2010 IL OMB Supporting Statement A.wpd

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Census Bureau

2010 Census Coverage Measurement Independent Listing

OMB Control # 0607-XXXX

A. Justification

1. Necessity of the Information Collection

The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from the Office of Management and Budget to conduct the Census Coverage Measurement (CCM) Independent Listing Operation as part of the 2010 Census. The 2010 CCM Independent Listing Operation will be conducted in the U.S. (excluding remote Alaska) and in Puerto Rico in selected CCM sampled areas. As in the past, the CCM operations and activities will be conducted separate from and independent of the 2010 Census operations.

The 2010 CCM will be comprised of two samples selected to measure census coverage of housing units and the household population: the population sample (P sample) and the enumeration sample (E sample). The primary sampling unit is a block cluster, which consists of one or more contiguous census blocks. The P sample is a sample of housing units and persons obtained independently from the census for a sample of block clusters. The E sample is a sample of census housing units and enumerations in the same block cluster as the P sample. The independent roster of housing units is obtained during the CCM Independent Listing, the results of which will be matched to census housing units in the sample block clusters and surrounding blocks.

The CCM Independent Listing operation was tested during the 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal in San Joaquin County, California and South Central North Carolina consisting of Fayetteville and nine counties surrounding Fayetteville (Chatham, Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Lee, Montgomery, Moore, Richmond, and Scotland). Separate OMB packages will be submitted for subsequent CCM field operations.

Title 13, United States Code, Section 141 authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to conduct a decennial census of the population, and Section 193 authorizes the Secretary to conduct tests to gather supplementary information related to the census.

2. Needs and Uses

CCM will be conducted for the 2010 Census to provide estimates of net coverage error and components of coverage error (omissions and erroneous enumerations) for housing units and persons in housing units (see Definition of Terms) to improve future censuses. The data collection and matching methodologies for previous coverage measurement programs were designed only to measure net coverage error, which reflects the difference between omissions and erroneous inclusions.

The Independent Listing Operation is the first step in the CCM process. It will be conducted to obtain a complete inventory of all housing unit addresses within the CCM sample block clusters before the 2010 Census enumeration commences. In those block clusters throughout the 50 states (excluding remote Alaska), the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, listers will canvass every street, road, or other place where people might live in their assigned block clusters and construct a list of housing units. Listers will contact a member of each housing unit (or proxy, as a last resort) to ensure all units at a given address are identified. They will also identify the location of each housing unit by assigning map spots on block maps provided with their assignment materials.

Completed Independent Listing Books are subject to Dependent Quality Control (DQC) wherein DQC listers return to the field to check 12 housing units per block cluster from a pre-specified random start to ensure that the work performed is of acceptable quality and to verify that the correct blocks were visited. If the block cluster fails the DQC, then the DQC lister reworks the entire block cluster. The completed listing books are keyed for matching against the census Decennial Master Address File for the same areas.

There will be two Independent Listing Forms, D-1302 (see Attachment A) and D-1302 (PR) (see Attachment B). The D-1302 is the English version of the listing form and will be used in CCM sample areas in the 50 states (excluding remote Alaska) and the District of Columbia. The D-1302 (PR) is the Spanish version of the listing form and will be used only in the CCM sample areas in Puerto Rico.

Information quality is an integral part of the pre-dissemination review of data by the Census Bureau (fully described in the Census Bureau’s Information Quality Guidelines located at http://www.census.gov/quality/). Information quality also is 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 automation efforts for the 2010 CCM survey instruments are focused on the CCM Person Interview (PI) and PI Reinterview. Those interviews will be conducted using laptop computers. The Independent Listing interview, however, will user paper questionnaires. Therefore, information technology was not tested in the listing activities for the 2008 Census Dress Rehearsal.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

CCM operations are designed to collect information to evaluate the methods used in the 2010 Census and possibly identify new approaches to more accurately measure and prevent (as possible) coverage error (net and components) for housing units and persons in future censuses. This includes estimates of the number of people and housing units duplicated. This effort does not duplicate information collected by any other agency.

5. Minimizing Burden

The proposed information collection consists of collecting information about housing units, not businesses or group quarters, in the CCM sample blocks.

6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

Improving census coverage is one of the major goals of reengineering the 2010 Decennial Census Program. The Census Bureau will conduct the CCM Independent Listing activities only once in the 2010 Census. If these activities were not conducted, it would adversely affect our ability to measure the coverage of the population in the 2010 Census.

7. Special Circumstances

No special circumstances exist.

8. Consultations Outside the Agency

The Census Bureau has historically conducted research to evaluate results for the decennial census. We benefit from consultation with a variety of data users, including, but not limited to academicians, national researchers, and community leaders. These individuals and members of the National Academy of Science and the Decennial Advisory Committees are well-known scholars and social or political activists, and are respected as spokespersons for their communities and organizations. Both now and in the past, we have responded to advice obtained through this ongoing consultation process.

The Census Bureau published a notice in the Federal Register on July 25, 2008 (Vol.73, Pg. 43406), inviting public comment on our plans to submit this information collection. We received two comments from one writer. The first comment urged that listers be trained to accept proxies only as a last resort, which was already planned to be implemented. The second comment suggested adding an example to the Multiunit Address Page of the Independent Listing Book for labeling apartments in small multi-unit buildings without a unique address designated for each unit. It was decided instead to handle this in the training for the 2010 CCM Independent Listing Operation.

9. Paying Respondents

Respondents participating in this survey will not receive any form of compensation for their participation.

10. Assurances of Confidentiality

This survey complies with the requirements of the Privacy Act of 1974, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and provisions of Title 13, U.S. Code.

The interviewer will give each respondent in the 50 states and the District of Columbia a copy of the Form D-31(CCM-IL), U.S. Confidentiality Notice (see Attachment C); in Puerto Rico the interviewer will give each respondent a copy of the Form D-31(CCM-IL)PR, Puerto Rico Confidentiality Notice (see Attachment D). The Confidentiality Notices explain that any information given to the Census Bureau will be held in strict confidence. It also informs each respondent that participation is mandatory.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

The Census Bureau perceives no questions in the CCM Independent Listing questionnaire as being sensitive.

12. Estimate of Hour Burden

The estimated workload is approximately 950,000 housing units for CCM Independent Listing in selected census blocks in the 50 states and the District of Columbia; and 50,000 housing units for Independent Listing in Puerto Rico. From the Independent Listing workload, we will select a sample of approximately 150,000 housing units from all block clusters in the 50 states and District of Columbia and 6,900 housing units from all block clusters in Puerto Rico for the Independent Listing DQC operation. To calculate the burden hours, we assumed a theoretical 100 percent response rate and an approximate completion time of 2 minutes per case. The estimated total annual respondent burden for the Independent Listing operation is approximately 38,563 hours.

13. Estimate of Cost Burden

There is no cost to respondents, except for the time it takes to respond to the questions.

14. Cost to the Federal Government

The cost incurred by the Census Bureau to conduct the Independent Listing field operation is estimated to be about $13.8 million. An inter-divisional Census Bureau team developed the data collection methodologies. The Census Bureau’s Decennial Management Division allocated the resources for the effective and efficient management of the information.

15. Reason for Change in Burden

This request for clearance pertains to a new data collection effort.

16. Project Schedule

Activity	Schedule
	Start Date	Finish Date
Develop Independent Listing Book Content	03/11/08	06/24/08
Conduct Independent Listing Interviews	08/28/09	12/05/09
Conduct Independent Listing Quality Control Interviews	09/03/09	12/12/09

17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

No exemption is requested.

18. Exceptions to the Certification

There are no exceptions to the certification.

5