2012 Economic Census Pretesting Plan

The U.S. Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB Number 0607-0725). We will be conducting respondent debriefings with respondents from the 2012 Economic Census. The Census Bureau conducts the Economic Census every five years to provide a benchmark for measuring the economy and businesses in the United States.

For the 2012 Economic Census, single-unit establishments will have a choice of multiple modes of response. We plan to conduct in-person and telephone interviews with single-unit Economic Census respondents to find out more about their experiences with the different response modes. We will conduct approximately 15 in-person interviews with respondents who chose to respond to the Economic Census using the Internet. These interviews will focus on their experiences with Internet reporting and the overall usability of the Web instrument. We will also ask questions about why they chose to respond on the Internet. The goal is to gain further feedback on the Internet reporting interface and make additional improvements to it for future data collection. Attached are screen shots of a sample questionnaire that will be a part of the Economic Census. Although the Economic Census is comprised of multiple forms that vary based on the industry to which they apply, many of the questions are the same across the different business sectors. The screen shots include those common questions.

We also plan to conduct approximately 15 telephone interviews with respondents who responded on paper. These interviews will focus on their experiences filling out the paper form and their reasons for choosing that mode. The goal will be to find if their choice of paper response was related to difficulty with the Web interface or based on some other reason. Attached is an example of one of the paper forms that make up the Economic Census. Draft protocols for each type of interview are also enclosed.

From late January through February 2013, staff from the Response Improvement Research staff within the Census Bureau’s Economic Directorate will conduct the respondent debriefings with respondents from up to 30 businesses throughout the United States. The in-person interviews in take place in the Washington, DC area. We will conduct the telephone interviews with respondents from businesses throughout the U.S.

The businesses will include single-unit companies across a variety of industries. Subject area specialists from the survey areas will accompany the interviewer on most, if not all, of the in-person interviews. These specialists will assist with cases in which the respondent asks for clarification on the subject matter. Also, we will audio record the in-person interviews, with the respondents’ permission, to aid in the accurate reporting of our findings and recommendations. The telephone interview will not be audio-recorded. We will capture respondents answers to questions on paper.

After recruiting businesses, we will fax respondents follow-up reminders about their appointments. We will inform respondents that their response is voluntary, that the information they provide is confidential , and that only Census Bureau or special sworn employees involved in the research project will see any information we discuss. We will not provide monetary incentives to participants in this study.

We estimate that it will be necessary to interview only one respondent at each company. The length of the in-person interviews will average one hour. The length of the telephone interviews will be approximately 20 minutes. Thus, the maximum estimated burden for this research is hours 20 hours [(15 x 1 hr = 15 hours) + (15 x .33 hrs = 5 hours) = 20hrs].

The contact person for questions regarding data collection and statistical aspects of the design of this research is listed below:

Jennifer Beck

Response Improvement Research Staff

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-1736

Jennifer.l.beck@census.gov