[Federal Register: February 8, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 25)]
[Notices]
[Page 6613-6615]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr08fe05-23]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
2006 Census Test Group Quarters Validation Operation
ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort
to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on
proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)).
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before April 11, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Diana Hynek, Departmental
Paperwork Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6625, 14th
and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet
at DHynek@doc.gov).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions
should be directed to Annetta C. Smith, U.S. Census Bureau, Building 2,
Room 2102, Washington, DC 20233-9200, Telephone number (301) 763-1348.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
The Census Bureau must provide everyone in the United States--
including persons who do not live in conventional housing units--the
opportunity to be counted in a census. In Census 2000, we implemented a
set of procedures to enumerate persons who live or stay in group
quarters (GQs--see Definition of Terms) such as nursing homes, college
dormitories, jails, and shelters. In order to count these persons, we
developed a list of GQs--living quarters other than conventional
housing units.
Prior to the Census 2000 enumeration of persons living in group
quarters, the Census Bureau conducted the Special Place (see Definition
of Terms) Facility Questionnaire operation to develop an inventory of
special place/group quarters facilities. This operation was designed to
identify, verify, classify, and obtain pertinent enumeration
information about every group quarters.
As a result of lessons learned from Census 2000, the Census Bureau
implemented the Group Quarters Validation (GQV) operation in 2004 in
order to develop methodologies that would improve the enumeration of
the GQ population in the 2010 Census. This operation replaced the
Special Place Facility Questionnaire. The 2004 GQV operation was
planned to develop new procedures to verify and update the existing
Census 2000 GQ inventory as corrected by the Count Question Resolution
(see Definition of Terms) program. In addition to verifying and
updating the Census 2000 inventory, the 2004 GQV operation was intended
to properly classify places with housing units that were potentially
difficult to classify or that required special procedures (e.g.,
hotels/motels and assisted living facilities).
As part of ongoing planning for the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau
now plans to conduct the 2006 Census Test GQV operation in order to
incorporate lessons learned from the 2004 GQV operation and focus group
research with those learned from Census 2000. Among the improvements to
the program that we plan to implement in the 2006 Census Test GQV
operation are:
Testing revised definitions that are intended to improve
the classification of group quarters,
Simplifying the questionnaire skip patterns, and
Enumerating pre-identified group homes as GQs rather than
as HU as was done in the 2004 GQV operation.
The 2006 GQV operation, which supports the Census Bureau's
strategic goal of developing methodologies for compiling a complete and
accurate Master Address File for the 2010 Census, is designed to test
improved procedures to verify and classify addresses identified as
other living quarters (see Definition of Terms) during the 2006 Address
Canvassing (see Definition of Terms) operation. Addresses will be
classified as a GQ, a HU, or not a living quarter during Address
Canvassing. If the address is a GQ, the 2006 Other Living Quarters
Validation questionnaire is designed to enable the lister to label it
with the correct type code, (e.g, as a college residence hall or
skilled nursing unit).
In order to achieve its goal of developing procedures for improving
the enumeration of the GQ population, the 2006 GQV operation plans to
evaluate the effect of the following on address list development and GQ
classification:
Using administrative records to obtain addresses for
selected types of GQs (e.g., group homes) in order to update the Master
Address File prior to Address Canvassing.
Using Address Canvassing in conjunction with GQV to
distinguish between HUs and GQs in order to update the GQ address list.
This is part of our ongoing effort in the development and
implementation of an integrated approach for updating the list of
living quarters during Address Canvassing and other living quarters
operations.
Incorporating the following revisions in the Other Living
Quarters Validation questionnaire: (1) Improving the content and flow,
(2) adding a ``length of stay question,'' and (3) incorporating GQ
definitions that are being tested as part of the 2006 Census Test.
There are two test sites for the 2006 Census Test GQV operation--
selected census tracts in Travis County, Texas, and the Cheyenne River
Reservation, South Dakota. The test will be conducted out of the Austin
Local Census Office in Texas, and the Cheyenne River Census Field
Office on the Cheyenne River Reservation. The planned dates for the
2006 GQV operation are October 31, 2005 through November 30, 2005. The
2006 GQV operation must be conducted late in 2005 because GQV data will
be used in the Advance Visit operation that will be conducted early in
2006 (prior to the 2006 Census Test).
II. Method of Collection
The 2006 GQV universe for the Travis County, Texas, and the
Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota, which will be validated and
type-coded using the 2006 Other Living Quarters Validation
questionnaire, will consist primarily of other living quarters from the
2006 Address Canvassing operation. In addition to these other living
quarters, the universe also will include GQs from Census 2000,
administrative records, and the Demographic Areas Address Listing (see
Definition of Terms) that were not identified as other living quarters
during the 2006 Address Canvassing operation.
During Address Canvassing, the field staff will update and verify
the addresses for the Texas and South Dakota sites (both HUs and other
living quarters). The canvassers will code addresses as other living
quarters if they have living quarters, or if they have the potential of
having living quarters and do not meet the definition of a HU. The
addresses for these other living quarters will then be merged with adds
from administrative records and the Demographic Areas Address Listing
GQ adds that were not identified during Address Canvassing to create
the universe of other living quarters for the test areas.
A lister for the 2006 GQV operation will visit each of these
addresses and conduct an interview using the paper 2006 Other Living
Quarters Validation questionnaire. The lister will ask a series of
questions that are intended to validate and classify the type of living
quarters at the other living quarters address. If the address is
determined to be a GQ, the lister will interview the respondent to
verify, classify, and
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obtain other pertinent information about the GQ. The lister will
attempt to verify and/or collect information including the basic street
address, contact name, telephone number, maximum capacity, GQ type
code, and the full name of the facility. If the address is determined
to be a housing unit or not a living quarter, the lister will record
the applicable action code and end the interview.
Completed GQV questionnaires will be sent to the Census Bureau
National Processing Center in Jeffersonville, Indiana for data capture.
The data will be unduplicated based on address information collected
using the 2006 Other Living Quarters Validation questionnaires, and
information for all valid GQs identified during the 2006 GQV operation
will be processed for use in the 2006 Advance Visit operation, the 2006
Service-Based Enumeration operation, and the 2006 Group Quarters
Enumeration operation.
Approximately 10 percent of the addresses from the 2006 GQV
universe will be randomly selected for re-interview in order to verify
the outcomes of the original interviews. This quality control procedure
will be conducted on a flow basis throughout the operation.
Definition of Terms
Address Canvassing--A data collection operation designed to support
the Census Bureau's efforts to compile the most accurate and
comprehensive residential (housing units and group quarters) address
list possible. For 2006, listers will verify, update, add, and delete
address records in each census block within the Assignment Area, while
also updating map features on the electronic map where Global
Positioning System (GPS) is available. They also will capture
coordinates for each living quarters via GPS or a manual method when
GPS is not available, link duplicate addresses when they identify them
and determining if a living quarters should be coded as another living
quarters for further review in the GQV operation.
Count Question Resolution--A process by which state, local, and
tribal government officials could ask the Census Bureau to verify the
accuracy of the legal boundaries used for Census 2000, the allocation
of living quarters and their residents in relation to those boundaries,
and the count of people recorded by the Census Bureau for specific
living quarters.
Demographic Areas Address Listing--DAAL is a post-Census 2000
program designed to update the sample universe of housing units and
group quarters for various demographic surveys. DAAL also is intended
to update the inventory of housing units and features for selected
areas of the country in order to improve the coverage and completeness
of the MAF in preparation for the ACS sample selection.
Group Quarters (GQs)--Group quarters are places where people can
live or stay that are normally owned or managed by an entity or
organization providing housing and/or services for the residents. These
services may include custodial or medical care, as well as other types
of assistance, and residency is commonly restricted to those receiving
these services. People living in them are usually not related to each
other.
Group quarters include such places as residential treatment
centers, college residence halls, military barracks, skilled nursing
facilities, correctional facilities, group homes, juvenile facilities
dormitories, workers' dormitories, and facilities for people
experiencing homelessness.
Housing Unit--A housing unit is a living quarters in which the
occupants live separately from any other individuals in the building
and have direct access to their living quarters from outside the
building or through a common hall. Housing units are usually houses,
apartments, mobile homes, groups of rooms or single rooms that are
occupied as separate living quarters. They are residences for single
individuals, groups of individuals, or families who live together.
Although housing units may be vacant or occupied, non-traditional
living quarters such as boats, RVs, and tents are considered to be
housing units ONLY if someone is living in them and they are either the
occupant's usual residence or the occupant has no usual residence.
These non-traditional living arrangements are not considered to be
housing units if they are vacant.
Other Living Quarters--Any address that does not meet the
definition of a HU and has living quarters or has the potential of
having living quarters. Other living quarters include correctional
facilities, college and university housing, religious living quarters,
dormitories for migrant workers, assisted living facilities, juvenile
facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and emergency shelters for
people experiencing homelessness.
Special Places--A facility containing one or more group quarters
where people live or stay, such as a college or university, nursing
home, hospital, prison, hotel, migrant or seasonal farm worker camp, or
military installation or ship. While a special place usually consists
of one or more group quarters, and may contain embedded or free-
standing housing units, it may consist entirely of housing units (e.g.,
a campground that has only trailer, RV, and/or tent sites).
Establishments that are administratively responsible for one or more
Group Quarters. In some cases, the Special Place and the Group Quarters
are one and the same.
III. Data
OMB Number: None.
Form Number: DD-351(GQV).
Type of Review: Regular.
Affected Public: Individuals, businesses or other for-profit
institutions and small businesses or organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 700 GQs (Travis County, Texas) and
20 GQs (Cheyenne River Reservation, South Dakota) for the 2006 GQV
operation. 72 GQs for the Reinterview operation.
Estimated Time Per Response: 15 minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 180 hours for GQV. 18 hours
for Reinterview.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: There is no cost to the respondents
except for their time to respond.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 141 & 193.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information;
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.
Dated: February 2, 2005.
Madeleine Clayton,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-2329 Filed 2-7-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P