Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 32322-32324 [2017-14726]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
• U.s. Census Bureau

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 133 (Thursday, July 13, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32322-32324]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14726]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

U.S. Census Bureau


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: 2018 End-to-End Census Test--Peak Operations.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-xxxx.
    Form Number(s):

Questionnaires

DH-1
DH-1(E/S)
DH-1(UL)
DH-1(E/S) UL
DH-20
DH-20(S)
DH-61(ICQ) Informational Copy
DH-61(ICQ)(S) Informational Copy

Questionnaire Cover Letters

DH-16(L1)
DH-16(L1)(E/S)
DH-16(L2)
DH-16(L2)(E/S)
DH-16(L3)
DH-16(L3)(E/S)
DH-16(L4)
DH-16(L4)(E/S)
DH-17(L1)
DH-17(L1)(E/S)

Update Leave

DH-16(L2)(UL)
DH-16(L2)(UL)(E/S)

Nonresponse Follow-Up

DH-16(LN)
DH-16(LN)(E/S)

Postcards

DH-9(P)
DH-9(P)(E/S)
DH-9(C)
DH-9(C)(E/S)
DH-9
DH-9(E/S)
DH-9(AR)(E/S)

Information Inserts

DH-17(CQA)
DH-17I(E/S)
DH-17I(E/S)P1

Envelopes

DH-5(E/S)
DH-5(GQ)
DH-5(eResponse)
DH-6A(IN)(UL)(E/S)
DH-6A(IN)
DH-6A(IN)(E/S)
DH-6B(IN)(E/S)
DH-6A(1)(IN)(E/S)
DH-8A
DH-8A(E/S)
DH-40
DH-40(S)
DH-40(GQ)

Brochures

DH-1183 GQE
DH-1184 SBE

Group Quarters Facility Manager Letters

DH-18(eResponse)
DH-18(GQ)
DH-30(L)(FM)(E/S)
DH-30(L)(HC)(E/S)
DH-30(L)(SH)(E/S)

Confidentiality Notice

DH-31(GQ)(E/S)
DH-31(UL)(E/S)

Field Materials

DH-26(E/S)
DH-28(E/S)
DH-28(MU)(E/S)

Re-Interview Form

DH-941(GQE)

Living Quarters Flashcard

DH-1028.4
DH-1028.4(S)

Enumeration Records

Group Quarters Enumeration Record
Regularly Scheduled Mobile Food Van Enumeration Record
Shelter Enumeration Record
Soup Kitchen Enumeration Record
Targeted Non-Sheltered Outdoor Location Enumeration Record

Group Quarters Advance Contact Call Scripts

Soup Kitchen

[[Page 32323]]

Non-SBE Group Quarters
Emergency and Transitional Shelters
Mobile Food Vans

Group Quarters eResponse

eResponse video script
eResponse template

Group Quarters Field Materials

DH-116
DH-1054(GQE)
DH-1054(SBE)
DH-1055(GQE)
DH-1059(SE)

Field Enumeration Instrument Specifications

Field Verification (FV)
Non-Response Follow-up/Update Leave Follow-up (NRFU/ULF)
Multi-Unit Manager Visit (MU)
NRFU Re-interview (RI)
Multi-Unit Manager Visit Re-interview (MU RI)

Instrument Specifications

Census Questionnaire Assistance Specifications
Coverage Improvement Screenshots

    Type of Request: New Collection.
    Number of Respondents: 336,645.
    Average Hours Per Response: 10 minutes.
    Burden Hours: 55,886 hours.

                                   Test Site--Providence County, Rhode Island
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Estimated    Estimated time
                      Operation or category                          number of     per response    Total burden
                                                                    respondents      (minutes)         hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Self-Response--Internet/Telephone/Paper.........................         114,000              10          19,000
Nonresponse Follow-up...........................................         163,000              10          27,167
Nonresponse Follow-up Re-interview..............................          16,300              10           2,717
Update Leave Production.........................................           2,000               5             167
Update Leave QC.................................................             300               5              25
GQ Advance Contact (facility)...................................             500              10              83
GQ SBE--facility contact........................................              40              10               7
GQ SBE--person contact..........................................           1,600              10             267
GQ Enumeration--facility contact................................             500              10              83
GQ Enumeration--person contact..................................          28,000              10           4,667
Group Quarters QC...............................................              50               5               4
Non-ID Processing Phone Follow-up...............................             115               5              10
Re-collect......................................................           4,600              10             767
Field Verification..............................................             140               2               5
Coverage Improvement............................................           5,500              10             917
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................................         336,645  ..............          55,886
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Needs and Uses: During the years preceding the 2020 Census, the 
Census Bureau will pursue its commitment to reduce the costs of 
conducting a decennial census while maintaining our commitment to 
quality. In 2018, the Census Bureau will be performing the 2018 End-to-
End Census Test. This last major test before the 2020 Census is 
designed to (1) test and validate 2020 Census operations, procedures, 
systems, and field infrastructure to ensure proper integration and 
conformance with requirements, and (2) produce prototypes of geographic 
and data products.
    New approaches to the design of the 2020 Census are classified into 
four key innovation areas. These areas have been the subject of Census 
Bureau testing this decade to identify methodological improvements, 
technological advances, and possibilities for cost savings. One of 
these innovation areas is Optimizing Self-Response, which is focused on 
improving methods for increasing the number of people who take 
advantage of self-response options, including responding by internet. 
The 2018 End-to-End Census Test is designed to evaluate several 
strategies for optimizing self-response, including two contact 
strategies, either or both of which may be included in the design of 
the 2020 Census. Two of the other innovation areas--Utilizing 
Administrative Records and Third-Party Data and Reengineering Field 
Operations--will be incorporated into the functionality that will be 
tested in this test. In particular, this Peak Operations portion of the 
2018 End-to-End Census Test will encompass operations and systems 
related to (1) Optimizing Self-Response, including contact strategies, 
questionnaire content, and language support; (2) Update Leave (UL), 
including technological and operational testing; (3) Nonresponse 
Follow-up (NRFU), including technological and operational improvements; 
and (4) Group Quarters (GQ), including technological and operational 
testing. The UL and GQ operations are being fielded for the first time 
this decade.
    The remaining innovation area--Reengineering Address Canvassing--
contains innovations that have been tested in the 2016 Address 
Canvassing test and in the 2018 End-to-End Census Test Address 
Canvassing. The 2018 End-to-End Census Test Address Canvassing precedes 
the enumeration operations included in and creates the address list for 
this 2018 End-to-End Census Test Peak Operations test. The Address 
Canvassing portion of this test was described in an earlier Federal 
Register Notice and included in a different OMB clearance due to timing 
considerations.
    Optimizing Self-Response is focused on improving methods for 
increasing the number of people who take advantage of self-response 
options. The 2018 End-to-End Census Test will include two different 
mailing strategies to optimize the rate at which the public self-
responds to the decennial census, thereby reducing costs of the 2020 
Census by decreasing the workload for following up at nonresponding 
units.
    Internet First is the primary mail contact strategy proposed for 
the 2020 Census and has been used in Census Bureau research and testing 
efforts since 2012. (In previous tests, this strategy was called 
Internet Push.) This strategy includes the mailing of a letter 
encouraging respondents to complete the questionnaire online, two 
follow-up reminders, after which a paper questionnaire is mailed to 
nonresponding housing units. A final reminder postcard is the last 
mailing.

[[Page 32324]]

    Internet Choice includes a paper questionnaire in the first 
mailing, along with an invitation to complete the questionnaire online, 
providing a choice of internet or paper response from the beginning of 
the contact strategy. (Subsequent mailings are of the same number and 
type as the Internet First strategy.) This strategy is targeted to 
households in areas least likely to respond online, as indicated by a 
number of factors, including internet availability and historical 
census response rates.
    In addition, the 2018 End-to-End Census Test provides the Census 
Bureau with an opportunity to enhance the user experience, performance, 
and functionality of the internet self-response instrument.
    The Update Leave (UL) operation is designed for areas where the 
Census Bureau has concerns about accurate mail delivery and needs to 
determine the Census block location of each housing unit. The current 
design capitalizes on 2020 Census methodological improvements such as 
internet self-response and automated field operations. UL is conducted 
mostly in geographic areas that have one or more of the following 
characteristics:
     Do not have city-style addresses like 123 Main Street.
     Do not receive mail through city-style addresses.
     Receive mail at post office boxes rather than at physical 
addresses.
     Have unique challenges associated with accessibility, such 
as dirt roads or seasonal access.
     Have recently been affected by natural disasters.
     Have high concentrations of seasonally vacant housing.
    The following objectives are being tested for Update Leave:
     Integrating listing operation and systems.
     Testing the ability to link a questionnaire ID to an 
address.
     Testing field supervisor to enumerator ratios.
    The 2018 End-to-End Census Test will allow the Census Bureau to 
continue to refine, optimize, and assess the operational procedures and 
technical design of the Nonresponse Follow-up (NRFU) operation. NRFU is 
a field operation for determining housing unit status (occupied, 
vacant, or delete) and for gathering the enumeration data at addresses 
for which no self-response was received. This test will build on the 
results of previous field tests this decade where the NRFU operation 
has been conducted. In particular, NRFU is now a fully automated 
operation, whereas it was performed using paper materials in the 2010 
Census.
    The 2018 End-to-End Census Test will inform Census Bureau 
technological and operational planning and design for the enumeration 
of the population residing in group quarters (GQs). GQs are living 
quarters where people who are typically unrelated have group living 
arrangements and frequently are receiving some type of service. 
College/University student housing and nursing/skilled-nursing 
facilities are examples of GQs. To date, some small-scale testing has 
been done to test electronic transmission of GQ's enumeration 
responses. The 2018 End-to-End Census Test expands on these results to 
allow the opportunity to evaluate procedures and technologies for 
conducting GQ enumeration operations. The set of operations planned for 
GQ enumeration is GQ Advance Contact, Service-Based Enumeration, and, 
finally, GQ Enumeration. These operations have been used in previous 
censuses. The GQ Advance Contact is an operation where facility contact 
and planning data are collected, including the ability of the GQ 
facility to provide electronic records for the enumeration. Service-
Based Enumeration has the objective of counting individuals who will 
not be enumerated at a living quarter but are receiving some type of 
service. The GQ Enumeration is the final stage of enumerating 
individuals residing at the GQ.
    The Census Bureau recognizes that the OMB is continuing to lead the 
discussion among federal agencies and other stakeholders on race/
ethnicity from the perspective of data collection and dissemination 
guidance and standards, and that the final determination has not been 
made on the format of the race/ethnicity question for the 2020 Census. 
If it is determined that the combined race/ethnicity question format 
may be used for the 2020 Census (versus the separate race and Hispanic 
Origin questions used for the 2010 Census), it will be crucial for the 
Census Bureau to ensure that critical operations are fully prepared to 
go into production for the 2020 Census using the combined question.
    Therefore, the 2018 End-to-End Census Test data collection 
operations will use the combined race/ethnicity question version (which 
also includes a Middle Eastern or North African category) to further 
its analysis and understanding of mode differences for the race/
ethnicity responses before deploying the 2020 Census questionnaire. 
Particular test objectives are:
     Internet Self-Response: Continue testing the combined 
race/ethnicity question under the further enhancements of the internet 
self-response instrument for the 2018 End-to-End Census Test in regards 
to user experience, performance, and functionality; and ensure that the 
resulting response data and Para data meet the requirements of follow-
up and data processing operations.
     Nonresponse Follow-up: Continue testing the combined race/
ethnicity question under the further enhancements of the field 
enumeration instrument; assess enumerators' experience with the field 
enumeration instrument and their navigation of the race/ethnicity 
question within the instrument. Input will be gathered during the post-
operation field enumerator debriefing sessions.
     Update Leave and Group Quarters: Examine the 2018 End-to-
End Census Test results by mode, including Update Leave and Group 
Quarters operations, which will be fielded for the first time this 
decade.
    The results of this test will inform the Census Bureau's final 
preparations in advance of the 2020 Census. In particular, conducting a 
live operation will ensure all the systems, instruments, and processes 
are functioning correctly or will provide indicators of what needs to 
be fixed. In addition, metrics collected during the operation will 
provide additional data to be used for budget and operational planning 
purposes.
    Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Frequency: One time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141 and 
193.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce 
collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395-5806.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental PRA Lead, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-14726 Filed 7-12-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P