birth rates were
dropping and the community was aging.
Hoffman said that had he known of
the missing data before the release of
that information, he would not have
approved the release of those initial
conclusions.
"There may be aspects of it" that are
inaccurate, he said, referring to the
initial data released. "I don't know."
Hoffman said he only learned of the
missing data Tuesday, one week before
the information from the NJPS about
Jewish identity and intermarriage was
due to get released at the annual UJC
gathering, which brings together much
of the organized American Jewish world..
"I feel it would be irresponsible to
go ahead and release the study while
these questions are still unresolved,"
Hoffman said.
"There will be some people who will
be disappointed," Hoffman said of the
implications for the General Assembly.
"I'm personally disappointed."
But there "are other things in Jewish
life," he said that delegates will focus on.
At the heart of the mystery was that
Hoffman only learned Nov. 12, that
the firm conducting research for the
NJPS, Roper Audits & Surveys
Worldwide, lost some data for the
study two years ago during initial tele-
phone calls.
Meanwhile, "other issues like that
have been coming up in recent days," he
added, though he declined to elaborate.
One source familiar with the NJPS
said the missing data concerned lists of
those people telephoned for the sur-
vey, their phone numbers and how
often they were called.
Two-thirds of that data was lost,
according to the source.
But the source maintained that
while this information was important
in determining the accuracy of the
survey's methodology, he did not think
that it would undermine the ultimate
conclusions, specifically those relating
to Jews and Jewish identity.
"I don't know how much has been
lost," Hoffman said. "The issue is 29
hours old. All I've had time to do is
make the decision to not have the data
be released."
However, Hoffman said that the
UJC's director of research for NJPS,
Jim Schwartz, "was aware" of the miss-
ing data at some earlier point, though
Hoffman said he hadn't spoken direct-
ly with Schwartz yet about the matter.
There were no plans affecting
Schwartz's position at this point,
Hoffman added.
"It would be unfair to jump to con-
clusions about anybody's particular
role," he said. "I'm not casting any
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Schwartz could not be reached
Wednesday for comment, despite sev-
eral attempts.
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After the General Assembly, the UJC
will secure "an outsider" who is "total-
ly objective" to launch an investigation
into the missing information. The
investigative team might include UJC
staffers as well, Hoffman said.
Such a probe would presumably
attempt to learn exactly what informa-
tion is missing, how it got lost, how
significant it is, who knew about the
missing information and why they did
not inform senior UJC officials.
"I want to know if there are any
other issues they haven't told me
about, either from staff or the techni-
cal team" or Roper researchers,
Hoffman said.
A spokeswoman for Roper, June
Wallach, said the company would have
no comment at this time.
Hoffman said he had no idea whether
the UJC would take action against
Roper, which apparently lost the infor-
mation from its computer system.
Several lead members of the
National Technical Advisory
Committee of demographers and social
scientists that consulted with UJC's
staffers working on the NJPS said they
were participating in a conference call
Wednesday about the survey, though
they declined to comment further.
Hoffman
- said he did not know if the
co-chairs of the advisory panel, Dr.
Vivian Klaff of the University of
Delaware and Frank Mott of Ohio State
University, knew about the missing data.
Reached Wednesday, Dr. Klaff
would only say he would be joining
the conference call on the NJPS. Mott
did not return calls.
Egon Mayer, director of the North
American Jewish Data Bank at the
Graduate Center of the City University
of New York, said he had heard about
the delay this week though he didn't
know the reasons for it.
"I think some very important con-
clusions were reached by the UJC
management that led them to this
decision, which I'm sure they reached
very reluctantly," he said.
Stephen Bayme, national director of
contemporary Jewish life for the
American Jewish Committee, said he
had heard of the delay, but preferred
waiting until the UJC got to the bot-
tom of the issue.
"I'd rather not have the data than have
data that is mistaken," Bayme said. [1]
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