Counting People in the Information Age (1994) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
3 Response and Coverage
3 Response and Coverage
Pages 47-95
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 47... ...
Much of the Census Bureau's research on response and coverage for the 2000 census addresses two main criticisms raised about the 1990 census: the high unit cost of the census and the persistent differential undercount by race. Increasing the primary mail response rate is vital both to improving data quality and to reducing follow-up costs, thereby conserving resources for the task of reducing the differential undercount.
|
From page 48... ...
Uncontrolled variation in operational procedures becomes even more problematic under integrated coverage measurement (see the section on uniformity of treatment in Chapter 2~. We believe that a system could be designed that is flexible enough to control or reduce the differential undercount yet maintain important aspects of standardization (such as definitions of household membership)
|
From page 49... ...
The response improvement research, which developed methods for improving the initial response rate, was yielding results before this panel was constituted. It has already contributed very promising techniques for further evaluation in the 1995 census test.
|
From page 50... ...
Research should now focus on techniques that have potential to improve coverage within households or to reduce the differential undercount. The current state of promising research on improving fostering, incorporating the telephone and other technologies into the design of the census, evaluating the tool kit, and developing and evaluating outreach and promotion activities makes it clear that research and development in these areas must continue beyond the 1995 census test.
|
From page 51... ...
We recommend planning and limited experimentation now so that the most promising methods for reducing the differential undercount can, where feasible, be given operational trials and experimental and cost evaluation in the 1995 census test. It is important that the proposals embodied in the tool kit be evaluated or tested in 1995.
|
From page 52... ...
Within households, coverage errors are response errors. Improving coverage of persons within households and reducing the contribution of within-household coverage errors to the differential undercount requires reducing response error, because it is household respondents who implement the residence rules as they fill out the census form or tale with a Census Bureau enumerator.
|
From page 53... ...
, and paper or computer-assisted instruments administered by telephone as part of nonresponse follow-up. (Computer-assisted telephone interviewing and computer-assisted personal interviews will also be used as part of integrated coverage measurement, and we turn to this issue in the discussion.)
|
From page 54... ...
The Living Situation Survey, cognitive research on residence rules, and the National Coverage Test (the 1994 census test) are essential first steps in this research.
|
From page 55... ...
Full results from the LSS will probably not be complete before the instrument for the 1995 census test is final, but combining results that are available with those of the National Coverage Test (see below) could lead to major innovations with considerable promise for improving coverage within households and reducing the differential undercount.
|
From page 56... ...
Discussion and Recommendations Better instrument design is needed to help respondents provide more accurate answers. Improving the operational form of residence rules in the various instruments is especially attractive because it could both improve the quality of the initial count and reduce the differential undercount among responding households-both at relatively low cost.
|
From page 57... ...
This evaluation would not necessarily require a study of the magnitude of the response improvement studies discussed below or the National Coverage Test. Similar tests should determine the effects of having the census form administered by an enumerator, as would happen in a blitz enumeration.
|
From page 58... ...
about people listed on an extended roster might lead to improvements in the ability to eliminate duplicate census records. The Living Situation Survey and the cognitive research on residence rules are likely to yield some complex methods that may be more suitable for use in the reinterview for integrated coverage measurement than in the instruments developed for the initial count.
|
From page 59... ...
On the basis of the SQT and IT results, Census Bureau statisticians estimated that the use of a replacement questionnaire increased response by approximately 10 percentage points (Dillman et al., 1994~. Although it is less clear exactly how effective these techniques will be in a census or whether they will reduce the differential undercount, any increase in routine mail responses improves data quality and helps to control costs.
|
From page 60... ...
It is conceivable, for example, that the message would be as effective when used only on the replacement questionnaire envelope as when used during the initial mailing, while inviting fewer negative reactions. Such issues could be investigated by incorporating simple treatment variations in the 1995 census test or other experiments in which participation is mandatory.
|
From page 61... ...
, conducted in 1993, was the Census Bureau's first attempt to provide forms in a language other than English as an initial response option. Because research on the 1990 census suggested that language barriers may have had a large negative effect on the initial mail response rate in some areas, the SEAT examined whether providing either bilingual forms or both English and Spanish forms could increase response to the initial mailing.
|
From page 62... ...
As the content of the instrument is made final, the respondent-friendly design of the final form will necessarily change and therefore need some further testing. The effects of a modified extended roster form, for example, on both the initial response rate and the differential undercount could differ from estimates obtained in the SQT or the National Coverage Test; the 1995 census test could augment the results of the earlier tests to include information on the effects of incorporating these innovations in the instrument.
|
From page 63... ...
The integrated coverage measurement program that will be tested in 1995 will also use CATI whenever possible to conduct reinterviews with census respondents for purposes of measuring within-household coverage. Households without telephones in the integrated coverage measurement sample will be contacted by a field enumerator, who will use a laptop computer to conduct the
|
From page 64... ...
While telephone interviews are less expensive than face-to-face field interviews, the mailback response mode is by far the least expensive of the three modes, and the Census Bureau learned in the Mail and Telephone Mode Test that there is nothing to be gained from offering a telephone response as an alternative to a mail response. Although the Census Bureau will not encourage a telephone interview with an 800 number caller, the interview may be conducted by telephone as a last resort that is, if the caller indicates that he or she will not, or cannot, respond by mail.
|
From page 65... ...
The Census Bureau anticipates using multiple contractors in the 2000 census to provide live operators and computer-administered interviews. In the 1995 census test, plans are to use two telephone centers-one operated by the Census Bureau and one provided by a contractor.
|
From page 66... ...
The 1995 census test will provide a unique opportunity to collect data on the operational and cost aspects of the call-in system. To gain maximum benefit from the test, the Census Bureau will need to develop and implement a comprehensive monitoring plan that will capture relevant data on all aspects of the system.
|
From page 67... ...
The 1995 census test will also provide operational and cost data that can be used to estimate the number of telephone centers required for 2000 and the approximate cost involved in building a system to serve the entire nation. Recommendation 3.2: The Census Bureau should use the 1995 census test and subsequent tests to inform the design of the 800 number call-in system for the 2000 census.
|
From page 68... ...
The third phase of this research will involve an evaluation of various address-matching algorithms. The Census Bureau plans to purchase the directory files from the four regional Bell telephone companies that serve the four 1995 census test sites and then apply various address-matching algorithms to determine whether the results achieved by the commercial companies can be improved.
|
From page 69... ...
If the Census Bureau is able to acquire unlisted telephone numbers for a 1995 census test site, it should carefully monitor the results obtained from calling households with unlisted numbers. Outbound Reminder Calls New technology now exists that makes it possible to conduct computerized outbound calling.
|
From page 70... ...
Use of CATI for Nonresponse Follow-up The Census Bureau plans to use computer-assisted telephone interviewing for nonresponse follow-up in the 1995 census test. Nonresponse follow-up will occur after the full set of mail survey procedures (advance letter, initial questionnaire mailing, reminder postcard mailing, and replacement questionnaire mailing to nonrespondents)
|
From page 71... ...
The use of both CATI interviews and paper-and-pencil field interviews in the nonresponse follow-up component of the 1995 census test raises concern about the potential for mode effects. The two interview modes are radically different in two respects: the use of the telephone versus a face-to-face interview, and the use of computer assistance versus an unassisted interviewer-administered questionnaire.
|
From page 72... ...
and through the limited use of CAPI in the ICM program. The Census Bureau does plan to equip field staff with pen-based computers in the 1995 census test to update address lists and maps and to compile the independent listing of addresses in the ICM blocks that will be matched to the census address list (see Chapter 4~.
|
From page 73... ...
. Consequently, the Census Bureau does not plan to experiment with PCs as a response option in the 1995 census test.
|
From page 74... ...
The primary task now should be to capitalize on this research and to implement the valuable policy suggestions that emerged from this study in designing the 1995 census test and developing the tool kit of methods for the 2000 census field offices. An excellent summary of the 29 ethnographic coverage reports (de la Puente, 1993)
|
From page 75... ...
In such cases, residence rules are hard to apply; the individuals who "should" be counted may be absent and thus excluded. As an ethnographer working in rural Marion County, Oregon, noted (cited in de la Puente, 1993:43: If all members are not present, .
|
From page 76... ...
Again, the residence rules on the census forms confuse even the willing participant resulting in undercounts (the Haitian example) and overcounts (the Chinese example)
|
From page 77... ...
should inform the development of roster questions for the 1995 census test and the 2000 census. Distrust of Government Distrust of, or ambivalence toward, the government is another cause of undercounts.
|
From page 78... ...
Coverage was undoubtedly improved in these case studies; consistency may be another matter. Persons With No Usual Residence In recent years, research attention has focused on the problems of enumerating the homeless population, a subset of persistently poor people who have no regular domicile.
|
From page 79... ...
We emphasize that the insights developed thus far should evolve into (a) further research programs, if needed, and (by experiments to be undertaken during and after the 1995 census test to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of special methods designed to reduce the differential undercount.
|
From page 80... ...
A well-designed continuous outreach, promotion, and enumeration operation in targeted areas may prove cost-effective in comparison with the start-and-stop approach that has been used in past censuses. Developing local ties that work that is, that help to reduce the differential undercount by creating a participatory spirit or simply by using the superior knowledge of local ethnographers is not an overnight operation.
|
From page 81... ...
Recommendation 3.4: The Census Bureau should consider developing an extensive network of relations between field offices and local community resources, particularly in hard-to-enumerate areas, and should examine the cost-effectiveness of maintaining this infrastructure in continuous operation between censuses. The Census Bureau should develop and implement pilot programs in conjunction with the 1995 census test in order to gather information about the potential costs and benefits of a large-scale local outreach program.
|
From page 82... ...
But the investment would be well worth it if the program contributed to reducing the differential undercount-particularly if it was tied to an ongoing organizational structure (which would not have to be reborn with every decennial census)
|
From page 83... ...
Some type of coverage evaluation will be needed to judge the completeness of coverage of the homeless population that can be achieved by enumeration at service providers. It will also be important to assess 5 We note that the 1995 census test is set for March 4.
|
From page 84... ...
. Recommendation 3.7: We endorse the Census Bureau's plans to conduct, in the 1995 census test, enumeration at service providers (e.g., shelters and soup kitchens)
|
From page 85... ...
and sociology. We note in passing the importance of the cognitive research that has accompanied the Living Situation Survey; this research is being conducted primarily to develop new ways of defining the residence rules (Gerber and Bates, 1994; 6 The Census Bureau has conducted or sponsored studies of the effects of the order of race and Hispanic origin questions on item nonresponse and race reporting (see Bates et al., 1994)
|
From page 86... ...
TOOL KIT AND PLANNING DATABASE The key census design components being developed to improve coverage and consequently reduce the differential undercount of hard-to-enumerate populations are the tool kit and the planning database. The tool kit comprises the set of special enumeration methods and such strategies as questionnaire assistance and targeted outreach and promotion efforts.
|
From page 87... ...
This method will be developed for use in the 2000 census. The 1995 census test will also include four tools requiring coordination by census headquarters: 1.
|
From page 88... ...
The planning database has an important role to play in guiding application of the tool kit to ensure that tools are used systematically and only when needed and that their use is recorded so that, when relevant, this information can be taken into account in integrated coverage measurement. Current plans for the 1995 census test call for a tool to be assigned to a given area if that area exceeds predefined threshold values (e.g., mail nonresponse rates)
|
From page 89... ...
It seems very likely that the development and testing of the tool kit, planning database, and targeting model will continue after the 1995 census test, and planning should take this schedule into account. Experimental evaluation of some components of the tool kit (e.g., blitz enumeration)
|
From page 90... ...
Nevertheless, the mail response rate in 1990 was 10 percentage points below that in the 1980 census, and the differential undercount between blacks and others was the highest since the Census Bureau began estimating coverage in 1940 (U.S. General Accounting Office, 1992~.
|
From page 91... ...
We believe that the effectiveness and efficiency of the Census Bureau's census outreach and promotion program could be improved if a permanent office were established and staffed with advertising and public relations professionals. This office would be responsible for planning, researching, and developing all outreach and promotion activities and for overseeing the implementation of the decennial census program.
|
From page 92... ...
Although the establishment of a permanent decennial census outreach and promotion office would centralize the overall responsibility for outreach and promotion activities, it does not follow that such activities would become more focused on the national rather than the local level. Nor should they, as we argue below; a principal objective of the new central office should be to enhance outreach efforts at the local level.
|
From page 93... ...
These efforts span a range of tasks, from outreach and promotion of the decennial census to the use of state or locally maintained administrative records for the purpose of improving coverage (Collins, 1994~. Some of these efforts will be put in place during the 1995 census test in order to assess their effectiveness, implemented by "census advisors" who will be placed in local offices in the test communities in order to oversee liaison programs of all kinds.
|
From page 94... ...
These strategies will, we believe, capitalize on the knowledge base that resides at the local level, improving outreach, promotion, and the quality of address lists and encourage much-needed federal-state-local cooperation. The Census Bureau plans to enlist the support of local officials to help in the planning of the 1995 census test, particularly where blitz enumeration is concerned.
|
From page 95... ...
Recommendation 3.11: The Census Bureau should evaluate the programs for state and local cooperation that will be overseen by census advisors in the 1995 census test areas in order to collect from these experimental initiatives those programs most likely to (a) reduce the cost of the decennial census (particularly by improving mail response rates)
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.