2010 CFU Testing Plan

The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). The objective of this research is to conduct cognitive testing of experimental questions to be added to the end of a sample of cases in the Coverage Followup (CFU) operation during the 2010 Census. These experimental questions are a part of the Census Program Evaluations and Experiments (CPEX). The experimental questions will gather data on households who reported an indication of overcount or undercount on their initial census response, but then did not respond to the CFU interview accordingly or cases where a potential duplicate was identified in the data, but no indication of the duplicate address was reported during the CFU interview.

In order to test respondents who fit these very particular criteria, we will use cases from the 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal. CFU staff will search the dress rehearsal data for cases that fit one of three criteria: 1) the household marked “yes” to the undercount question in the initial census return, but did not list any potential additional people during the CFU interview; 2) the household marked an affirmative overcount category for at least one household member on the initial census return, but did not flag that person as having another place to stay during the CFU interview; and 3) a potential person duplicate was identified through computer matching of the census data and the CFU interview did not reveal a potential additional address for that person. CFU staff will gather a list of households and associated phone numbers from the dress rehearsal that meet these two criteria. SRD will use this list to recruit respondents to participate in a second test interview situation where the CFU questionnaire will be administered again, followed by the experimental questions. A cognitive interviewer will administer a semi-structured cognitive debriefing interview following the test interview to determine how the test questions worked.

In August and September, staff from the Center for Survey Methods Research (CSMR) will conduct a maximum of 30 interviews, 10 in scope because of a possible undercount situation, 10 in scope because of a possible overcount situation, and 10 in scope because of possible duplicates. These test interviews will be conducted in person in one of the Dress Rehearsal test sites, in North Carolina, at a prearranged location such as a private room in a library or community center.

The production CFU interview will be a Computer-Assisted Telephone Instrument. However, the test will use a paper-and-pencil mockup of these questions and will be tested in person. Attached are both the production CFU interview mock-up and the experimental questions.

Cognitive interviews will be tape-recorded, with the participants' permission, to facilitate summary of the results. All participants will be informed that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential. Respondents will receive $40 for their participation.

The estimated time for completion of each of the cognitive interviews is an hour. Thus, the estimated burden for this research is 30 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding data collection and study design is:

Jennifer Hunter Childs

Center for Survey Methods Research

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 5K112F

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-4927

jennifer.hunter.childs@census.gov