Part B_5_21_2020

CE-Addition of stimulus payment questions for the coronavirus pandemic

1220-new

Supporting Statement

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

1. Sampling Method

The coronavirus pandemic stimulus payment questions will be asked in the CEQ survey for the months of June through November. There will be no special or separate sample of respondents that will receive the questions. There is no change from the currently approved collection 1220-0050. For further information please refer to the currently approved ICR for 1220-0050.

2. Collection Methods

The coronavirus pandemic stimulus payment questions will be collected in the same manner as other questions in the CEQ survey.

For the duration of the pandemic, Field representatives (FRs) from the U.S. Census Bureau will no longer personally visit the households in the CEQ’s and CED’s samples to collect the data. In CEQ, all interviews will be conducted by telephone.

Due to restrictions placed on Census Field Representatives during this time, for the CED survey, field representatives will complete the first visit via telephone. During this phone call field representatives introduce themselves, explain the survey, and email or text a link to the two weekly diaries, one for each week of the survey period. If the FR refuses receipt of the Diary by email or text, the field representative will mail the respondent the Diary. The household members are asked to record all their expenditures over the 2-week period in those diaries. Field representatives will call the respondent a total of three times to transcribe the expenditures reported in the diary by telephone.

The number of type A non-interviews is expected to increase as approximately 10 percent of new cases will not have a telephone number provided to FRs and will therefore be unreachable. In CEQ, new cases conducted from mid-March through the end of December will be unreachable resulting in an additional 4% of Type A cases. In CED, an additional 8% of cases will result in a Type A non-interview due to FRs being unable to reach respondents without phone numbers. (Ten percent x number of months impacted.)

	CEQ	CED
Category	2020	2020
Total Sample Size (addresses)	51,500	17,800
Type B and C Noninterviews (vacant, demolished, etc.)
Number	8,755	3,026
Percent of Total Sample	17	17
Eligible Units (occupied housing units)
Number	42,745	14,774
Percent of Total Sample	83	83
Type A Noninterviews
Number	20,945	7,978
Percent of Eligible Units	49	54
Completed Interviews
Number	21,800	6,796
Percent of Eligible Units (Response Rate)	51	46

3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates

There is no change from the currently approved collection 1220-0050, see the currently approved ICR for further information.

4. Testing Plans

Due to timing constraints, we were unable to conduct formal testing of the coronavirus pandemic stimulus payment questions. However, the questions have been reviewed by both BLS survey methodologists and Census Bureau staff who are experts in the field of questionnaire design. The process for expert review in lieu of in-field expert review was approved by the Methodology and Standards Council at the Census Bureau.

5. Statistical Contacts

There is no change from the currently approved collection 1220-0050, please refer to the current ICR for contact information.

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