2010 IHUFU OMB Supporting Statement A.wpd

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Census Bureau

2010 Census Coverage Measurement Initial Housing Unit Followup

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) Initial Housing Unit Followup Operation as part of the 2010 Census. The 2010 CCM Initial Housing Unit Followup 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 independent of and not influence 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 in CCM block clusters obtained independently from the census. 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. Discrepancies between the CCM Independent Listing and census housing unit matching are followed up in Initial Housing Unit Followup. A separate OMB package was submitted for the CCM Independent Listing operation, and additional OMB packages will be submitted for subsequent CCM field operations.

The Initial Housing Unit Followup was dropped from the Dress Rehearsal due to budget cuts. Instead, a 2008 Initial Housing Unit Followup Operational Test was conducted in the Dress Rehearsal sites, 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).

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 (for omissions and erroneous enumerations) for housing units and persons in housing units (see Definition of Terms in Part B) to improve future censuses. The data collection and matching methodologies for previous coverage measurement programs were designed only to measure net coverage error, which measures the net difference between omissions and erroneous inclusions. In 2010, the CCM will classify omissions and erroneous census enumerations according to several classifications.

During CCM Initial Housing Unit Followup, interviewers collect additional information for addresses unresolved after matching operations. The CCM Initial Housing Unit Followup operation attempts to collect additional information that might allow a resolution of match/ nonmatched codes for addresses in the CCM Independent Listing and the census address list, including whether occupied or vacant, and also to resolve potential duplicates. This operation will also determine the housing unit/group quarters status for living quarters flagged during the CCM Independent Listing operation. The Initial Housing Unit Followup data collection form will be created via DocuPrint technology. The questions included for each followup case will vary depending upon the reason the address is being sent to followup.

There will be two Initial Housing Unit Followup Forms, D-1303 (see Attachment A) and D-1303 (PR) (see Attachment B). The D-1303 is the English version of the form. It contains preprinted questions to ask respondents, depending upon the reason the address is being sent to followup. It will be used in CCM sample areas in the 50 states (excluding remote Alaska) and the District of Columbia. The D-1303 (PR) is the Spanish version of the form, and will be used only in the CCM sample areas in Puerto Rico. Interviewers will contact a member of each housing unit (or proxy, as a last resort) to answer the questions identified for a given address. When applicable, they will also update the location of an address on the CCM block cluster map created during the CCM Independent Listing operation.

Completed Initial Housing Unit Followup Forms are subject to Quality Control (QC) wherein QC interviewers return to the field to check a sample of housing units in each block cluster to ensure the work performed is of acceptable quality. If the cluster fails the QC, then the QC interviewer reworks the entire block cluster.

There will be two Initial Housing Unit Followup Quality Control Forms, D-1380 (see Attachment C) and D-1380 (PR) (see Attachment D). The D-1380 is the English version of the form. It contains the identifiable information of the Initial Housing Unit Followup housing units to be checked for acceptable quality. The QC interviewer will use this form and the D-1303 following the same procedures the production interviewer used to conduct the QC. The D-1380 (PR) is the Spanish version of the 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 Initial Housing Unit Followup interview, however, will use paper questionnaires. Therefore, information technology was not tested in the Initial Housing Unit Followup 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 to 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 other agencies.

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 Initial Housing Unit Followup activities only once in the 2010 Census. If these activities are 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 academics, 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 January 23, 2009 (Vol.74, Pg. 4135), inviting public comments on our plans to submit this information collection. We received one comment urging the Census Bureau to include an unlabeled unit as a reason for a mismatch between the census and CCM address listings on the D-1303, as unlabeled units within multiunits may cause a mismatch. In addition, it recommended that, in training, we stress looking for such apartments, in order to ensure that the quality of the information to be collected in follow-up and coverage evaluation activities is not compromised. This was already planned for the 2010 CCM, as interviewers are asked to list the individual units in question (L) of the D-1303, and are trained to resolve units being followed up.

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-IHUFU), U.S. Confidentiality Notice (see Attachment E); in Puerto Rico the interviewer will give each respondent a copy of the Form D-31(CCM-IHUFU)PR, Puerto Rico Confidentiality Notice (see Attachment F). The Confidentiality Notice explains 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 Initial Housing Unit Followup Questionnaire as being sensitive.

12. Estimate of Hour Burden

The estimated workload is approximately 380,000 housing units for CCM Initial Housing Unit Followup in selected census blocks in the 50 states and the District of Columbia; and 20,000 housing units for Initial Housing Unit Followup in Puerto Rico. From the Initial Housing Unit Followup workload, we will select a sample of approximately 38,000 housing units from all block clusters in the 50 states and District of Columbia, and 2,000 housing units from all block clusters in Puerto Rico for the Initial Housing Unit Followup QC operation. To calculate the burden hours, we assumed a theoretical 100 percent response rate and an approximate completion time of three minutes per case. The estimated total annual respondent burden for the Initial Housing Unit Followup operation is approximately 22,000 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 Initial Housing Unit Followup field operation is estimated to be about $15.7 million. An interdivisional 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 Initial Housing Unit Followup Form Content	07/23/08	11/07/08
Conduct Initial Housing Unit Followup Interviews	03/04/10	04/23/10
Conduct Initial Housing Unit Followup Quality Control Interviews	03/11/10	04/30/10

17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

No exemption is requested.

18. Exceptions to the Certification

There are no exceptions to the certification.

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