Non-Substantive Change Request (September 2015 Core Questions)

The U.S. Census Bureau requests permission to make non-substantive changes to the questionnaire under the clearance for the Federal Statistical System Public Opinion Survey (OMB number 0607-0969). The objective of this research is to gather data on public understanding of and trust in Federal Statistical Agencies and federal statistics. These public opinion data will enable the Census Bureau to better understand public perceptions, which will provide guidance for communicating with the public and for future planning of data collection that reflects a good understanding of public perceptions and concerns.

From February 2012 through September 2013, the Census Bureau added 25 questions nightly onto an ongoing data collection by the Gallup Daily Tracking Survey. From October 2013 through March 2014, the Census Bureau added 10 questions to the survey. Under a recompeted contract, Gallup resumed data collection on September 15, 2014 continuing through the end of this clearance on August 28, 2015.

Core questions focus on awareness of and attitudes towards federal statistics and federal statistical agencies. Under the new contract, 5 questions are core time series questions and there is the option to collect data on up to 20 other items on a rotational basis. We are requesting to add some new questions on public perception of hiring practices, both generally and for the decennial census specifically. This series of questions will begin with an additional question that measures self-reported likelihood of responding to the decennial census. The initial question will provide a baseline measure of willingness to respond, before the topics of criminal history and background checks are introduced. The remaining questions in this set will attempt to measure how different hiring practices for the census could impact willingness to respond to the census.

OMB and Census have agreed that these rotating questions constitute non-substantive changes to this submission. Attached to this letter is the tracking document that contains a complete history of all questions asked and the date that each question was or is planned to be asked.

We are requesting to field these questions from April 20 through July 29, 2015.

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

Jennifer Hunter Childs

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, D.C. 20233

202-603-4827

jennifer.hunter.childs@census.gov