2006 Census Test, 23091-23094 [05-8854]

Agencies

• Census Bureau
• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 4, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23091-23094]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-8854]


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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

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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

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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.

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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