2020 HUFU OMB Supporting Statement A_v2

Department of Commerce

United States Census Bureau

OMB Information Collection Request

2020 Census Post-Enumeration Survey Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up Operations

OMB Control Number 0607-XXXX

A. Justification

1. Necessity of the Information Collection

The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct the Post-Enumeration Survey (PES) Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up (HUFU) operations as part of the 2020 Census. The 2020 PES Initial and Final HUFU operations will be conducted in the U.S. (excluding remote Alaska) and in Puerto Rico (PR) in selected PES sampled areas. Group quarters are out of scope. As in the past, including the 2010 Census Coverage Measurement (CCM) program, the PES operations and activities will be conducted separate from and independent of the 2020 Census operations.

The 2020 PES will use the dual-system estimation procedure, which depends on two independent systems of measurement. The independence between the PES and census operations is a fundamental necessity for dual-system estimation. The PES will comprise two independent enumerations of housing units and the household population within the same sample areas. These two enumerations are called the enumeration sample (E sample) and the population sample (P sample). The primary sampling unit is the Basic Collection Unit (BCU), which is the smallest unit of collection geography for 2020 Census operations. The E sample contains the list of housing units and people enumerated in the 2020 Census within a sample of BCUs. The P sample contains housing units and people in the sample set of sample BCUs, but obtained independently from the census. The independent roster of housing units is obtained during the PES Independent Listing, while the independent roster of people is obtained during the PES Person Interview. The P sample housing units and people will be matched to all census housing units in the sample BCUs and surrounding BCUs.

During the Independent Listing operation, listers will canvass every street, road, or other place where people might live in their assigned BCUs and construct a list of housing units from scratch. Following the completion of listing for each BCU, the addresses are computer and clerically matched in the Initial Housing Unit Matching operation. Addresses that remain unmatched or have unresolved address status after matching will be sent to the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up operation, during which listers will use paper questionnaires to collect additional information that might allow a resolution of any differences between the Independent Listing and the preliminary census address list results. Matching to a preliminary census file of housing units allows the PES to conduct person interviews close to Census Day (April 1, 2020), rather than waiting until the final census list is available. In the Final Housing Unit Matching operation, addresses collected in the Independent Listing operation are matched to the final census list of housing units. The Initial Housing Unit Follow-up field operation seeks to answer questions needed to resolve the match or enumeration status of addresses identified in the Initial Housing Unit matching operation (where the addresses are matched to the preliminary census file), while the Final Housing Unit Follow-up field operation seeks to answer similar questions identified in the Final Housing Unit matching operation (where the addresses are matched to the final census file). A separate OMB package was submitted for the PES Independent Listing operation, and an additional OMB package will be submitted for subsequent PES field operations.

The Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up operations will have separate quality control operations. The Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control will contain approximately 15 percent of the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up workload. The Final Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control will contain approximately 15 percent of the Final Housing Unit Follow-up workload. These operations are implemented to ensure that the work performed is of acceptable quality.

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

The PES will be conducted for the 2020 Census to provide estimates of net coverage and components of coverage (correct enumerations, erroneous enumerations, imputations, and omissions) for housing units (HUs) and people in HUs. These estimates will measure the coverage of the 2020 Census and may be used to improve future censuses. This is similar to methodologies of the 2010 CCM program. Prior to that, Coverage Measurement programs were designed only to measure net coverage.

During the PES Initial and Final HUFU operations, listers collect additional information for addresses unresolved after matching operations. Group quarters will be excluded. The PES Initial and Final HUFU operations attempt to collect additional information that might allow a resolution of match and status codes for addresses in the PES Independent Listing and the census address lists, including whether occupied or vacant, and also to resolve potential duplicates. The questions included for each follow-up case will vary depending upon the reason the address is being sent to follow-up.

The Initial HUFU collects information needed to resolve the match and status codes for units in the Independent listing results and the initial census housing unit lists (as of January 2020). However, during the 2020 Census operations, new housing units are added to the census list and some out-of-scope addresses are removed. The Final HUFU operation collects information on the housing units that had changes during the census and do not have complete match or status codes.

There are two Initial Housing Unit Follow-up questionnaires, D-1303 and D-1303 (PR), and two Final Housing Unit Follow-up questionnaires, D-1340 and D-1340 (PR). The D-1303 and D-1340 are the English versions of the questionnaire. These paper questionnaires contain preprinted questions to ask respondents, depending on the reason the address is being sent to follow-up. They will be used in PES sample areas in the 50 states (excluding remote Alaska) and the District of Columbia. The D-1303 (PR) and D-1340 (PR) are the Spanish versions of the questionnaires and will be used only in the PES sample areas in Puerto Rico. Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up listers are expected to knock on every door that requires additional information over several spaced visits in their assigned BCUs to try to find a resident or proxy to ask about the units. When applicable, listers will also update the location of an address on the PES BCU map created during the PES Independent Listing operation.

A sample of each BCU will be subject to a quality control (QC) operation wherein QC listers return to the field to check units to ensure the work performed is of acceptable quality and to verify that the correct housing units were visited. If the BCU fails the QC, then the QC lister works the entire BCU.

There will be two Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control Forms, D-1380 and D-1380 (PR) and two Final Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control Forms, D-1325 and D-1325 (PR). The D-1380 and D-1335 are the English versions of the form. The forms contain the identifiable information of the Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up HUs to be checked for acceptable quality. The QC lister will use these forms and the D-1303 and D-1340 following the same procedures the production lister used to conduct the QC. The D-1380 (PR) and D-1325 (PR) are the Spanish versions of the form and will be used only in the PES sample areas in Puerto Rico.

Information quality is an integral part of the 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 2020 PES are focused on the PES Independent Listing and Person Interview operations. The Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up interviews, however, will use paper questionnaires.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

This effort does not duplicate information collected by any other agency. By design, the data collection is duplicated between the census and the PES. The results are used to measure the coverage of the census, which is the purpose of the PES.

5. Minimizing Burden

The proposed information collection consists of collecting information about HUs, not businesses or group quarters, in the PES sample BCUs. Respondents will be asked the minimum number of questions needed to resolve the cases selected for the Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up operations.

6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

The Census Bureau will conduct the PES Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up activities only once in the 2020 Census. If these activities are not conducted, it would adversely affect our ability to measure the coverage of the 2020 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 academicians, national researchers, and community leaders. These individuals and members of the National Academy of Science and the Census Advisory Committees are well-known scholars and social or political activists, and are respected as spokespeople 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 April 17, 2019 (Vol.84, Pg. 16000), inviting public comments on our plans to submit this information collection. We received comments from two writers. The first commenter, from the City of New York Department of City Planning, urged that listers be trained to accept proxies only as a last resort. The listers will collect data first by interview and then by observation at the housing unit. Proxy interviews may be obtained if a lister is unable to conduct an interview at the housing unit after multiple attempts. Note that the purpose of the Initial and Final HUFU operations is to obtain additional information to resolve differences between the IL and the 2020 Census, not to add housing units and potential housing units to the PES list.

The second commenter, from the Beeck Center and the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, included the following two recommendations:

1. Recruit listers from local communities, including immigrants who may live in those communities.

Recruiting local community members is a good idea. We have done this in past censuses and plan to do something similar for 2020.

2. Fully inform participants of the Census Bureau’s confidentiality protections.

A copy of the confidentiality notice that is given to every respondent will be included in the 2020 Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up full package.

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 lister will give each respondent in the 50 states and the District of Columbia a copy of the Form D-31(PES-IHUFU), U.S. Confidentiality Notice; in Puerto Rico the lister will give each respondent a copy of the Form D-31(PES-IHUFU)PR, Puerto Rico Confidentiality Notice. The Confidentiality Notices explain 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 PES Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up questionnaire as being sensitive.

12. Estimate of Hour Burden

The estimated workload is approximately 172,000 HUs for PES Initial Housing Unit Follow-up in selected BCUs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia; and 8,000 HUs for Initial Housing Unit Follow-up in Puerto Rico. From the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up workload, we will select a sample of approximately 25,800 HUs from all BCUs in the 50 states and District of Columbia, and 1,200 HUs from all BCUs in Puerto Rico for the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up QC operation. To calculate the burden hours, we assumed a theoretical 100 percent response rate and an approximate completion time of five minutes per case. The estimated total annual respondent burden for the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up operation is approximately 17,250 hours.

The estimated workload is approximately 6,000 HUs for PES Final Housing Unit Follow-up in selected BCUs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia; and 2,000 HUs for Final Housing Unit Follow-up in Puerto Rico. From the Final Housing Unit Follow-up workload, we will select a sample of approximately 900 HUs from all BCUs in the 50 states and District of Columbia, and 300 HUs from all BCUs in Puerto Rico for the Final Housing Unit Follow-up QC operation. To calculate the burden hours, we assumed a theoretical 100 percent response rate and an approximate completion time of five minutes per case. The estimated total annual respondent burden for the Final Housing Unit Follow-up operation is approximately 767 hours.

2020 Census
Operation	Estimated Number of Respondents	Estimated Time per Response (in minutes)	Total Burden Hours
Initial Housing Unit Follow-up (Stateside)	172,000	5	14,333
Initial Housing Unit Follow-up (PR)	8,000	5	667
Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control (Stateside)	25,800	5	2,150
Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control (PR)	1,200	5	100
Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Subtotal	207,000		17,250
Final Housing Unit Follow-up (Stateside)	6,000	5	500
Final Housing Unit Follow-up (PR)	2,000	5	167
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control (Stateside)	900	5	75
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control (PR)	300	5	25
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Subtotal	9,200		767
Totals	216,200		18,017

13. Estimate of Cost Burden

There are no cost to respondents other than their time to participate in this data collection.

14. Cost to the Federal Government

The total cost to the government for this program is estimated to be $12.5 million. An interdivisional Census Bureau team developed the data collection methodologies. The Census Bureau’s Decennial Census 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 new data collection efforts.

16. Project Schedule

Activity	Schedule
	Start Date	Finish Date
Conduct Initial Housing Unit Follow-up	05/06/20	06/12/20
Conduct Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control	05/13/20	06/19/20
Conduct Final Housing Unit Follow-up	05/19/21	06/11/21
Conduct Final Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control	05/26/21	06/18/21

17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

No exemption is requested.

18. Exceptions to the Certification

There are no exceptions to the certification.