OMB Memo

2030 Decennial Uses of Administrative Data Cognitive Interviews

Submitted Under Generic Clearance for Questionnaire Pretesting Research

Request: The Census Bureau’s Center for Behavioral Science Methods (CBSM) plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for Questionnaire Pretesting Research (OMB #0607-0725). We plan to conduct 20 cognitive interviews to test a questionnaire designed to assess public attitudes and opinions related to the proposed uses of administrative data for the 2030 Census. Results from this study will be used to develop a questionnaire for a national survey data collection for quantitative data to further inform stakeholder decisions about uses of administrative data, potential public response to those uses, and messaging and communication strategies about proposed changes to decennial operations. We conducted 10 in-person focus groups under this same generic clearance to inform the development of the questionnaire.

Purpose: The United States Census Bureau (USCB) used administrative records in the 2020 Census to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of operations and reduce respondent burden. The USCB has continued research into additional uses of administrative records for the 2030 Decennial Census. Preliminary early decade proposals for uses of administrative data include the following research ideas:

• Reducing invitations to respond for those who have good administrative data

• Using alternative data sources to determine occupancy status

• Using administrative data to correct, revise, or supplement self-response data (e.g., addresses, characteristics, household counts)

• Using administrative data to tailor contact strategies to different groups

This request is to conduct cognitive interviews to test a questionnaire designed to assess public perceptions and opinions around these proposed uses of administrative data for improving the operation of the 2030 Census. To accomplish this, RTI International (RTI) will partner with Research Support Services (RSS) to recruit participants for 20 virtual cognitive interviews.

Population of Interest: A convenience sample of adult residents of the United States will be recruited to participate in the interviews. Specific focus will be placed on the following recruitment criteria: respondents with good administrative records (such as homeowners); respondents with lower quality administrative records (such as renters who moved frequently), respondents more likely to respond to an interviewer, and respondents living in complex households. We will develop an online eligibility survey to include screening questions to gather information from prospective participants to determine their eligibility.

Timeline: We intend to conduct these interviews between February and April 2024.

Sample: This research will use a convenience, opt-in sample of US adults. We will recruit participants who align with the demographic targets that are associated with administrative record quality.

Cognitive Interview Administration: All 20 interviews will take place virtually using Census Bureau’s Microsoft Teams. The interview protocol is attached here as Attachment 1.

Screening questionnaire: The screening instrument will take respondents 5 minutes or less to complete (see Attachment 2: CO13 Recruitment Screener). These questions will be used to ascertain eligibility.

Recruitment: To seek a diverse pool of participants, RTI will recruit participants using several approaches. We will recruit participants from community organizations, Facebook ads and posts, Craigslist ads, flyers and using respondent driven sampling. Recruitment materials can be found in Attachments 3 and 4. (CO13 Recruitment Online Ad Templates and Flyer, CO13 Interview Recruitment Email Templates, respectively).

Informed Consent: Participants who participate in the cognitive interviews will provide informed consent and will sign the consent form before the discussion begins. The informed consent form can be found in Attachment 5: CO13 Consent Form.

Incentive: For completion of the virtual interview, participants will be provided an incentive of $40 electronic gift cards.

Length of Screening and Discussion: Participants who respond to recruitment ads will be routed to an online eligibility survey in Qualtrics to determine eligibility and fit with the recruitment profile of groups. We anticipate screening up to 100 people to achieve 20 eligible and available participants for cognitive interviews.

We estimate 20 participants to complete the 60-minute qualitative interviews for a total of 20 hours. The total estimated burden of this research is 195 hours.

Table 1. Total Estimated Burden

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Screening instrument	100	3 minutes	5 hours
Qualitative interview	20	60 minutes	20 hours
Survey respondent totals			25 hours

The following documents are included as attachments:

Attachment 1	CO13 Cognitive interview protocol
Attachment 2	CO13 Recruitment Screener
Attachment 3	CO13 Recruitment Online Ad Templates and Flyer
Attachment 4	CO13 Interview Recruitment Email Templates
Attachment 5	CO13 Consent Form

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

Aleia Clark Fobia

Center for Behavioral Science Methods

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, D.C. 20233

(202) 893-4091

aleia.yvonne.clark.fobia@census.gov

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