CCM PIRI Supporting Statement Part A

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. CENSUS BUREAUDepartment of Commerce

U.S. Census Bureau

2008 Census Coverage Measurement Person Interview and Person Interview Reinterview Operations

OMB Control No. 0607-XXXX

A. Justification

1. Necessity of the Information Collection

The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from the Office of Management and Budget to conduct the Census Coverage Measurement (CCM) Person Interview (PI) and Person Interview Reinterview (PIRI) operations as part of the 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal. The CCM porogramperations for the dress rehearsal is a dry run to ensure all planned coverage measurement operationsprogram are working as expected, they are integrated internally and that they are coordinated with the appropriate census operations. The CCM operations planned for the dress rehearsal, to the extent possible, will mirror those that will be conducted for the 2010 Census to provide estimates of net coverage error and components of coverage error (omissions and erroneous enumerations) for housing units and persons in housing units (see Definition of Terms). The data collection and matching methodologies for previous coverage measurement programs were designed only to measure net coverage error, which reflects the difference between omissions and erroneous inclusions.

The 2008 CCM PI operations will use a sample of approximately 14,375 housing units split evenly between selected census tracts in San Joaquin County, California; and Fayetteville, North Carolina and nine surrounding counties (Chatham, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, and Scotland). The PIRI operations will be in the same areas and will consist of 1,438 units to make a total of 15,31813 units.

The automated PI instrument will be used to collect the following information for persons in housing units only:

1. Roster of people living at the housing unit at the time of the CCM PI Interview.

2. Census Day (April 1, 2008) address information from people who moved into the sample address since Census Day.

3. Other addresses where a person may have been counted on Census Day.

4. Other information to help us determine where a person should have been counted as of Census Day (relative to Census residence rules). For example, enumerators will probe for persons who might have been left off the household roster; ask additional questions about persons who moved from another address on Census Day to the sample address; collect additional information for persons with multiple addresses; and collect information on the addresses of other potential residences for household members.

5. Demographic information for each person in the household on Interview Day or Census Day, including name, date of birth, sex, race, Hispanic Origin, and relationship.

6. Name and above information for any person who has moved out of the sample address since Census Day (if known).

We also will conduct a quality control operation - PI Reinterview (PIRI) on 10 percent of the PI cases. The purpose of the operation is to confirm that the PI enumerator conducted a PI interview with an actual household member or a valid proxy respondent and conduct a full person interview when falsification is suspected. If PIRI results indicate falsified information by the original enumerator, all cases worked by the original enumerator are reworked by reassigning the cases to a different PI enumerator.

Title 13, United States Code, Section 141 authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a decennial census of the population, and Section 193 authorizes the Secretary to conduct tests to gather supplementary information related to the census. (See Attachment A).

2. Needs and Uses

The 2008 CCM Test is needed in order to test the entire operation with all steps as developed from results of previous tests. This is to ensure that they are integrating properly and working as expected. It is also important to test timing of each part of the operation to make sure they coordinated properly with the census operations. This is particularly important because 2008 dDress rehearsal is the first time in the 2010 testing cycle that coverage measurement operation for housing units will be conducted.

Information quality is an integral part of the pre-dissemination review of the information disseminated by the Census Bureau (fully described in the Census Bureau's Information Quality Guidelines). Information quality is also integral to the information collections conducted by the Census Bureau and is incorporated into the clearance process required by the Paperwork Reduction Act.

3. Use of Information Technology

Information technology will be employed during the PI and PIRI operations. PI and PIRI are Computer Assisted Data Collection instruments and interviews are conducted by personal visits or telephone (See Attachments B and C).

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

CCM operations are designed to collect information to evaluate new approaches that would provide more accurate measures of coverage error (net and components) for housing units and persons. This includes improving estimates of the number of people and housing units duplicated. This effort does not duplicate information collected by any other agency.

5. Minimizing Burden

The proposed information collection consists of collecting demographic and address information about persons rostered in the CCM and their residences in the Person Interview and Person Interview Reinterview operations.universe, Interviews will be conducted at of the smallest number of housing units required to collect the information about to adequately estimate net coverage error and the components of net coverage error. Of respondents chosen, they are Respondents will be asked the minimum number of questions to identify Census Day and Interview Day residence of the sample address and other potential addresses where they may have been counted in the census.

6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

Improving the accuracy of census coverage is one of the major goals of reengineering the 2010 Decennial Census Program. If these activities were not conducted, it would adversely affect our ability to measure the coverage of the population in the 2010 Census and plan improvement for future censuses and surveys.

7. Special Circumstances

No special circumstances exist.

8. Consultations Outside the Agency

The Census Bureau published a notice in the Federal Register on June 25, 2007 (Vol. 72, No. 121, PG 34668), inviting public comment on our plans to submit this information collection.

One One comments waass received from the Brookings Institution (See Attachment D). The letter agrees with the need for both CCM PI and CCM PIRI for the Census Bureau to judge its performance as well as provide essential information. Another comment was received that was deemed irrelevant to the collection.

In addition, cognitive testing of the instrument was conducted by WESTAT which led to improvements within the questionnaire.

9. Paying Respondents

Respondents participating in this survey will not receive any form of compensation for their participation.

10. Assurances of Confidentiality

Title 13 U.S.C., Sections 141 and 193 authorizes this collection. Title 13 U.S.C., Section 9 ensures the confidentiality of all responses. All respondents will be informed that participation is mandatory, that their responses are confidential, and that all information that could identify individuals will be held in the strictest confidence under applicable Federal statutes. This survey complies with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Paperwork Reduction Act. (See Attachment A – Introductory Letter for CCM PI and PIRI)

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

The Census Bureau perceives no question in the CCM PI or PIRI questionnaires as being sensitive.

12. Estimate of Hour Burden

A sample of approximately 14,375 housing units split evenly between selected census tracts in San Joaquin County, California; and Fayetteville, North Carolina will be selected for the PI operation. A sample of approximately 1,438 housing units split evenly between selected census tracts in San Joaquin County, California; and Fayetteville, North Carolina will be selected for the PIRI operation. To calculate the burden hours, we assumed a theoretical 100 percent response rate and an approximate completion time of 10 minutes per respondent (based on the results of cognitive testing). The estimated total annual respondent burden for the PI and PIRI operations is approximately 2,636 hours.

13. Estimate of Cost Burden

There is no cost to respondents, except for the time it takes to respond to the questions.

14. Cost to the Federal Government

The cost of this evaluation is covered under funding for decennial testing. Initial costs of field collection are estimated at approximately $1.9 million. An interdivisional Census Bureau team developed the data collection methodologies and planned the test, and the Census Bureau’s Decennial Management Division allocated the resources for the test.

15. Justification for Change in Burden

This collection is being submitted as new.

165. Project Schedule

These dates are tentative.

Activity	Schedule
	Planned Start	Planned Finish
Conduct Cognitive Testing for PI (Questionnaire) in Spanish	05/30/07	08/17/07
Develop CCM PI Instrument	058/1001/07	06/25/08
Develop CCM PIRI Instrument	085/0110/07	06/25/08
Conduct Person Interview	08/22/08	10/03/08
Conduct Person Interview Reinterview	08/27/08	10/10/08

Activity	Schedule
	Planned Start	Planned Finish
Conduct Cognitive Testing for PI (Questionnaire) in Spanish	05/30/07	08/17/07
Develop CCM PI Instrument	08/01/07	11/01/08
Develop CCM PIRI Instrument	08/01/07	03/01/09
Conduct Person Interview (1st Site)	02/13/09	03/06/09
Conduct Person Interview (2nd Site)	04/24/09	05/22/09
Conduct Person Interview Reinterview	05/01/09	05/29/09

* Schedule dates are currently under review

17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

No exemption is requested. Expiration Date will be read to the respondent by the enumerator during the interview.

18. Exceptions to the Certification

There are no exemptions. All respondents will be informed that participation is mandatory and the interview will take approximately ten minutes. The Introduction Letter (see Attachment A) containing the OMB number and expiration date will be provided to all respondents.

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

1. Sample Design

Person Interview

The 2008 CCM survey sample is a multi-phase probability sample of housing units comprising a number of distinct processes from forming block clusters for the two sites, selecting sample block clusters where the CCM survey will be conducted, to eventually selecting addresses for interviewing. Two samples will be selected to measure census coverage of housing units and the household population: the population sample (P sample) and the enumeration sample (E sample). The P sample is a sample of housing units and persons obtained independently from the census for a sample of block clusters, while the E sample is a sample of census housing units and enumerations in the same block cluster as the P sample.

The independent roster of housing units is obtained during the CCM Independent Listing Operation, the results of which will be matched to census housing units in the sample block clusters and surrounding blocks. After the CCM Independent Listing and matching operations have taken place, some cases with discrepancies between the CCM Independent Listing and the Census will be identified and receive the CCM Housing Unit Followup Interview. The results of this interview will again be matched to the list of census housing units. The results of the housing unit matching operations will be used to determine which CCM and Census addresses will be eligible to go to the CCM Person Interview (PI) Operation. After data collected from the PI operation is matched to data collected by the cCensus enumeration in the CCM sample areas, certain cases will be sent for another CCM interview called the Person Followup Interview. A separate federal register notice will be issued for that operation. A separate Federal Register Notice has already been issued for the CCM Independent Listing and CCM Housing Unit Followup operations.

Person Interview Reinterview - Quality Control

The person interview reinterview universe will consist of a random sample that is approximately 10 percent of the original PI enumerator workload (approximately 1438 cases), chosen as follows:

First sample is approximately 719 housing units in selected census tracts in California

Second sample is approximately 719 housing units in North Carolina

Response Rate

The Census Bureau expects a response rate of 85-90% for the operation.

2. Data Collection

Person Interview

During PI, interviewers use a computer assisted data collection instrument to obtain information about the current residents of the sample housing unit and certain persons who moved out of the sample housing unit between Census Day and the time of the CCM interview. The PI will also be conducted for some cases not in the P sample in order to obtain information which may help to resolve their census enumeration status earlier than if they were included in the E sample cases sent to Person Followup.

Person Interview Reinterview (PIRI)

For the Person Interview Reinterview (PIRI) operation cases will be selected from the Person Interview work as it is returned. All cases are eligible for reinterview except cases where the outcome of the PI was a refusal (since we assume a Crew Leader followed up on any refusals), language problem, no knowledgeable respondent or more than one enumerator completed the original PI case.

We will select cases systematically within each enumerator's workload, starting with the first case they complete that is eligible and every 12th case thereafter (an 8 percent random sample). We will also select cases based on outlier characteristics. For example, an enumerator with a significantly high number of vacant cases compared to his/her Regional Office average will have three cases selected for reinterview that are vacant. We expect the outlier reinterview to consist of about 1 percent of the PI workload. We also allow 1 percent of supplemental reinterview cases. As a result, eEach enumerator will have about a total of 10 percent of their workload reinterviewed.

After PIRI cases are selected, the case is made available to the Regional Office for assignment to a reinterviewer. The reinterviewer will complete the PIRI questionnaire with the original PI household respondent, the original proxy respondent, or a new respondent, depending on the unit status, respondent type and the availability of contact information from the PI case. The reinterview instrument will collect information about the unit status on the PI date, whether the original respondent was contacted, and household roster for cases determined to be occupied on the PI date. After the PIRI case is transmitted to headquarters, it goes through a matching process with the original PI case, clerical review if necessary, and either computer or clerical coding. If the case is coded as falsifed, all eligible cases completed by the interviewer are selected for PIRI. Cases assigned to the suspect interviewer and not yet completed are removed from the interviewer's assignment.

3. Methods to Maximize Response

The PI and PIRI questionnaire contains the minimum number of questions necessary to obtain the data required for the evaluations, and the interviewer will make multiple contact attempts in order to obtain an interview (six attempts for personal visit interviews). The interviewer will explain the reason the Census Bureau is conducting this operation and respondents will be informed of their legal responsibility to answer the questions. In addition, respondents will be assured that their answers are confidential. If a respondent refuses to answer the questions, the interviewer’s Ccrew lLeader may attempt to obtain an interview or may assign the case to another interviewer (refusal conversion - personal visit interviews only).

4. Testing of Procedures

We conducted cognitive testing on the 2006 Person Interview questionnaire (English in 2006 and Spanish in 2007) in order to help us improve the efficacy of the 2008 instrument and questions.

5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection

Gia Donnalley

Coverage Measurement Design forof Data Collection Operations Branch Chief

Decennial Statistical Studies Division

(301) 763-4370

Definition of Terms

Alternate Addresses

These are respondent provided addresses obtained during the CCM PI for other places where household members may have been counted on Census Day.

Components of Coverage Error

The two components of census coverage error are census omissions (missed persons or housing units) and erroneous inclusions (persons or housing units enumerated in the census that should not have been). Examples of erroneous inclusions are: housing units built after Census Day and persons or housing units enumerated more than once (duplicates).

Net Coverage Error

Reflects the difference between census omissions and erroneous inclusions. A positive net error indicates an undercount, while a negative net error indicates an overcount.

List of Attachments

A. Introductory Letter, (Privacy Act Notice), Form ###

B. Computer Specification for the Person Interview

Computer Specification for the Person Interview Reinterview Instrument

D. Comments from Brookings Institution to the Supporting Statement, August 10, 2007

Attachment A – Introductory Letter

DRAFT – GOING THROUGH BUREAU APPROVAL – final will be included in package submitted to DOC.

See Separate File 50693 – CCM PI .wpd

Dear Resident:

We recently conducted the 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal in your community to test the methods the U.S. Census Bureau plans to use for the 2010 Census. An accurate census is needed for each community to receive its fair share of the federal money that goes to schools, employment services, housing assistance, roads, services for children and the elderly, and much more.

Now we need to determine how well the dress rehearsal counted the people in your community. We do this by asking a few additional questions at some of the addresses. Your address has been selected, and your help is very important. The information you provide will help determine the best way to conduct the next census.

Your response is required by law (Title 13 of the United States Code). That same law also protects your information. Title 13 requires the Census Bureau to keep all respondents’ answers strictly confidential. That means the Census Bureau cannot give out information that identifies you or your household. Your survey answers will only be used for statistical purposes, and for no other purpose. Any Census Bureau employee who violates these provisions is subject to a fine up to $250,000 or a prison sentence up to five years, or both. This survey has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget and given approval number ####-####. This approval and Title 13, United States Code, allow us to conduct these interviews.

The interview will take about 10 to 15 minutes on average. If you have any questions or comments about this interview, please send them to the following address:

Paperwork Project ####-####

U.S. Census Bureau

4600 Silver Hill Road, AMSD-3K138

Washington, DC 20233

You may also send comments by e-mail to <Paperwork@census.gov>. Please use “Paperwork Project ####-####” as the subject on the e-mail message. Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,

Charles Louis Kincannon

Director

Attachment B - Computer Specification for the Person Interview

See Separate File ATTACHB – PI Instrument Specifications.doc

Attachment C - Computer Specification for the Person Interview Reinterview Instrument

See Separate File ATTACHC – PIRI Instrument Specification.doc

Attachment D - The Brookings Institution Comments to the Supporting Statement, August 10, 2007

See separate file ATTACHD-Brookings Comments.pdf

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