ACS NSC CAPI and Spanish Materials November 2022

Request for Non-substantive Change to the
American Community Survey
Revisions to the Housing Unit Spanish Mailing Packages and
Revisions to Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing Respondent Materials
OMB Control No. 0607-0810
U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Census Bureau
Purpose
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing monthly survey that collects detailed
housing and socioeconomic data from a sample of about 3.5 million addresses in the United
States and about 36,000 addresses in Puerto Rico each year. The ACS also collects detailed
socioeconomic data from a sample of about 170,000 residents living in group quarters (GQ)
facilities in the United States and Puerto Rico where it is known as the Puerto Rico Community
Survey (PRCS). Resulting tabulations from this data collection are provided on a yearly basis.
The ACS allows the U.S. Census Bureau to provide timely and relevant housing and
socioeconomic statistics, even for low levels of geography.
The current ACS information collection was approved on June 6, 2022, for three years, with an
expiration date of June 30, 2025. This non-substantive change request is to revise the ACS
Housing Unit Spanish mailing methodology for stateside respondents and to update four
Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) respondent materials including (1) a newly
designed brochure to specifically garner response from the Native American Tribal Lands
community, (2) a new informational flyer specifically designed to be printed on demand for
field representatives when regional offices run out of the ACS-50 Housing Unit (HU)
Introductory Brochure, (3) re-designed ACS-51 Q&A Brochure in both English and Spanish that
is used to convince reluctant respondents to complete the interview, and (4) re-designed Thank
You letters in both English and Spanish that are sent to respondents who completed the CAPI
interview. These changes are scheduled to begin in January 2023.

Revisions to the Housing Unit Spanish Mailing Packages
Background:
The ACS is requesting to revise the ACS Housing Unit (HU) Spanish mailing methodology for
stateside respondents beginning in January 2023. The ACS plans to implement these changes to
establish a consistent mail methodology for stateside English-language and stateside Spanishlanguage respondents. The consistent methodology will better address respondent requests,
encourage internet self-response, and gain public cooperation.
Currently, the ACS Stateside self-response mailing strategy sends up to five English mailings to
mailable sample housing unit addresses in each panel. All mailable sample addresses are sent
the first two mailings: an initial letter and a reminder letter. A paper questionnaire package and
reminder postcard are sent to sample addresses when there is no response about three weeks
after the initial mailing. Households that have not responded are sent another letter with a due
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date the following month. The Telephone Questionnaire Assistance (TQA) phone number is
provided in each English mailing for respondents to call and ask questions about responding.
Respondents may also call TQA to request mail materials in Spanish instead of English
materials. An address can receive up to two Spanish Paper Questionnaire packages depending
on when the respondent submitted their request. The Spanish Paper Questionnaire package
contain largely the same materials as the English package: a paper questionnaire, follow-up
letter, FAQ brochure, and postage paid return envelope. The address will receive all subsequent
mailings in Spanish.
The ACS is requesting to apply the English mailout methodology to Stateside Spanish addresses.
If materials in Spanish are requested prior to the English paper questionnaire packaged being
mailed, the ACS is planning to replace the Spanish Paper Questionnaire package with a letter in
Spanish (Appendix A). The Spanish letter will introduce the respondent to the ACS and include a
user identification number with instructions to complete the survey online. It will state that a
paper questionnaire will be sent if the respondent cannot complete the survey online. The new
letter makes the mailings in Spanish consistent with the mailings in English.
A Spanish paper questionnaire package and reminder postcard will be sent to sample addresses
when there is no response about three weeks after the initial mailing. The Spanish paper
questionnaire package will contain the same materials as the English package: a paper
questionnaire, follow-up letter with FAQs on the back (Appendix B), and a postage paid return
envelope. Since FAQs are printed on the letter in this package, the brochure will be removed.
These revisions make the Spanish questionnaire package consistent with the English
questionnaire package.
The next mailing is a postcard in Spanish (Appendix C) to remind respondents to return the
completed questionnaire or respond on the internet. The wording modifications and
reformatting of this postcard is now consistent with the standard ACS Stateside postcard in
English.
There were no changes to the final mailing (Attachment D).
Table 1 Current Stateside Mail Methodology
Current Stateside Mail Methodology
All Mailable Households
StatesideMethodology

ACS Stateside English

Reminder
Postcard

Nonrespondents for M3
Cut
Final
Reminder

ACS-29 Reminder
Postcard

ACS-23PS Due Date
Pressure Seal Letter

Nonrespondents for M2 Cut

Initial
Package

Reminder
Letter

ACS-13PS Initial Mailing
Pressure Seal Letter

ACS-20(L)
Reminder
Letter

Questionnaire
Package
ACS-1 ACS Questionnaire
ACS-14(L) Follow Up Letter
6385-47 Business Reply Envelope
ACS-46 Outgoing Envelope

ACS-13PS Initial Mailing
Pressure Seal Letter

ACS Stateside Spanish

ACS-1(SP) ACS Questionnaire - Spanish
ACS-10SM(SP) FAQ Brochure
ACS-13(L)(SP) Follow Up Letter - Spanish
6385-47 Business Reply Envelope
ACS-46(SP) Outgoing Envelope - Spanish

ACS-20(L)
Reminder
Letter

ACS-1(SP) ACS Questionnaire - Spanish
ACS-10SM(SP) FAQ Brochure
ACS-29(SP)
ACS-14(L)(SP) Follow Up Letter - Spanish
Reminder
6385-47 Business Reply Envelope
Postcard - Spanish
ACS-46(SP) Outgoing Envelope - Spanish

ACS-23PS(SP) Due Date
Pressure Seal Letter Spanish

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Table 2 New Stateside Mail Methodology
NEW Stateside Mail Methodology (Requests Made Before the M2 File Delivery Date) - New and Revised Materials in Red Font
Stateside
Methodology

All Mailable Households

Nonrespondents for M2 Cut

Initial
Package

Reminder
Letter

ACS Stateside English

ACS-13PS Initial Mailing
Pressure Seal Letter

ACS-20(L)
Reminder
Letter

ACS Stateside Spanish

ACS-13PS Initial Mailing
Pressure Seal Letter
ACS-13PS(SP) Initial Mailing
Pressure Seal Letter - Spanish

ACS-20(L)
Reminder
Letter

Questionnaire
Reminder
Package
Postcard
ACS-1 ACS Questionnaire
ACS-14(L) Follow Up Letter
ACS-29 Reminder
6385-47 Business Reply Envelope
Postcard
ACS-46 Outgoing Envelope
ACS-1(SP) ACS Questionnaire - Spanish
ACS-29(SP)
ACS-14(L)(SP) Follow Up Letter - Spanish
Reminder
6385-47 Business Reply Envelope
Postcard - Spanish
ACS-46(SP) Outgoing Envelope - Spanish

Nonrespondents for M3
Cut
Final
Reminder
ACS-23PS Due Date
Pressure Seal Letter
ACS-23PS(SP) Due Date
Pressure Seal Letter Spanish

The revised Stateside Spanish mail methodology implements Census Bureau research findings.
Census Bureau research indicates recipients of survey materials respond better to fewer
mailing pieces in a mailing package. Similar research with respondents showed that removing
or de-emphasizing a paper questionnaire produces higher response rates over the internet.
The revised methodology and materials are designed to enhance the user experience of
stateside Spanish-language respondents and to gain public cooperation for the ACS.

Revisions to Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing Respondent
Materials
Background:
The ACS is requesting to revise Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) respondent
materials starting in January 2023. The ACS plans to implement the change to more clearly
communicate and address respondent concerns, with the goal of gaining interview
cooperation specifically with the Native American Tribal Lands Informational Brochure
designed for the Native American Tribal Lands. In addition, a CAPI Informational Flyer was
created for use in limited circumstances when the Regional Offices run out of the CAPI
Informational Brochure. The ACS CAPI Q&A Brochure in both English and Spanish have also
been re-designed and are used to convince reluctant respondents to complete the interview.
Lastly, the Thank You letters in both English and Spanish that are sent to respondents who
completed the CAPI interview and informs the respondent that they may be contacted for
quality assurance purposes have been redesigned.
The ACS employs a 3-month data collection process for each monthly sample. First through
self-response and later through in-person and telephone interviews. During the first two
months of data collection, the Census Bureau sends up to five mailings to all mailable, sampled
addresses to solicit a response by the internet or paper questionnaire. After the self-response
period, responding addresses are removed and the unmailable and undeliverable addresses
(from the initial sample) are added to create the universe of addresses eligible for the CAPI
nonresponse follow-up operation. Of this universe, a subsample is chosen to be included in the
CAPI operation, which starts at the beginning of the month following the fifth mailing. A
pressure seal reminder letter is sent to all mailable addresses sampled for CAPI at the start of
the interviewing month. This letter lets respondents know that a Census Bureau field
representative may call or visit them to complete the interview and encourages them to
complete the survey online, if possible. Census Bureau field representatives first attempt to
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interview those selected for CAPI by phone. If the field representative (FR) is unable to
complete a phone interview, they visit the address to conduct an in-person interview.
Among the tools FRs use to gain cooperation from respondents are a variety of letters and
brochures. Attachment E is a newly designed brochure to specifically garner response from the
Native American Tribal Lands community. Attachment F and G are specifically designed to be
printed on demand for field representatives when regional offices run out of the ACS-50 HU
Introductory Brochure. Attachments H and I are the re-designed ACS-51 Q&A Brochures
updated and used to convince reluctant respondents to complete the interview. Attachment J
and K are the re-designed Thank You letters sent to respondents who completed the CAPI
interview and informs the respondent that they may be contacted for quality assurance
purposes. These are sent by Field Representatives through the Regional Office Sample Control
(ROSCO) software and contain variable data that is populated on each letter.
In 2019, the Census Bureau began a project to revise the CAPI respondent materials. An initial
assessment of the current materials indicated that they were written, on average, at the 12th
grade level. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, about 34 percent of
American adults read at less than an 8th grade level and about 14 percent read at the first-tothird grade level. The Census Bureau applied plain language principles to the materials to
improve the readability of the materials and make them easier to understand for more
respondents. The resulting materials were written, on average, at the 9th grade level.

Attachments
2023 Data Collection Materials
A

American Community Survey Housing Unit (HU) First Mailing:
•

B

American Community Survey HU Third Mailing:
•
•
•
•

C

ACS-1(SP)(2023) (04-04-2022), ACS Stateside Questionnaire Spanish
ACS-14(L)(SP)(2023) (10-19-2022), ACS Follow-up Letter Spanish
ACS-46(SP)(2023) (05-02-2022), ACS Stateside Outgoing Envelope Spanish
BRE 6385-47(2022) (06-02-2021), ACS Business Reply Envelope

American Community Survey HU Fourth Mailing:

•
D

ACS-13PS(SP)(2023) (10-24-2022), ACS Introductory Letter Spanish

ACS-29(SP)(2023) (09-26-2022), Postcard for Second Reminder Spanish

American Community Survey HU Fifth Mailing:

•

ACS-23PS(SP)(2022) (03-16-2022), ACS Due Date Letter Spanish
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E

American Community Survey Informational Brochure Native American Tribal Lands (TL)
•

F

American Community Survey Informational Flyer
•

G

ACS-51(HU)(SP) Q&A Brochure (2023)

American Community Survey Regional Office Sample Control (ROSCO) – Thank You
Letter
•

K

ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure (2023)

American Community Survey Q&A Brochure in Spanish
•

J

ACS-50(F)(SP) Informational Flyer Spanish (2022)

American Community Survey Q&A Brochure
•

I

ACS-50(F) Informational Flyer (2022)

American Community Survey Spanish Informational Flyer
•

H

ACS-50(HU)(TL) (October 2022)

ACS ROSCO Thank You Letter - English

American Community Survey ROSCO – Thank You Letter – Spanish
•

ACS ROSCO Thank You Letter - Spanish

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Attachment A – ACS-13PS(SP)(2023) (10-24-2022) - ACS Introductory Letter Spanish
Front

6

Attachment A – ACS-13PS(SP)(2023) (10-24-2022) - ACS Introductory Letter Spanish
Back

7

Attachment B – ACS-1(SP)(2023) (04-04-2022) - ACS Stateside Questionnaire Spanish
Front Cover

8

Attachment B –ACS-14(L)(SP)(2023) (10-19-2022) - ACS Follow-up Letter Spanish
Front

9

Attachment B –ACS-14(L)(SP)(2023) (10-19-2022) - ACS Follow-up Letter Spanish
Back

10

Attachment B – ACS-46(SP)(2023) (05-02-2022) - ACS Stateside Outgoing Envelope Spanish
Front

11

Attachment B – 6385-47(2022) (06-02-2021) - ACS Business Reply Envelope
Front

12

Attachment C – ACS-29(SP)(2023) (09-26-2022) - Postcard for Second Reminder Spanish
Front

13

Attachment C – ACS-29(SP)(2023) (09-26-2022) - Postcard for Second Reminder Spanish
Back

14

Attachment D – ACS-23PS(SP)(2022) (03-16-2022) - ACS Due Date Letter Spanish
Front

15

Attachment D – ACS-23PS(SP)(2022) (03-16-2022) - ACS Due Date Letter Spanish
Back

16

Attachment E – ACS-50(HU)(TL) - ACS Informational Brochure Native American Tribal Lands
Front

17

Attachment E – ACS-50(HU)(TL) - ACS Informational Brochure Native American Tribal Lands
Back

18

Attachment F – ACS-50(F) Informational Flyer
Front

19

Attachment F – ACS-50(F) Informational Flyer
Back

20

Attachment G – ACS-50(F)(SP) Informational Flyer Spanish
Front

21

Attachment G – ACS-50(F)(SP) Informational Flyer Spanish
Back

22

Attachment H – ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure
Front Page 1

23

Attachment H – ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure
Back Page 1

24

Attachment H – ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure
Front Page 2

25

Attachment H – ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure
Back Page 2

26

Attachment I – ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure Spanish
Front Page 1

27

Attachment I – ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure Spanish
Back Page 1

28

Attachment I – ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure Spanish
Front Page 2

29

Attachment I – ACS-51(HU) Q&A Brochure Spanish
Back Page 2

30

Attachment J – ACS ROSCO Thank You Letter

31

Attachment K – ACS ROSCO Thank You Letter - Spanish

32