2015_Census_Test_OMB_Part A Final

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

2015 Census Test

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET (OMB) CONTROL NUMBER 0607-XXXX

Part A. Justification

1. Necessity of the Information Collection

During the years preceding the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau will pursue its commitment to reduce the cost of conducting the next decennial census while still providing the highest data quality possible. A primary decennial census cost driver is the collection of data in person from addresses for which the Census Bureau received no reply via initially offered response options. We refer to these as nonresponse cases, and to the in-person visits to them as Nonresponse Follow-up, or NRFU. Increasing the number of people who take advantage of self response options (such as completing a paper questionnaire and mailing it back to the Census Bureau, or responding via telephone or Internet alternatives) can contribute to a less costly census. The Census Bureau has committed to using the Internet as a primary response option in the 2020 Census, so we need to study ways to offer and promote the Internet as a self response option for the 2020 Census.

In addition to increasing and optimizing self-response through the Internet, the Census Bureau plans to incorporate the use of new technologies, such as advertising via social media, encouraging the use of the Internet as the primary response mode and allowing respondents to submit a paper or electronic questionnaire without a unique identification code. We are focusing on studying these outreach and self response approaches in a 2015 Census Test in the Savannah, GA area.

Another 2015 Census Test will be in the Maricopa County, AZ area, and will study alternative methods to conducting NRFU operations that are designed to increase efficiency and reduce costs. The test objectives in this site also include studying the use of administrative records to reduce field visits and costs.

2015 Census Test – Savannah Site

[Optimizing Self Response (OSR) Testing]

The 2015 Census Test in selected counties in and surrounding Savannah, GA, and adjacent counties in South Carolina, will allow the Census Bureau to study a variety of new methods and advanced technologies that are under consideration for the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau will conduct this test in the Savannah Media Market, which includes 20 counties, 17 in Georgia and 3 in South Carolina. This media market has diversity in demographics, address types, and Internet penetration and usage. We primarily selected this market because we consider it fairly self-contained, which will limit bleed-over of advertising efforts into neighboring media markets, while conducting a full outreach and advertising effort for all households in the test area. Additionally, it is cost effective for the Census Bureau to advertise in this medium sized market area.

To improve Internet self-response, the Census Bureau plans to continue testing multiple contact and notification strategies that we studied in the 2014 Census Test. For example, we will implement an internet-push strategy , which was shown to be an effectives strategy in the 2014 Census Test. We will also include a “Notify Me” campaign, which allows respondents to register their email address or cell phone number and provide their mode preference for future contacts, by email or text message. In the 2014 Census Test, the participation rate for “Notify Me” was very low, so we are investigating methods for improving the understanding of and participation in this opportunity for early engagement. As mentioned above, this test will include a communications component to increase awareness and encourage Internet participation by potential respondents, including the “Notify Me” component of the test. Traditional advertising and outreach efforts used for the decennial census will be supplemented with targeted digital marketing for groups that we know to be hard-to-count from past censuses and surveys. We will use our planning database to identify hard-to-count groups at the block or tract level, and place advertisements with targeted messaging on digital sites frequented by these groups. In addition to the Internet, respondents will have an opportunity to respond via paper questionnaires or telephone interviews. Because the focus of this test is optimizing self-response, we will not conduct a NRFU operation in this test site.

The 2015 Census Test in the Savannah site also will continue Census Bureau efforts to make it easier for respondents to respond by allowing them to do so without providing a pre-assigned User Identification (ID) number associated with their address. This “non-ID” option was successfully implemented in the 2014 Census Test, but the response rates were lower for the non-ID panels in that test. However, the response rates for non-ID cases were determined not only by the respondent participation, but also on our ability to match the respondent-provided address information to the sample address from the Master Address File (MAF). In the Savannah site, building on the work from the 2014 Census Test, we will test our ability to improve the non-ID process by conducting real-time processing of responses lacking a pre-assigned User ID. In the 2014 Census Test, this was done via back-end processing; not while respondents were on-line. In the 2015 Census Test, while respondents who do not have or enter a pre-assigned User ID are completing their census form online, we will attempt to search for their address in the MAF to determine if it matches an existing MAF record. If the initial attempt to match is unsuccessful, but we are able to determine that further respondent input might be able to assist us, the Internet response instrument will prompt the respondent accordingly. In all instances where a MAF match is not found, we will attempt to assign the respondent address to a census block, and then the respondent will be asked to confirm or correct that location via a map interface integrated with the Census questionnaire. This real-time processing methodology should increase our matching rates, thereby helping us to realize higher self-response rates for the non-ID universe. In addition, if we are able to match a respondent’s provided address information to our MAF in real time, it will permit us to remove the address from the NRFU universe, thereby reducing the field workload and cost.

The Test in the Savannah site is comprised of four phases; Communication, “Notify Me”, Self-response, and Focus groups.

Communication -- In the 2015 Census Test in the Savannah area, communication strategies will include broadcast and cable/satellite television, radio ads, print ads, influencer phone calls to remind households to participate, earned media, and social media. Additionally this test will also explore the use of digital (an online ad for the general population) and targeted digital (an online ad placed and catered to harder-to-count audiences) advertising. The first phase of advertising will run through the duration of “Notify Me,” and messaging will educate residents about the test and the option to pre register. The second phase of advertising runs through the duration of OSR data collection and will include additional test information while motivating self response with call to action messaging.

“Notify Me” – Similar to the what we studied in the 2014 Census Test, this early engagement provides an opportunity to make people aware of the Test and to provide them the opportunity to voluntarily select their preferred mode for future invitations and reminders (i.e., how to “Notify Me” when it is time to complete the Census form – email or text message). The communications campaign in the Savannah site will seek to educate the public on the benefits of the “Notify Me” opportunity and to encourage them to participate.

Self Response – For the 2015 Census Test in the Savannah site, we will implement our current standard “Internet Push” contact strategy, which involves a letter inviting people to respond via the Internet; up to two postcard reminders; and ultimately a paper questionnaire. The Census Bureau will directly contact up to 90,000 housing units to notify them of the survey. A subsample of these notifications will provide a User ID for the respondent to use for their Internet response, and the remaining sample will not provide an ID, so we can test processing these non-ID cases. Additionally, respondents who become aware of the Test (and the Internet site) via some of the planned outreach and advertising, but that have not been directly contacted, also can self-respond via the Internet without the need for a User ID. These two sets of non-ID respondents will allow us to study real-time non-ID processing, as described above. Additionally, following the conclusion of self-response, we plan to test a mechanism to identify duplicate or potentially fraudulent Non-ID responses. Following the conclusion of self-response for the test, for all Non-ID responses we will compare the name, addresses and date of birth of the respondent to data contained within a composite of commercial and federal administrative records maintained within the Census Bureau. This will serve as an initial measure of our ability to validate respondent identity as well as examine the gaps in coverage we might have in currently available administrative records datasets. This validation testing will not involve additional contact with respondents, so no respondent burden is anticipated.

For people responding via the Internet or on paper, we will offer telephone questionnaire assistance. On-line respondents will be able to do this directly through Internet instrument, or by phoning the telephone questionnaire assistance number. People who prefer not to respond via a paper form or on the Internet also can call this number and complete the questionnaire for their household with a telephone agent.

Focus Groups – To evaluate the “Notify Me” strategy being tested in the 2015 Census Test Savannah site, the Census Bureau will conduct four focus groups, comprised of various categories of respondents and non-respondents. These focus groups are intended to gather information about respondent perspectives regarding this notification; whether they thought that the “Notify Me” component was the actual participation or response to the Census Test; and whether they had a preference to wait for Census Day without registering a contact preference.

In these focus groups, participants also will be asked about their experiences with the 2015 Census Test, including such things as their reactions and thoughts about being contacted by the Census Bureau by email and text messages, and the perceived legitimacy of these contacts; their opinions on the use of administrative records by the Census Bureau; and the use of targeted Internet advertisements. Participants also will be asked about their general concerns with government collection and protection of confidential data. We will try to ascertain and discuss the outreach, promotion, media/mode or method that informed the respondent about the “Notify Me” option and/or the Census Test. We also will ask if the ability to respond without having to provide a pre-assigned User ID made the respondent more likely to participate. At the end of the focus groups, we may be asking participants for whom we have acquired additional data from a commercial third party to verify whether this information is accurate. The information collection materials will be submitted separately as non-substantive changes. The protocol for Savannah, GA will be available on April 1, 2015 and the protocol for Maricopa County will be available on June 1, 2015.

The Census Bureau Phone Center will recruit for these focus groups using existing phone number information we have for a sample of addresses in the 2015 Census Test. Phone Center staff will use screener questions that include the following requirements: 1) Focus group participants are required to have personally responded to the 2015 Census Test 2) to be employed outside the Federal Government, and 3) to speak English.

The focus groups will be conducted in person, and all interviews will be tape-recorded to facilitate later analyses of the results. Participants will be asked to sign consent forms and give permission to be recorded. All participants will be informed that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential. Respondents will receive a $75 stipend after the group concludes.

2015 Census Test – Maricopa County Site

(Nonresponse Follow-up (NRFU) Operation Testing)

The 2015 Census Test to be conducted in portions of Maricopa County, AZ will test alternative methods for conducting NRFU operations that are designed to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Rapid changes in technology over the past decade now provide the Census Bureau with an opportunity to use automation to conduct NRFU field operations during the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau is researching and testing the best contact strategies and methods for field data collection, case assignment management, and field staff administrative functions. In addition, the research in utilizing administrative records, including government and third party sources, seeks to test and determine the best methodologies for using administrative records in support of NRFU, adaptive design, and enumeration.

Self Response – For the 2015 Census Test in the Maricopa site, we also will implement our current standard “Internet Push” contact strategy, which involves a letter inviting people to respond via the Internet; up to two postcard reminders; and ultimately, a paper questionnaire. Because the test area is not a self-contained media market, and because not all households in the test area will be requested to respond, we will not be conducting the same types of outreach and promotion efforts being used in the Savannah site. The estimated sample size for the Maricopa site will be 165,000 housing units, and we estimate 70,000 of these will be fall into the NRFU operation.

Nonresponse Follow-up (NRFU) -- As part of the 2015 Census Test in Maricopa, data will be collected on automated enumeration devices (or smart phones). We will use an automated questionnaire similar to the one used in the 2014 Census Test NRFU operations,. This data collection will be conducted using government-owned, commercially provided mobile devices. As in the 2014 Census Test, the “notice of visit” letters left at the door when a respondent is not home will contain information on how a respondent can self-respond via the Internet or by calling the Census Bureau’s telephone questionnaire assistance line. For the 2015 Census Test, the notice of visit will be translated into four non-English languages which is a change from previous years where the notice was only provided in English and Spanish. The intent is to reduce the number of in-person enumerator return visits by encouraging respondents to complete their questionnaire online or by telephone.

We also will be studying rules for determining which non-responding units will be visited, and how to collect information from households that do not self-respond. For instance, the Census Bureau will vary the approach to visiting households that have administrative records to determine the housing unit status (i.e., whether it is vacant or occupied) or to enumerate the people living at the address once we know the status for cases that do not respond. In both panels, units identified as vacant based on administrative record information will be identified and no NRFU visits will be conducted. For units identified as occupied with a determined population based on administrative records, they will be handled differently in each of the experimental panels. In one panel, they will be identified before NRFU starts and no NRFU visits will be conducted. In the second panel, they will be identified but we will attempt one interview at the unit before utilizing administrative records information. Also, to study adaptive design principles, the Census Bureau will vary the number of personal visit attempts to in different geographic areas based on hard-to-count criteria like response rates. We also will study when it is feasible to discontinue attempts to collect information from each non-responding household and instead move to attempting to collect information from a householder’s neighbor or another knowledgeable source.

NRFU Evaluation Follow-up (EFU) -- The goal of the Evaluation Follow-up is to obtain the most accurate Census Day status of each housing unit in this study by revisiting addresses where we find discrepancies between the NRFU results and administrative records information for the address. This mostly will include those addresses where information collected during NRFU conflicts with information we have from administrative records for that address. We also will include some addresses in this study where information from governmental administrative record and/or third party sources have had possible changes in household composition over a two-year period.

Content Testing -- The 2015 Census Test questionnaire for both sites will include questions on housing tenure, household roster, age, date of birth, race and Hispanic origin, and relationship. The 2015 Census Test will include a combined race and Hispanic origin question that is similar to one used in the 2014 Census Test. This combined question provides examples and write-in areas for each major response category. Respondents will be asked to self-identify by selecting one or more checkboxes, and reporting a specific origin for each checkbox selected. The inclusion of the combined question will allow the Census Bureau to conduct imputation research using this combined format in a setting when there are self-responses, administrative records and NRFU enumerator responses (Maricopa site only). This will allow the Census Bureau to learn how imputation approaches for the combined question might need to be different than approaches used in the past when the questions were asked separately. The 2015 Census Test will allow imputation procedures tested in the 2014 Census Test to be continue to be tested. This work will continue you to allow us to test in geographyic areas with different race and Hispanic Origin concentrations found in the 2014 Census Test areas.

For the relationship question, the 2015 Census Test will include new response categories recommended by OMB (see Section 11of this document – Justification for Sensitive Questions) for opposite-sex and same-sex husband/wife/spouse households, and for the category for unmarried partner. In addition, the 2015 Census Test will include a question on the internet instrument that will allow respondents to report that a housing unit they own is vacant as of Census Day, and to provide the reason for the vacancy status (e.g., a seasonal or rental unit). This new question will enable the Census Bureau to identify some vacant housing units during self response so they can be removed from NRFU operations.

The materials mailed to the respondents will inform them that the survey is mandatory in accordance with Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141 and 193. This information also will be available via a hyperlink from within the Internet instrument.

2. Needs and Uses

The results of the 2015 Census Test from both sites will help guide the design of additional 2020 Decennial Census testing later this decade. Testing in 2015 is necessary to build on the findings from the 2014 Census Test and to establish recommendations for contact strategies, response options, and field operation efficiencies that can be further refined and tested in later studies. At this point in the decade, the Census Bureau needs to acquire evidence showing whether the strategies being tested can reduce the cost per housing unit during a decennial census, while still providing high quality and accuracy of the census data.

Along with other results, the response rates to paper and Internet collection will be used to help inform 2020 Decennial program planning and metrics determination. Several demographic questions and coverage probes are included in this test to combine with results from other recent testing opportunities to achieve optimal coverage for decennial censuses and surveys.

The specific goal for the Non-ID Processing research is to continue evaluating enhancements to the Census Bureau’s process to collect address information needed for real-time matching and geocoding of Non-ID responses. Testing enhancements to Non-ID processing will inform planning for the 2020 Census design, as well as the infrastructure required to support large scale, real-time processing of electronic Non-ID response data submitted via the Internet or a Census-provided questionnaire application designed for mobile devices.

The goal of the advertising and outreach component of the Savannah site Test is twofold; first, we are supporting the entire OSR test by educating respondents and motivating self response in an effort increase response rates. Secondarily, this is our first opportunity to evaluate the effects of new advertising media on response rates. Specifically we are interested in assessing digital and targeted digital advertising, mediums the Census Bureau did not employ in the 2010 Census but that are now available due to the evolution of technology. Results of this test will inform additional tests and will help the Census Bureau begin planning for the 2020 Census communications campaign.

The data collected from households and individuals during the 2015 Census Test will be used to research and evaluate new methodologies and systems to plan the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau will not publish any tabulations or population estimates using the results from this test. However, methodological papers may be written that include summary tallies of response characteristics or problems identified, and responses may be used to inform future research studies building upon the results of these tests. The Census Bureau plans to make the evaluation results of this study available to the general public.

In the Maricopa County site, where the Census Bureau will conduct NRFU, the 2015 Census Test is designed to collect information to:

• Research the cost and quality impacts of differing approaches to removing workload from the NRFU universe through the use of administrative records information.

• Research the cost and quality impacts of new NRFU contact strategies that make use of adaptive design and a re-engineered management structure employing an Area Operations Support Center housed at the Regional Office, automated payroll, automated training, and minimal face-to-face contact between enumerators and supervisors. For these experimental panels enumerators also provide work-time availability in advance, and the system assigns them the optimal number of cases to attempt each day, as well as the routing they should employ.

We are continuing our research on differing approaches to removing workload from the NRFU universe. In one approach we will remove all cases (both occupied and vacant) from the NRFU workload when we have administrative records data for the address. In a second approach we will make one contact attempt (for those cases considered occupied based on administrative records) before removing them from NRFU. The goal is to determine how these approaches vary regarding costs and quality measures. Results from both of these alternative strategies will be compared to a control panel that will conduct NRFU operations similar to how it was done in the 2010 Census. The testing will also obtain detailed data on when and how enumerators use proxy respondents.

The Census Bureau will conduct an additional NRFU data collection activity in the Maricopa site with enumerator-owned commercially provided mobile devices. The use of employee owned equipment/services is commonly referred to as “Bring Your Own Device” or BYOD. After selecting enumerators for this study, a sample of up to 5,000 households will be contacted at the end of the NRFU field operation using this methodology. These will be additional households not included in the other test activities (e.g., the self-response phase). The objectives of this component of the test are to:

• Design, develop, deploy, and support secure software solutions that can be installed on employee’s personally owned commercially available mobile devices;

• Conduct interviews of respondents using these employee owned mobile devices; and

• Capture lessons learned for future operations, including: focus groups with a sub-set of the respondents, questionnaires for the enumerators, and collecting feedback from the local census office.

Focus groups also will be conducted in the Maricopa site to ask respondents about their experiences with the 2015 Census Test. Respondents will be recruited into groups with regard to their treatment and demographic characteristics (e.g., age, education). For example, respondents will be recruited into one of the groups of 8-12 participants by age and education as well as whether they were NRFU respondents or non-respondents. Participants also will be asked about their general concerns with government collection and protection of confidential data. For the Nonresponse Follow-up groups only, we will ask participants their reactions to enumerators using personal devices when conducting Census interviews. At the end of the focus groups, we will be asking participants for whom we have acquired additional data to verify whether this information is accurate.

All focus groups will be tape-recorded to facilitate a summary of the results. Participants will be asked to sign consent forms and give permission to be recorded. All participants will be informed that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential. Respondents will receive a $75 stipend after the focus group concludes.

Information Quality

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 at https://www.census.gov/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

The 2015 Census Test will use the Internet, telephone centers, email, and texting to collect data or communicate with respondents. Respondents will initially have the option to respond to this test via the Internet (on various devices, e.g., computers, tablets, smart phones) or through telephone questionnaire assistance using a toll-free number and speaking with an operator.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

As part of its efforts to reduce the cost of conducting the next decennial census while still providing the highest data quality possible, the Census Bureau continues its testing of new methods for the public to respond, and new ways to automate and more efficiently manage field data collection that have not previously been examined or used in a decennial census.

We are utilizing research results when possible from other Census Bureau surveys. Current research on American Community Survey paradata from their Internet data collection operations will be informative on the usefulness of continuing to contact respondents after they initially refuse to complete the survey. We also are working with other countries with similar issues and goals (for example, Australia, Canada, and England) to share information on these matters. The 2020 Research and Testing Program also is conducting additional literature reviews on results seen in other surveys about paradata, non-responding follow-up procedures, fieldwork efficiencies, telephone contacts, Internet response, and geographic differences. However, most survey results cannot directly be applied to a decennial census environment. The size, scope, mandatory nature, importance of results (for such things as Congressional apportionment, state redistricting efforts, and the allocation of over $430 billion in Federal funds each year), and timing constraints (legal deadlines for producing apportionment and redistricting data) of the decennial census are unique. Thus, thorough and separate research and testing must be conducted to ensure that new methods and operations will work in a decennial census environment.

5. Minimizing Burden

The collection of data is only for households and individuals and should have no effect on small businesses. To reduce total burden on respondents, any housing units selected for the 2015 American Community Survey (ACS)—by far the Census Bureau’s largest monthly survey--will be excluded from sample selection for this test.

6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

If this collection of information does not occur, it would significantly delay or prevent the Census Bureau’s ability to improve upon the current decennial census design, and thus the ability to make design changes with major cost savings for the 2020 Decennial Census. Frequency cannot be decreased, as this is a one-time data collection activity.

7. Special Circumstances

No special circumstances exist.

8. Consultations outside the Agency

In developing these tests, the Census Bureau consulted with a variety of stakeholders, including, but not limited to, academics, national researchers, community and organizational leaders, and the Census Bureau’s Advisory Committees. In addition, external consultants from the National Academy of Sciences shared information about other relevant studies and provided quarterly feedback about the Census Bureau’s research plans and objectives for the 2015 Census Test. The results from these tests also will be shared widely with decennial census stakeholders.

To help evaluate and assess the results of these tests, the Census Bureau will conduct debriefings with enumerators and others who work on the tests, and will conduct focus groups, as described earlier in this supporting statement. Also, cognitive testing participants will be recruited from outside the Census Bureau to provide their views on the wording of questionnaire items, the use of emails and text messages, and the navigation of the Internet application, including the new screens for non-ID processing. The respondents will be asked to provide their reactions to the content of the messages and the mode of delivery, in order to test for comprehension, saliency, and sensitivity of the messages.

The notice for public comment, entitled, “2015 Optimizing Self-Response and Census Tests,” was published in the Federal Register September 2, 2014 (Vol. 79, No. 169, pp. 51948-51950). The Census Bureau received three comments during the 60-day period. One comment generally opposed the data collection outlined in the Federal Register notice. This comment lacked specific suggestions for altering the Census Bureau’s data collection plans. The second comment requested that the Census Bureau accept an advisory committee recommendation that an Afro-Latino, Afro-Indian, Indo-Caribbean and Caribbean/West Indian category be added to the 2015 OSR questionnaire. This comment misrepresented what was stated in the National Advisory Committee on Race & Ethnic Working Group recommendation, which actually recommended “the Census Bureau will conduct additional focus groups with these populations to explore the impact of introducing Afro-Latino, Afro-Indian, Indo-Caribbean, and Caribbean/West Indian as examples under the Black or African American example on the combined race and origin write in box.” The Census Bureau is developing plans for qualitative research with respondents of Afro-Caribbean origin and Afro-Latino origin to explore the use of alternative instruction wording and terminology for the race and ethnic questions, as well as specific examples which represent the breadth of Black or African-American racial category, to improve respondent understanding of the categories and options for responding.

The third comment requested that the Census Bureau utilize the term “multiracial” in questions related to race and ethnicity. The Census Bureau has been developing refinements to designs for mid-decade research and testing that focus on several key dimensions for improving the questions on race and Hispanic origin. Most recently, after consideration of different terminology, the Census Bureau introduced “multiple-race” in some reports, tables, and presentations. Comments about instructions and terminology were made this year during discussion with the Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations. The Census Bureau will use the upcoming 2015 National Content Test to evaluate the use of alternative instruction wording and question terminology for improving respondent understanding of the question and reporting options. These approaches aim to improve the clarity of the question and make it more apparent that more than one group may be selected, and to evaluate the use of different terminology to describe the question and concepts of “race,” “ethnicity,” and “origin.” The results and findings will inform the Census Bureau’s race and ethnicity question design decisions and plans for data tabulations for the 2020 Census.

9. Paying Respondents

Respondents participating in this survey will not receive any form of compensation for their participation. Respondents participating in the focus groups will receive a $75 stipend after the group concludes.

10. Assurances of Confidentiality

The Census Bureau will conduct the 2015 Census Test under the authority of Title 13 United States Code Sections 141 and 193. All respondents who participate in the 2015 Census Test will be informed that the information they provide is confidential under that law, but that the same law makes participation mandatory. All collected information that identifies individuals will be held in strict confidence according to the provisions of Title 13 United States Code, Section 9.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

The Census Bureau is currently considering the inclusion of new categories for same-sex couples on the decennial census questionnaire. In August 2009, the Secretary of Commerce requested that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) establish the interagency task force [Measuring Relationship in Federal Household Surveys] to research issues related to improving the collection and tabulation of marriage and relationship data. One focus of the research was family relationships, particularly with respect to same-sex couples who report being married. The first phase of research involved focus groups conducted primarily with persons cohabiting in same-sex relationships. The focus groups explored the meaning and interpretation of the current decennial Census and American Community Survey (ACS) relationship and marital status items. The second phase of qualitative research was conducted by the Census Bureau under the auspices of the OMB working group. As a result of the focus groups and expert panel review, two alternatives were developed for recommended wording to be further tested in larger-scale quantitative content tests. The 2015 Census Test includes testing the new relationship question that used these new same-sex response categories.

12. Estimate of Burden Hours

The estimate for the average completion of the Census using the paper questionnaire is 10 minutes similar to the 2010 Census. The research objectives for the real-time non-ID processing prompted us to revise the estimate for Internet data collection to an average of 12 minutes, which is an estimate for the interface processing and new probes for respondents. It is a projected estimate that we have not quantified prior to production or through usability testing.

Across both sides, eight focus groups will be conducted. In general, the Census Bureau estimates it will require three screener conversations to recruit one participant. Each screener conversation lasts approximately three minutes. We estimate it will take 18 hours to screen and recruit 120 respondents. The estimated time for each focus group is two hours. Thus, the estimated burden for the focus group is 320 hours, and the total burden is 336 hours.

The estimated number of respondents and burden hours for each site are shown in the following two tables:

Estimated Burden Hours for 2015 Census Test Savannah Site (Savannah, GA and adjacent areas in South Carolina):

	Estimated Number of Respondents	Estimated Time Per Response	Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours
Savannah Sample = 90,000 households plus respondents from awareness campaign
Self-Response Enumeration	305,000	12 minutes	61,000
Subset of Savannah Sample (Not counted toward total respondents but included in burden hours)
“Notify Me”	100,000	3	5,000
Focus Groups Selection	144	3 minutes	8
Focus Groups	80	2 hours	160
TOTALS
Total Respondents	305,000	Total Burden Hours	66,168

Estimated Burden Hours for 2015 Census Test Maricopa Site (Maricopa County, AZ):

	Estimated Number of Respondents	Estimated Time Per Response	Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours
Maricopa County Sample = 160,000 households
Self Response	90,000	12 minutes	18,000
Non Response Follow-up (NRFU)	70,000	10 minutes	11,667
Subset of Maricopa Sample (Not counted toward total respondents but included in burden hours)
Evaluation Follow-up	5,000	15 minutes	1,250
Focus Groups Selection	144	3 minutes	8
Focus Groups	80	2 hours	160
Additional Bring Your Own Device Sample (Maricopa County) = 5,000 households
BYOD Follow-up	5,000	10 minutes	833
TOTALS
Total Respondents	165,000	Total Burden Hours	31,918

13. Estimate of Cost Burden

Respondents who are contacted by cell phone and/or text message may incur charges depending on their plan with their service provider. The Census Bureau estimates that the total collective cost to respondents across all the test areas will be no more than $20,000. There are no additional costs to respondents other than their time to participate in this data collection.

14. Cost to Federal Government

The cost of this collection is covered under funding for the 2015 Census Test, Research and Testing Program, and is estimated to be $17.9 million.

15. Reason for Change in Burden

The increase in burden is attributable to the information collection being submitted as a new collection.

16. Project Schedule

Milestone		Date
“Notify Me”		February 23, 2015
Pre Registration Advertising Begins		February 23, 2015
Pre Registration Advertising Ends		March 22, 2015
Initial Contact (Letters, Emails, Text Messages)		March 23, 2015
OSR Advertising Begins		March 23, 2015
Census Day		April 1, 2015
Public response period – Internet and CATI		March 23, 2015 through May 31, 2015
Questionnaires mailed to non-respondents		April 15, 2015
Complete self response data collection for 2015 Census Test (Savannah site)		May 31, 2015
OSR Advertising Ends		May 31, 2015
Complete data collection for 2015 Census Test (Maricopa site)		June 26, 2015
Conduct Nonresponse Follow-up		May 14 through June 26, 2015
Conduct Evaluation Follow-up		July 6 through July 25, 2015
Conduct “Bring Your Own Device” Test		June 29 through July 14, 2015

17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

No exemption is requested.

18. Exceptions to the Certification

There are no exceptions to the certification.

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