New Agriculture Industry Groups Protocol

2022 EC Content Debriefing Evaluation

[New Agriculture Sectors only]

Draft Protocol

1. Introduction

Thank you for your time today. My name is XX and I work for the United States Census Bureau. My research team evaluates how easy or difficult Census products are to use. Your feedback helps us to improve the Economic Census and to make sure it makes sense to respondents like you. If it worked well, great. If not, we have an opportunity to fix it

Thank you for signing the Consent form prior to your session. It explains the purpose of today’s session and your rights as a participant. It also informs you that we would like to record the session to get an accurate record of your feedback. Only those of us connected with the project will review the recording and it will be used solely for research purposes. We plan to use your feedback to improve the Economic Census and make sure it makes sense to respondents like you. If it is ok, I would like to start recording now. [start CAMTASIA screen recording]

Thank you.

Today, you will be helping us to evaluate the 2022 Economic Census that you recently submitted.

Do you have any questions before we begin? Ok let’s get started.

2. Participant Background

• First, can you tell me a little about your company -- What goods or services does your company provide? How is it organized?

• What is your title/role?

3. General Probes (Use these whenever necessary)

• Can you tell me what you are thinking about?

• Can you tell me more about that?

• Reflect back on R’s answer (“I want to make sure I have it right. I think you said, “…?”)

4. Economic Census Survey Background

• What was your role completing the Economic Census? Were others involved in helping gather the data? [If yes] What are their positions and which data did they provide?

• In general, what was your experience completing the Economic Census this year?

• Was this the first year your company has received the Economic Census?

Now I would like to ask you to click on the link that was provided. We will review some questions from the Economic Census and discuss how you answered them.

Definition of Establishment/Domestic Reporting Unit 

Mailing address, Physical Location, For Census Bureau Use Only, Legal Boundary and

Municipality 

Question 1: Employer Identification Number 

Question 2: Ownership and Control (Single units only) 

Question 3: Operational Status & Months in Operation   

Question 4: Primary Business or Activity

Question 5: Sales, Shipments, Receipts, or Revenue 

Question 7: Employment and Payroll 

Question 26: Business Cooperative (SUs only – MUs on the Ownership/Control form) 

Question 28: SI - Revenue – Primary Products or Services

Question 31: Remarks 

Question 32: Number of Establishments 

Question 34: Certification  

• Looking over these questions, were there any that you found confusing or difficult to answer? [If Yes] Can you say more about that?

• For Question 4, Primary Business or Activity for this establishment, how did you go about answering this question?

5. Overall reactions

Now I have some general questions about your overall experience completing the Economic Census.

• What would you say motivated you to complete the Economic Census?

• What did you think of the mailings/emails you received about the Economic Census?

• Did you have any issues with responding to the Census?

• Overall, how easy or difficult would you say the Economic Census was for you to complete (very easy, somewhat easy, neither easy nor difficult, somewhat difficult or very difficult)? [If somewhat difficult or very difficult] Can you say more about that?

• How would you rate the usability of the Economic Census electronic instrument (very usable, somewhat usable, not very usable)? [If somewhat usable or not very usable] Can you say more about that?

• Do you have any suggestions for improving the Economic Census electronic instrument?

• Did you use a spreadsheet to respond to the Economic Census? [If yes] How did that work for you? Do you have any suggestions for improving the spreadsheet for the Economic Census?

Wrap-up

• Do you have any final recommendations or comments on anything we went over today?

This concludes our meeting. Thank you for your time and valuable feedback.

3