Various Demographic Pretesting Activities

Ombxxxx2010 Effectiveness Of Unduplication (06-13-2011)
RE: Continuation of qualitative research on methods for unduplicating people suspected of being
counted more than once during a census
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of our plans to conduct additional research under the
generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725) to develop
optimum methods for resolving suspected instances of person duplication. The Census Bureau
requests permission to conduct 50 interviews with individuals who the Census Bureau believes
have been counted more than once in the 2010 Census. This data collection will consist of a mix
of in-depth qualitative interviews and cognitive interviews.
Background and Purpose
In preparing for the 2010 Census, research began to reveal the need for a followup interview that
is tailored to (or targeted for) the resolution of suspected person duplicates. The Census
Bureau’s focus during the years leading up to the 2010 Census was on developing a followup
interview (that is, the Coverage Followup or CFU) that could comprehensively address a variety
of potential coverage problems. While the CFU could sufficiently resolve certain types of
problems (for example, discrepancies between household population count and number of people
listed on the form, additional people for a household appearing on administrative records but not
on its census form, or affirmative answers to whether members of the household live or stay in
college housing or a nursing home), mid-decade testing results showed that it failed to prompt
respondents to acknowledge or to recognize living situations that have led to the existence of
duplicate person records.
The Census Bureau recently decided that this supplemental data collection is necessary to
address a shortfall in the number of interviews already conducted in support of an ongoing
research project titled, the 2010 Census Program for Evaluations and Experiments Effectiveness
of Unduplication Evaluation (See 2010 Coverage Followup Telephone Operation Information
Collection (OMB approval number 0607-0946)).
The purpose of this research is to better understand why people are duplicated in a census, in
addition to gaining more insight on why the CFU fails to be a successful means for resolving
person duplication. The Census Bureau also wishes to test an instrument developed for
interviewers attempting to resolve cases of potential person duplication via a followup interview
tailored specifically for this purpose: the Targeted Coverage Followup (TCFU). The knowledge
gained from this research will help census planners to design better methods for resolving
potential duplicate person records.
Procedures for Data Collection
A contractor will collect the data for this activityInterviews will be conducted by two contractors
(RTI International and Research Support Services, Inc.) using interview questions developed by
the Census Bureau.
Using a list of potential participants provided by the Census Bureau (that is, initial census returns
for which computer matching determined possible duplicate person links), the contractor will

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recruit participants who represent a range of characteristics as outlined by the Census Bureau.
For instance, the Census Bureau will require the contractor to contact some households with
children who are duplicated and others with adults who are duplicated.
The contractorcontractors will conduct the interviews in five diverse geographic areas:
Washington, D.C.; Chicago, IL; Raleigh, NC; San Diego, CA; and New York, NY. The
contractorcontractors will pay respondents a maximum of $40 for participating in the study.
The contractorcontractors will conduct 50 interviews from July 1, 2011 to July 25, 2011. The
interviews will be comprised of the respondent and one interviewer. There are to be
approximately five semi-structured qualitative interviews and approximately 45 structured
cognitive interviews. For the qualitative interviews, the interviewer will have a typed debriefing
protocol to assist in directing the conversation. For the cognitive interviews, the interviewer will
use a paper questionnaire followed by a typed debriefing protocol to assist in directing the
conversation. For all interviews, the interviewer is to find out who completed the census form
for the address (or addresses) that interviewers ask about during the interview. Respondents are
to remain unaware that they may have been counted more than once in the census.
For the qualitative interviews, researchers will follow the protocol found in Attachment A and
will attempt to collect the following types of information:
•
•
•
•
•
•

Reasons why the Census Bureau could count respondents more than once in the census;
Description of respondent living situation (elicited through ethnographic-style probes);
Respondent willingness to provide information about other place or places stayed, if
asked about living situation during an interview – in addition to example questions that
would elicit this type of information;
Distance respondents travel between places that they stay;
Respondent perception of whether this type of information is “none of the Census
Bureau’s business”; and
Variation in responses, if posing the same questions to others in the household.

For the cognitive interviews, researchers will use the TCFU questionnaire found in Attachment B
and the protocol found in Attachment C to capture the respondent’s living situation during the
year 2010 (including all of the places that the respondent may have stayed) and to answer the
questions listed below. In addition, researchers will use the tool in Attachment D titled, Event
History Calendar to supplement this data collection. Interviewers will use situational or
expansive retrospective probing and other probing as specified in the protocol.
•
•
•
•

Does the respondent show confusion or lack of understanding of specific questions or
concepts? Which terms or phrases, if any, do respondents feel are confusing or difficult to
understand?
Does the respondent refuse to respond or is he or she unable to respond to any of the
TCFU questions?
Does the respondent have a negative or a positive reaction to the questions?
Are there any terms or topics that are offensive or inappropriate? Which terms or topics,
if any, do respondents believe are offensive or inappropriate?
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•
•
•
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Does the questionnaire elicit privacy concerns? Are there questions that are perceived as
too sensitive?
Does the questionnaire elicit confidentiality concerns? Does the respondent figure out
that someone else reported them on their census form? If so, does this upset them?
Does the TCFU interview capture the entire living situation of the respondent, or are
there pieces of the respondent’s story that are missing? Does it uncover all addresses and
all dates that the respondent stayed at another place during 2010?
Are there any comprehension problems within the TCFU questionnaire?

The contractor planscontractors plan to audio record all interviews upon receiving consent from
the respondent to do so. The contractorcontractors will obtain approval from the respondent to
audio record the interview using the format found in Attachment E.Attachments E and F (the
contractors each use a separate form). In addition, the contractor will prepare detailed written
summaries for each interview and a final report for the Census Bureau that summarizes the data
collection.
Estimate of Burden Hours
The number of burden hours required for this data collection is 75, as indicated in the table
below.

Experiment/Evaluation
Effectiveness of
Unduplication –
Qualitative Interviews/
Cognitive Interviews

Total # of
Respondents

Estimated
Response Time

Estimated Burden
Hours

50

1 hour and
30 minutes

75

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The contacts for questions regarding data collection for this research appear below:
Jason Machowski
2020 Research and Coordination Branch
Decennial Management Division
U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, DC 20233
(301)763-4173
jason.d.machowski@census.gov
Sarah Heimel
Decennial Statistical Studies Division
U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, DC 20233
(301)763-9297
sarah.k.heimel@census.gov
Ryan King
U.S. Census Bureau
Washington, DC 20233
(301)763-4774
ryan.w.king@census.gov
Attachments
Attachment A: Targeted Coverage Followup (TCFU) Qualitative Interview Protocol
Attachment B: Targeted Coverage Followup (TCFU) Questionnaire
Attachment C: Targeted Coverage Followup (TCFU) Cognitive Interview Protocol
Attachment D: Targeted Coverage Followup (TCFU) Event History Calendar
Attachment E: Consent Form for Decennial CensusRTI International
Attachment F: Content Form for Research Support Services, Inc.

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