Summary of Changes

Summary of 2015 to 2017 Overseas Citizen Population Survey Changes

Survey Instrument

• Renamed Overseas Citizen Population Survey

• Though the length, expected burden, and topics have not substantially changed, the 2017 OCPS has substantively changed questions from the 2015 OCPS. These primarily include:

  • Removing computer and cell phone usage questions.

  • Removing questions about State websites.

  • Removing questions about sources of candidate/election issue information.

  • Removing questions about previous years’ voting experience.

  • Adding social media usage questions.

  • Adding absentee voting process questions related to requesting, receiving, and returning a ballot.

  • Adding U.S. citizen social connection questions

  • Adding questions concerning elections for which the individual was outside the U.S./non-host country/non-U.S. address.

Sampling

• 2017 OCPS will sample the same number of respondents (45,000), using nearly the same frame and sampling methodology.

  • Sampling frame will be substantially larger than 2015 OCPS due to it being a Presidential year and improve jurisdictional coverage.

  • Sampling will make minor changes to strata variables to adjust for lessons learned in 2015 OCPS, the absence of a pilot sample, and to ensure appropriate power for treatment survey.

Communications

• 2017 OCPS will use the same communication design as the 2015 OCPS, expect 1) it will have no paper questionnaire sent on the third mailing, 2) will send a flat file print mailing similar to the size of the paper questionnaire on the third mailing to approximately 10% of the sample, and 3) will send 3 postcard reminders instead of 1.

Treatments/Experiments

• In the 2015 pilot, there was a non-monetary incentive treatment. 2017 OCPS will have no incentive.

• 2017 OCPS will use a treatment survey on 10% of the sample where they receive 5 alternate absentee voting process questions based on the 2016 PEVS-ADM. The experiment will test the item reliability of these voting questions but there is no expected increased burden to these questions.

Administration

• 2017 OCPS will be a web only survey with some push-to-web communications. 2015 OCPS was a mixed-mode web and paper survey.

• Fielding time will move from September 2015-December 2015, to a similar three month total fielding window of around May 2017-August 2017.