Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; 2017 Census Test, 52398-52401 [2016-18722]

Agencies

• Census Bureau
• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 152 (Monday, August 8, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52398-52401]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18722]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

 Census Bureau


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; 2017 Census 
Test

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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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.

DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be submitted on 
or before October 7, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental 
Paperwork Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th 
and Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet 
at jjessup@doc.gov).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions 
should be directed to Robin A. Pennington, Census Bureau, HQ-2K281N, 
Washington, DC 20233; (301) 763-8132 (or via email at 
robin.a.pennington@census.gov).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    During the years preceding the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau is 
pursuing its commitment to reducing the cost of conducting the census 
while maintaining the quality of the results. The 2017 Census Test will 
allow the Census Bureau to test operations and procedures that have not 
yet been tested during this inter-census phase but that take advantage 
of the research that has been done and the technological advances that 
have been made since the 2010 Census.
    The testing will take place on two American Indian or Alaska Native 
reservations, as well as in a nationally representative sample of 
80,000 housing units. The questionnaires will contain different 
versions of tribal enrollment questions, the testing of which is one of 
two primary objectives of this test. A set of census operations will 
occur on the reservations, including development and update of the 
address frame or list, self-response involving delivery of printed 
questionnaires and other materials through mail, and enumeration at the 
household when self-response does not occur. The Update Enumerate (UE) 
operation planned for this test and for eventual use in the 2020 Census 
incorporates the address frame update and enumeration activities. 
Integrating these activities into one operation is the second primary 
objective for the Census Bureau in this test. This type of operation is 
cost-effective and manageable only in such areas where special 
procedures are needed due to types of addresses and various geographic 
considerations. Note that this type of operation was used for 
enumeration at about one percent of addresses in the 2010 Census.

Address Frame Maintenance and Usage

    Prior to production of Update Enumerate activities, the address 
frame will be reviewed and updated through In-Office Address 
Canvassing. For the 2010 Census, the address frame was reviewed and 
updated during Address Canvassing, which was a field operation 
conducted before the 2010 Census Update Enumerate operation. Update 
Enumerate will be the first operation to review and update the address 
frame in the field for the areas in the 2017 Census Test. This revised 
procedure is an innovation as compared to the 2010 Census.
    Questionnaires and mailing materials will be printed using the 
updated address list from In-Office Address Canvassing. Materials will 
be mailed to all mailable addresses (determined through Coding Accuracy 
Support

[[Page 52399]]

System certification) in the selected test site areas before the Update 
Enumerate operation commences. The mailing packages will provide both 
the 2017 Census Test Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and the phone 
number for Census Questionnaire Assistance (CQA). The package will also 
contain a paper questionnaire.
    A further innovation for these UE areas is that a variety of means 
of achieving response will be used, as in previous census tests and in 
different types of areas. In particular, in addition to the materials 
sent to mailable addresses before the field operation begins, Internet 
response will be an option for all households in the test area. Self-
response prior to enumeration is possible through the mail-back of a 
questionnaire (if received), response on the Internet, or response on 
the telephone through CQA. Generally, the materials will provide a 
Census ID for use in response, although it will also be possible for 
respondents to submit responses via Internet or CQA without an ID. 
Those households that have self-responded will be removed from the 
workload for the enumeration. Households that do not self-respond by 
the time of the household in-person visit in Update Enumerate will be 
enumerated at that time if a respondent is available.
    Testing the feasibility of collecting tribal enrollment questions 
on the questionnaire is one of the primary objectives of this test. In 
order to collect data from other geographic locations and from a 
broader representation of American Indian or Alaska Native respondents 
for analysis of the tribal enrollment questions, a separate sample of 
80,000 households will be drawn for a national self-response-only 
operation, oversampled for areas with relatively higher concentrations 
of people estimated to identify as American Indian or Alaska Native.
    For the self-response-only sample, there will be no follow-up to 
obtain response from non-responding households. However, we will 
conduct a content reinterview (using an outbound telephone operation) 
to assess the validity of the tribal enrollment question. The sub-
sample of 15,000 households for the content reinterview will be drawn 
from the sites and the national sample.
    The Census Bureau has not done prior testing this decade in the 
type of geographic area that is included in the test sites. The areas 
selected for the 2017 Census Test differ from the generally more urban 
or suburban areas with a predominance of city-style addresses. The 2017 
Census Test areas are sparser and contain a lower percentage of city-
style addresses. The Census Bureau has traditionally used a methodology 
like that of the planned Update Enumerate for completing the census in 
these types of areas.
    The complexity of all the overlapping listing, self-response, and 
enumeration operations and the necessity of multiple systems to provide 
updates for tracking progress in the field operation make the 2017 
Census Test essential for planning for the 2020 Census. By working 
through all the operational and system development and then learning 
from the challenges that still arise during the operation, the Census 
Bureau will be better prepared to perform this complex operation in the 
2020 Census. The geographic areas selected for the test may be less 
accessible or sparsely populated, in addition to having a low rate of 
mailable addresses. As such, these areas do not lend themselves to 
performing the traditional mailing and self-response enumeration 
methodology for the census. For areas that are known to require a 
personal visit during the census, there is cost containment from not 
visiting the area prior to the enumeration.
    This test will incorporate a number of the automation and 
management innovations that have been tested this decade, where other 
enumeration methodologies were used. In particular, Internet is 
available as the primary response mode, UE field data collection 
operations will be automated, and Field Infrastructure will continue to 
be refined with automated work assignments and management overview. In 
addition, Census Questionnaire Assistance (CQA) will offer the option 
for completing the questionnaire on the telephone and will include the 
option for language assistance. Within CQA, Interactive Voice 
Recognition will be available to answer respondent questions and to 
route calls to agents, as necessary. Results may differ from those 
observed in prior tests, such as if there is limited internet 
connectivity.
    Below we provide additional details about the specific operations 
that will be tested or refined in this test.

Operations

Update Enumerate (UE)

    The 2017 Census Test will allow the Census Bureau to test the 
Update Enumerate operation, which combines listing methodologies of 
Address Canvassing with the enumeration methodologies from Nonresponse 
Followup. This operation occurs in geographic areas that:
     Do not have city-style addresses.
     Do not receive mail through city-style addresses.
     Receive mail at post office boxes.
     Have unique challenges associated with accessibility to 
the housing unit.
     Have been affected by natural disasters.
     Have high concentrations of seasonally vacant housing.
    The following objectives are being tested for Update Enumerate:
     Integrating listing and enumeration operations and 
systems.
     Evaluating the impact on cost and quality of the contact 
strategy on enumerator productivity and efficiency in these types of 
areas.
     Testing continued refinements to the field data collection 
instrument for enumeration including such things as allowing collection 
of data from `other' address in-movers and whole household usual home 
elsewhere cases.
     Continuing enhancements to field operational procedures 
that are newly defined for the 2020 Census.
     Testing field supervisor to enumerator ratios in these 
types of areas.
     Testing refinements to alerts from operational control 
systems.

II. Method of Collection

    The test will occur in two selected sites and using a national 
sample.

Test Sites

    The test will take place on two American Indian areas--the Colville 
Indian Reservation and Off-Reservation Trust Land in Washington and the 
Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota. 
Approximately 3,500 and 2,900 housing units, respectively, within the 
areas will be invited to participate.

Update Enumerate (UE)

    Update Enumerate for the 2017 Census Test will test three of the 
components of the operation: Update Enumerate Production, Update 
Enumerate Followup, and Update Enumerate Reinterview, as described in 
more detail below. These are new components of the completely updated 
operational design for Update Enumerate. In addition to the field 
operation, the Census Bureau is testing mailing out an invitation 
package to housing units in the test site with a mailable address to 
generate self-response before the UE operation begins. If a household 
self-responds, the UE field staff person (enumerator) will not 
enumerate that house while listing the geographic area. This is a cost 
savings to Update Enumerate since the enumerator will not have to spend 
time

[[Page 52400]]

enumerating self-responding households.

Update Enumerate Production

    The UE enumerators visit specific geographic areas to identify 
every place where people could live or stay, comparing what they see on 
the ground to the existing census address list, and either verify or 
correct the address and location information. Much like Address 
Canvassing, enumerators classify each living quarter (LQ) as a housing 
unit or Group Quarter (GQ). If the LQ is classified as a GQ, no attempt 
is made to enumerate at the GQ within this test, since the plan for the 
2020 Census is to have a unique operation enumerate GQs.
    The enumerators will attempt to conduct an interview for each 
housing unit if there is no self-response. If someone answers the door, 
the enumerators will provide a Confidentiality Notice and ask about the 
address in order to verify or update the information, as appropriate. 
The enumerators will then ask if there are any additional LQs in the 
structure or on the property. If there are additional LQs, the 
enumerators will collect/update that information, as appropriate. The 
enumerator will then interview the respondent using the questionnaire 
on the mobile device.
    If no one is home at a non-responding housing unit, the enumerator 
will leave a Notice of Visit inviting a respondent for each household 
to go online with an ID to complete the 2017 Census Test Questionnaire. 
The Notice of Visit will also include the phone number for Census 
Questionnaire Assistance if the respondent has any questions or would 
prefer to respond on the phone. The housing unit will be included in 
the Update Enumerate Followup until self-response is received.

Update Enumerate Followup

    The UE operation will have a UE Followup component for those 
households that were not enumerated on the first visit and have not 
responded via the Internet or telephone. The UE Followup will use the 
same contact strategies and business rules as Nonresponse Followup. UE 
enumerators will conduct the operation using then Census Bureau 
provided listing and enumeration application on a Census Bureau 
provided mobile device.

Update Enumerate Reinterview

    A sample of cases enumerated via Update Enumerate or Update 
Enumerate Followup will be selected for reinterview. The intention of 
this operation is to help pinpoint possible cases of enumerator 
falsification. Update Enumerate Reinterview will use the Census 
Bureau's enumeration software on mobile devices. We will also test 
centralized phone contacts of the reinterview cases before sending them 
to an enumerator in the field, providing potential cost savings.

Self-Response

    A separate, nationally representative sample of 80,000 addresses 
will be drawn for a self-response-only operation, oversampled for areas 
with relatively higher concentrations of people estimated to identify 
as American Indian or Alaska Native. These addresses will receive 
mailed materials (letter, postcards and/or questionnaire) and can 
respond by Internet (either with or without a pre-assigned ID) or by 
returning a paper questionnaire or by telephone.
    Households from both the test sites and the self-response sample 
areas will be eligible for the sample for content reinterview follow-
up. This interview will be performed by telephone.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): Paper and electronic questionnaires; numbers to be 
determined.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Households/Individuals.

Estimated Number of Respondents

    Self-Response: 35,000.
    Update Enumerate Operations: 6,400.
    Update Enumerate Reinterview: 634.
    Content Reinterview: 9,000.
    Total: 51,034.
    Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours

    Self-Response: 5,833.
    Update Enumerate Operations: 1,067.
    Update Enumerate Reinterview: 106.
    Content Reinterview: 1,500.
    Total: 8,506.

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                                                                                     Estimated         Total
                                                                     Estimated       time per       respondent
                                                                     number of       response         burden
                                                                     responses       (minutes)       (minutes)
 
-------------------------------------------------National Sample------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Self-Response...................................................          35,000              10           5,833
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       American Indian Reservation Sample
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update Enumerate Operations.....................................           6,400              10           1,067
Update Enumerate Reinterview....................................             634              10             106
Content Reinterview.............................................           9,000              10           1,500
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................................          51,034  ..............           8,506
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    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: There are no costs to 
respondents other than their time to participate in this data 
collection.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Sections 141 and 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;

[[Page 52401]]

they also will become a matter of public record.

    Dated: August 3, 2016.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-18722 Filed 8-5-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P