[Federal Register: May 4, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 85)]
[Notices]
[Page 23091-23094]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr04my05-31]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
2006 Census Test
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 July 5, 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 Edison Gore, Acting Division Chief, Decennial
Management Division, U.S. Census Bureau, Building 2, Room 2102,
Washington, DC 20233-9200, (301) 763-3998.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
Background
In order to design and implement an optimal short-form-only 2010
Census, the Census Bureau has adopted a robust incremental and
iterative research, development, and testing program. This program
includes several special purpose tests (e.g., cognitive tests for the
wording of the race and Hispanic origin questions), two national mail-
out/mail-back tests (the 2003 National Census Test and the 2005
National Census Test), two site tests (2004 Census Test and the 2006
Census Test), and a 2008 Dress Rehearsal in preparation for the actual
2010 Census.
The 2003 National Census Test was the first major test that we
conducted in preparation for the 2010 Census. This was a two-part mail-
out/mail-back test designed to evaluate alternative self-response
options (paper, Internet, and telephone) and alternative presentations
of the race and Hispanic origin questions. For more information, see
Federal Register: June 7, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 110).
In 2004, we implemented a site test (the 2004 Census Test) that was
used chiefly to examine the feasibility of collecting personal
information using a Hand Held computer (HHC). It also studied new
methods to improve coverage, including procedures for reducing
duplication, and tested respondent reaction to revised race and
Hispanic origin questions, examples, and instructions, including the
removal of the Some other race option. For more information, see
Federal Register: July 11, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 133).
The 2005 National Census Test, which is scheduled to begin in late
summer of 2005 (Census Day is September 15, 2005), is a mail-out/mail-
back test designed to evaluate alternative treatments including:
Procedures intended to improve the completeness and accuracy of
reporting for short form items, especially the wording of the race and
Hispanic origin questions;
1. The presentation of residence rules and other questionnaire
items designed to make sure that everyone is counted only once and in
the right place;
2. The effects of a bilingual Spanish/English questionnaire on
response rates;
3. The feasibility of various replacement questionnaire mailing
options and methods; and
4. The effects of questionnaire design improvements on data
quality.
This test will be our last chance to test content on this scale in
preparation for the 2010 Census. Although results from this test will
not be available in time for use in planning the 2006 Census Test, they
will be used to make content decisions for the 2010 Census (no later
than January 2007). For more information, see Federal Register:
November 1, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 210).
2006 Census Test
Building upon the results of the 2004 Census Test, the 2006 Census
Test will help the U.S. Census Bureau achieve one of its Strategic
Goals--developing a census that is cost-effective, improves
[[Page 23092]]
coverage, and reduces operational risk. The objectives of the 2006
Census Test include studying methods for:
Improving enumeration on American Indian Reservations;
Improving coverage, including procedures to address
overall coverage of population and housing and procedures to address
duplication;
Increased use of automation for data collection, including
using Hand Held Computers (HHCs) for updating addresses and geographic
features. The HHCs also will have expanded functionality and usability
that will improve their utility during data collection followup
operations;
Addressing the needs of respondents who speak a language
other than English by mailing Bilingual Questionnaires and Language
Assistance Guides; and
Improving self-response by delivering targeted replacement
questionnaires and using motivational language on mailing pieces.
The Census Bureau will conduct three other operations as part of
the 2006 Census Test--the 2006 Census Test Group Quarters Validation/
Advance Visit operation, the 2006 Coverage Followup operation, and the
2006 Coverage Measurement operation. Brief descriptions of these
operations are include below for reference purposes. These operations
will be submitted to OMB separately.
The 2006 Census Test Group Quarters Validation/Advance Visit
operation is designed to verify and update the Census 2000 GQ inventory
in the test sites and verify information about the group quarters such
as to verify the group quarter's name, address, and geocode
information. This operation also will collect additional information
(e.g., asking for the expected Census Day population). In addition, the
enumerators will explain the purpose of the enumeration, determine if
there are any security issues that need to be resolved, and address any
privacy issues expressed by the facility's staff and make an
appointment for the group quarters enumeration. Additional information,
such as dates and times open and meals served will be obtained for
service-based facilities.
The Coverage Followup operation is designed to improve coverage by
collecting additional information from households which might have
coverage problems. This includes households where persons may have been
counted more than once (e.g., students who are counted at their
parents' home but also counted where they reside while they are
attending school) and persons who might not have been included in the
household count (e.g., newborn babies or roommates). This operation
also will contact large households (those with more than six persons
listed on their mail-back questionnaires) in order to ensure that
everyone in included in the census. Another category of households that
we will attempt to contact will be those that contain persons
identified on administrative records but were included on their census
questionnaire. Finally, this operation will include households where
the count of persons does not equal the number of persons for which
census data are provided.
The 2006 Coverage Followup will be conducted in two phases,
telephone and personal visit. During the telephone phase, we will
attempt to contact the households noted above from our call centers and
complete a Coverage Followup web-based questionnaire. For cases not
resolved during the telephone phase, field enumerators will visit the
households and administer a paper Coverage Followup questionnaire.
The Coverage Measurement program is intended to measure the
coverage of the census. In the 2006 Census Test, two field components
of the Coverage Measurement Program will be conducted--the Person
Interview and the Person Followup. The Person Interview instrument will
collect data from a sample of households which we will compare to the
data collected by the census questionnaire. In certain cases of
inconsistencies, the Person Followup will be conducted to clarify the
situation. The data from the Coverage Measurement Program are intended
to measure erroneous enumerations and persons that were missed when
they should have been counted. In the 2006 Census Test, changes to
these operations are being tested so they will not be used to formally
assess the coverage of the 2006 Census Test enumeration.
We will conduct the 2006 Census Test in two sites, one urban and
one rural. The urban site, Travis County 2006 Census Test site, will
consist of the central portion of Travis County, Texas. The rural site,
the Cheyenne River Reservation American Indian Reservation and Tribal
Trust Lands, is located in South Dakota. These sites were selected
because they contain demographic characteristics associated with
specific test objectives that will support key research questions and
evaluation requirements. Plans for this test are subject to
Congressional appropriation of requested funds.
II. Method of Collection
Both sites combined contain about 200,000 housing units and a
variety of group quarters. The temporary field office that we will
establish in each site will manage staffing, training, and the data
collection.
Prior to the actual enumeration, enumerators will conduct Address
Canvassing in both sites using HHCs. They will attempt to contact every
structure that is or could be a place where people live or stay
(including Other Living Quarters which may be Group Quarters or housing
units) in order to update the maps and address lists that we will use
for conducting the enumeration.
This test will be the first time that we have attempted to automate
the Address Canvassing operation by using HHCs. An automated process
which will capture address and geographic feature updates in real time
will be faster than updating the lists and geographic features manually
and will reduce the costs and clerical errors that result from keying
and digitizing. We also will use the results of Address Canvassing to
continue the process of integrating the address list for Group Quarters
with the address list for housing units in order to reduce duplication
and geographic errors and improve data quality for Group Quarters. The
2006 Census Test also will include our first attempt to collect GPS
coordinates for structures during the Address Canvassing operation.
We will use different enumeration procedures for each site. We will
enumerate the rural site using the Update/Enumerate method--a method of
data collection designed for communities like the Cheyenne River
Reservation with special enumeration needs and where many housing units
may not have house-number-and-street-name mailing addresses.
During Update/Enumerate, enumerators will update the addresses and
maps as they visit each address in their assignment areas, and then
enumerate the residents during the same visit. This operation is
scheduled to occur between March 13, 2006 and May 12, 2006.
Respondents in the urban site (Travis County 2006 Census Test site)
will receive their questionnaires by mail. The enumeration strategy
that we will use for this site will be similar to the one that we used
in mail-out/mail-back areas in the 2004 Census Test. The multi-part
mailing strategy will consist of an advance letter, an initial mailing
package, a blanket reminder post card, and a replacement questionnaire
package.
In order to test the effect of deadline messages, some respondents
will receive mailings that include
[[Page 23093]]
progressively stronger deadline messaging to encourage respondents to
complete and mail back their forms prior to the cut-off date for
Nonresponse Followup. All mailing pieces will be delivered by the
United States Postal Service (USPS) via first class postage.
The advance letter will be delivered between March 8, 2006 and
March 10, 2006. This letter will inform respondents that they will soon
receive a census form. About a week later, each address in the Travis
County 2006 Census Test site will receive an initial mailing package
that includes the questionnaire. The questionnaires for some areas will
be in English, while housing units in other areas will receive a
bilingual (English/Spanish) form. We will use this design to test the
impact of a bilingual questionnaire on response rates and data quality.
In addition, the questionnaire mailing package for certain census
tracts also will contain a language assistance guide designed to aid
respondents whose primary language is other than English. We are
including these guides in the initial questionnaire mailing for some
tracts so that we can study the effect of the guides on response rates.
Approximately one week after the initial questionnaires have been
delivered, the USPS will deliver a blanket reminder post card to each
address. This postcard will serve as a thank-you for respondents who
have mailed back the questionnaire and will be a reminder for those who
have not. About 10 days after the reminder postcard is delivered, each
address from which we have not received a questionnaire will receive a
targeted replacement questionnaire package.
Two to three weeks after Census Day (April 1, 2006), we will begin
to identify the universe of addresses in the Travis County 2006 Census
Test site from which we have not yet received a census response.
Enumerators equipped with HHCs will visit each of these addresses
between April 24, 2006 and July 15, 2006, in order to complete a census
questionnaire. Enumerators will determine the Census Day status of the
unit and complete a questionnaire on their HHCs based on that status.
Enumerators also will complete a census questionnaire for any address
that they find in their assignment areas which is not shown on their
assignment lists.
The assignment lists, as well as the questionnaires and maps, will
be in electronic, rather than paper form. These enumeration materials
will be stored and updated as necessary on their HHCs. Each
enumerator's assignment list will be updated daily to remove addresses
from which a census response is received by mail after the universe
identification. Updating the enumerators' assignment lists daily could
reduce respondent burden as well as the cost of Nonresponse Followup by
eliminating unnecessary visits to housing units that have already been
enumerated.
Nonresponse Followup will incorporate several quality checks. Among
these is the Vacant-Delete Check--an independent followup of all
addresses classified as vacant or nonexistent for the first time during
Nonresponse Followup. These addresses will be reassigned to an
enumerator other than the enumerator who made the original
classification. The Vacant-Delete Check enumerators will verify the
Census Day status of the assigned addresses and complete a short form
questionnaire that reflects the Census Day status. This operation also
will be conducted using HHCs equipped with the same functionality that
we use to conduct Nonresponse Followup. Other quality check procedures
conducted during this operation include an independent re-interview of
a portion of an enumerator's' completed cases.
Although most individuals live in conventional housing units,
others live in group living situations, (i.e., college residence halls
or shelters for people experiencing homelessness) and will not be
enumerated using the mail-out/mail-back method. We will enumerate these
individuals using the Group Quarters Enumeration operation (April 3,
2006 to May 19, 2006) and the Service-Based Enumeration operation,
which will be conducted from March 20, 2006 to March 31, 2006.
During the Group Quarters Enumeration operation, enumerators will
visit group quarters in order to verify address information about the
group quarters, develop a control list of all residents, and distribute
questionnaires for completion. Within a few days, the same enumerator
will return to the GQ to collect the completed questionnaires. In order
to obtain a complete count for everyone who uses the facility, the
enumerator will ask the GQ contact to supply information for any
individual on the control list who did not complete a questionnaire.
The Service-Based Enumeration is designed to enumerate people
experiencing homelessness who may be missed in the traditional
enumeration of housing units and group quarters. As in Census 2000,
people will be enumerated at places where they receive services such as
meals, or a bed for the night. Service-Based Enumeration facilities for
the 2006 Census Test will include only shelters (emergency and
transitional shelters, hotels and motels providing shelter for people
experiencing homelessness) and soup kitchens in order to test new
procedures for enumerating this population. Enumerators will visit
these facilities a maximum of two times during the enumeration period
and enumerate the clients who are using the service at the time of the
enumerator's visit.
Respondents in both sites will be able to call our existing call
centers' toll-free telephone numbers to obtain information about the
questionnaire and the 2006 Census Test. This service will be available
in English, Spanish, and Telephone Device for the Deaf.
III. Data
OMB Number: None.
Form Number: DD-1 (Initial Mailout/Mailback Questionnaire), DD-1(R)
(Replacement Mailout/Mailback Questionnaire), DD-1(E) (Update/Enumerate
Questionnaire), DD-1(E)SUPP (Update/Enumerate Supplemental
Questionnaire--for large households), DD-1(E)R (Update/Enumerate
Reinterview Questionnaire), DD-15 (Service-Based Enumeration Individual
Census Questionnaire), DD-20 (Group Quarters Individual Census Report),
DD-1(E/S) (Bilingual Mailout/Mailback Questionnaire).
Type of Review: Regular.
Affected Public: Individuals, businesses or other for-profit
organizations, non-profit institutions, and small businesses or
organizations.
Estimated Number of Respondents: Approximately 200,000 housing
units. Approximately 35,200 residents in Group Quarters. Approximately
800 residents in Service-Based Enumeration facilities.
Estimated Time Per Response: All questionnaires will require
approximately 10 minutes for response.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Approximately 34,000 hours for
the housing units that responded by mail or during Nonresponse Followup
(plus a five percent reinterview of the estimated 105,000 Nonresponse
Followup workload) and 6,000 hours for Group Quarters Enumeration and
Service-Based Enumeration.
Estimated Total Annual Cost: There is no cost to respondents except
for their time to respond.
Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13 of the United States Code, sections 141
and 193.
[[Page 23094]]
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: April 29, 2005.
Madeleine Clayton,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-8854 Filed 5-3-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P