[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 161 (Thursday, August 20, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 44607]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22398]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    DOC has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
clearance the following proposal for collection of information under 
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: Bureau of the Census.
    Title: Field Representative Exit Questionnaire.
    Form Number(s): BC-1294, BC-1294(D).
    Agency Approval Number: 0607-0404.
    Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    Burden: 638 hours.
    Number of Respondents: 2,660 households.
    Avg Hours Per Response: BC-1294 (5 minutes), BC-1294(D) (15 
minutes).
    Needs and Uses: The tremendous costs to replace interviewers who 
leave the Census Bureau continue to grow. Census Bureau interviewers 
collect data for ongoing current surveys and for the decennial census. 
These labor-intensive operations require a unique combination of 
technical knowledge and interpersonal skills. Finding the right person 
for the job is not easy and retaining that person increasingly presents 
an additional challenge. If unchecked, interviewer turnover spawns a 
cycle of recruiting and training which is not only costly, but perhaps 
harmful to data quality as well. In a continuous effort to devise 
policies and practices aimed at reducing turnover among our field 
interviewing staff the Census Bureau needs to collect data on the 
reasons interviewers leave the Bureau. The exit questionnaire helps the 
Census Bureau identify specific reasons for the turnovers. Based on the 
survey results the Census Bureau can develop both general and specific 
plans to reduce turnover. If turnover can be reduced, the skyrocketing 
costs of recruiting, hiring, training, and managing a large staff of 
census interviewers can be reduced.
    Approximately every month, a sample of one-half of all interviewers 
who work on current surveys (field representatives) who voluntarily 
resign within the sampling period will be contacted by telephone to 
complete a BC-1294 questionnaire. During the Year 2000, a sample of 
interviewers hired to conduct the census (enumerators) who have 
continuously been in a nonpay status for a period of two weeks will be 
contacted by telephone to complete a BC-1294(D) questionnaire. The Form 
BC-1294(D) will only be administered in Fiscal Year 2000.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 5, United States Code, Section 3101, and 
Title 13, United States Code, Section 23.
    OMB Desk Officer: Nancy Kirkendall, (202) 395-7313.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Linda Engelmeier, DOC Forms Clearance Officer, 
(202) 482-3272, Department of Commerce, room 5327, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Nancy Kirkendall, OMB Desk Officer, room 10201, New Executive Office 
Building, Washington, DC 20503.

    Dated: August 14, 1998.
Linda Engelmeier,
Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer.
[FR Doc. 98-22398 Filed 8-19-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P