The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). The objective of this research is to conduct cognitive testing of the reinterview questionnaire that will be used to evaluate the experimental Hispanic origin and race questions that will be field tested during the 2010 Census. This testing is a part of the Census Program Evaluations and Experiments (CPEX) program for the 2010 Census. The reinterview will be a telephone survey that will be conducted to measure “true” race and origin for respondents from each of the experimental race and origin panels as well as a control panel. The reinterview data will be compared to the experimental questionnaire data as one measure of the accuracy of each experimental panel.
Between May and August 2009, staff from the Statistical Research Division, Population Division, and Decennial Statistical Studies Division will conduct a maximum of 40 interviews among English-speaking respondents and 10 among Spanish-speaking respondents. The English-speaking respondents will reflect diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds (Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, American Indian/Alaska Natives, and Asian/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders). To the maximum extent possible, within these specific criteria we will attempt to interview respondents of varying ages, genders and educational levels.
We will use a multi-pronged strategy to recruit the respondents needed from each racial/ethnic group, such as posting ads in free local newspapers, contacting local associations, and by word of mouth. Respondents will be screened so that the required number of respondents from each group is interviewed.
Interviews will be conducted in-person (not over the telephone) using the retrospective think-aloud method and a team-interviewing approach. One interviewer will administer the reinterview questionnaire, and a second person will take notes during the interview for later use. A copy of the reinterview questionnaire administered by the first interviewer is attached. After each respondent completes the reinterview, the second interviewer will use his/her notes as the basis for administering qualitative semi-scripted debriefing questions to understand more about the respondent’s particular situation as well as information about they have in the past reported their race or origin. Attached is a protocol including the types of questions that will be used during the debriefing, although the individual questions will vary depending on how the reinterview questions are answered. The interviews will be conducted in the Washington DC metropolitan area at the Census Bureau’s cognitive laboratory, offices of community associations, and locations convenient to respondents.
Cognitive interviews will be tape-recorded, with the participants' permission, to facilitate summary of the results. All participants will be informed that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential. Respondents will receive $40 for their participation.
The estimated time for completion of each of the cognitive interviews is an hour. Thus, the estimated burden for this research is 50 hours.
The contact person for questions regarding data collection and study design is:
Jennifer Hunter Childs
Center for Survey Methods Research
Statistical Research Division
U.S. Census Bureau
Room 5K112F
Washington, D.C. 20233
(301) 763-4927
| File Type | application/octet-stream |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 0000-00-00 |