Public Police Contact Survey Plan

The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). We will be conducting cognitive research on the Public Police Contact Survey, sponsored by the Department of Justice.

Changes to the questionnaire include reorganization of the content to: 1) ask about a wide variety of contacts with the police in the form of a screener at the beginning of the questionnaire; 2) ask separately about traffic stops and street stops; and 3) add questions about the length of stops, whether reasons were given by police for stops, estimated length of time for stops, and if complaints were filed against the police, who they were filed with. A copy of the draft questionnaire with protocol probes is enclosed.

From November 2010 through January 2011, staff from the Center for Survey Measurement will conduct approximately 30 cognitive interviews. In our recruiting efforts we will be targeting people who have had face-to-face contact with the police within the past 12 months. Respondents will be recruited through advertisements in local newspapers, people who are currently in our respondent database, and personal networks. Interviews will be conducted at the Census Bureau’s Response Research Laboratory and at locations convenient to interviewees. The interviews will be conducted in the local metropolitan area (DC, Maryland, Virginia).

We will be conducting our cognitive interviews using the concurrent think-aloud method. We will audio-tape the interviews to facilitate analysis of the results. We will inform participants that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential and will be seen only by employees involved in the research project. Participants will receive $40 for their participation in this research.

We estimate that these interviews will take approximately one hour. Thus, the total estimated burden for this research is 30 hours.

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

Terry DeMaio

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 5K319

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-4894

[email protected]

Rachel Freidus

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 5K022D

Washington, DC. 20233

(301) 763-6763

[email protected]