Explanation & Justification for Census Response Barrier Focus Groups

The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). As was done prior to Census 2000, we plan to conduct focus groups to identify new issues (e.g., increased privacy concerns), to understand the relative importance of various obstacles to responding, and to begin to identify messages needed to persuade a reluctant or disinterested populace. The focus groups are a very early yet essential stage of a long-term, comprehensive research effort which ultimately seeks to improve 2010 Census response through an effective public communications program.

In Fall 2006, qualitative research was conducted in order to assess issues related to responding to the census (this research was submitted to OMB in a letter dated October 10, 2006). A consistent finding from that research was that interest in Census participation increased once respondents were informed of the social, economic, and community benefits derived from Census data. This was generally a greater motivator than other messaging strategies such as civic duty, political representation, and patriotism. Findings and conclusions from this research were incorporated as part of the overall strategic direction planned for the 2010 campaign.

The current request seeks approval to present to participants preliminarily developed strategic and creative ideas designed to help address and overcome the identified issues. This research is needed to ensure that those ideas resonate effectively across a broad array of target audiences as well as to learn whether and how to further tailor the messages.

Research will be conducted in two phases over the next three to four months. The first phase will take place in November-December 2007 for the purpose of disclosing and building on the benefits messaging strategy that is being developed for the 2010 Census integrated communications campaign. This research will explore articulation around the benefits strategy and secondary messages among groups not included in the prior research.

The second phase will take place beginning in January 2008 after creative ideas have been developed. The purpose of this research is to provide guidance in secondary messages and upcoming creative development, specifically to test alternative creative ideas and platform strategies including taglines and icons. The research will help ensure that the creative platform is culturally sensitive and meaningful to the intended audiences.

In total, the two phases of qualitative research detailed above consist of 62 focus groups*. In each phase, organizations under contract to the Census Bureau will conduct two groups among each of the populations listed below. Phase I Groups will consist of approximately 10-12 paid individuals, each lasting approximately 2 hours. Phase II groups will also last two hours but will include 6-8 individuals to allow more time for discussion about creative ideas.

Phase I

Target Audiences:

The current proposed research for Phase I will focus on those groups not covered in the prior research. Audiences will include:

• All Around Average (homeowner skewed)

• single/unattached/mobiles

• Suburban African American

• American Indian/Alaska Native (urban)

• Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

Phase II

Target Audiences:

Audiences covered in this phase of research which will include some of the smaller, multicultural targets, including:

• African American

  • South/Gulf Coast area,

  • young 18-24 year old males

  • diverse African American

• Arab American

• Asian (6-8 specific subpopulations to be determined – some in-language)

• African immigrants

• Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander

• Hispanic (broad cross-sections, 6-8 groups to be determined)

• Puerto Rico and Pacific Island areas

• American Indian/Alaska Natives

• Eastern European

• Diverse America

(*) this represents the maximum number of groups proposed. Fewer groups may be carried out due to budget and time constraints.

Focus group participants will be recruited by the separate research contractors, and selected based on factors known (or presumed) to be associated with low likelihood of response to the census – e.g., low education, low income, renters, linguistic isolation, recent immigration, tenuous living arrangements, etc. We plan to pay participants a minimum $70. Meeting these challenging recruitment goals will require special recruitment tactics, including incentive payments of up to $100 in some circumstances – e.g., for population sub-groups whose numbers are small or who are otherwise difficult to reach, and in areas where the cost-of-living is particularly high. In such circumstances, experience has shown that without substantial incentive payments, the recruitment process is rendered much more time-consuming and inefficient (and thus more costly), and the likelihood of “no-shows” greatly increases. Recruitment will take place through a variety of methods, possibly including some formal advertising, but will

rely primarily on word-of-mouth contact through known and trusted local organizations and community leaders.

All participants will be informed that their participation is voluntary, and that their thoughts and opinions will not be revealed in an individually-identifiable manner to anyone outside of the research organization conducting the research and Census Bureau staff involved in the project.

The focus groups will be conducted throughout the United States (suburban, urban, and rural areas). As with the prior focus groups, Advisory Committee members will be invited to observe.

Moderators will have a strong record of experience and expertise in conducting focus groups, and, for groups conducted in a language other than English, will also be fluent in that language. With the permission of the participants, all focus group sessions will be open to observation by Census Bureau staff, and audio recorded to facilitate analysis of the results (some of the Phase II groups may also be video recorded).

As noted above, we plan to conduct a total of 62 groups. The first 10 groups will have 10-12 participants each and we estimate that each group will last approximately two hours. The Phase II groups will total 52 with 6-8 participants each also lasting approximately two hours. Thus, the total estimated burden for this research is 1,072 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding the design of this research as follows:

Nancy Bates

Census 2010 Publicity Office

Bureau of the Census

Washington, DC 20233

(301) 763-5248

[email protected]