[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 83 (Friday, April 30, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23267-23269]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10905]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of the Census
Census 2000 Partnership and Marketing Program Evaluation (PMPE)
ACTION: Proposed collection; comment request.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort
to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on
proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506 (c)
(2) (A)).
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before June 29, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Linda Engelmeier,
Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room
5327, 14th and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions
should be directed to Sherri Norris, Bureau of
[[Page 23268]]
the Census, Room BH-120-2, Washington, DC 20233; (301) 457-8081.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
As part of Census 2000, the Census Bureau is conducting a
comprehensive program of evaluations designed to measure how well our
programs, operations, and procedures perform. The Census 2000
Partnership and Marketing Program is included in this evaluation
program. This evaluation will focus attention on the paid advertising
and partnership components.
The promotional advertising strategy will be implemented in three
phases. The first will occur in November 1999-January 2000 and is
referred to as the Educational Phase. The intent is to familiarize the
public with the census and educate them about its purposes. The
Educational Phase will include national television, radio, and magazine
advertising aimed at the least likely to respond segment of the general
public. This phase will also contain extra efforts concentrated on
educating four targeted audiences (African Americans, Hispanics,
Asians, and American Indians) through television, radio, magazine and
newspaper advertising.
The second phase will be launched in January 2000. This is the
largest component of the advertising strategy and is known as the
Motivational Phase. The advertising will again utilize a variety of
media (English and non-English) including national television, local
targeted television, local radio, magazines, newspapers, out-of-home
advertisements, and the Internet. This phase will address both the
general public and targeted populations. It also will include some non-
traditional media (e.g., posters in convenience stores). The primary
message of the Motivational Phase is to participate in the Census by
mailing back a census form. This phase will conclude in April 2000.
The final advertising phase will commence shortly before the Census
Bureau begins its Nonresponse Follow-up operation. The advertising
messages during this phase will stress the importance of cooperating
with personal visit enumerators for those who failed to return a census
form. This phase will last until June 2000 and will address both the
general public and targeted audiences through radio and television
advertising.
The Partnership Program will build partnerships with state, local,
and tribal governments, community-based organizations, and the private
sector. The Program has both a national and regional focus to develop
awareness about Census 2000. On the national level, the Program is
designed to implement promotional activities that may be sponsored by
national umbrella government and nongovernmental organizations. In
addition, the Census Bureau is partnering with Fortune 500 companies to
promote the importance of the census through the services and products
they provide.
The Census 2000 Partnership and Marketing Program has two goals:
(1) To increase the awareness of the census, and (2) to increase
mailback response rates, especially among historically undercounted
populations. The program combines public awareness, promotion, and
outreach activities to generate clear, consistent, repeated messages
about the importance of participating in Census 2000.
To evaluate these goals, the Census Bureau plans to hire a
contractor to conduct an impact assessment of the marketing and
advertising campaign using before and after research design. This
design will allow the Census Bureau to measure change in awareness to
the decennial census by conducting a survey before the marketing
campaign has begun and then again after the campaign has been launched.
In all, the contractor will develop three survey instruments
implemented in three waves. The contractor will increase the sample in
the last wave to perform additional analysis of the Partnership
Program. Even though the Partnership evaluation will be based upon the
last wave, the questionnaires for waves 1 and 2 will contain
partnership-related questions to avoid possible context effects and
bias across the different data collections.
The questionnaires will consist of different sections including
questions related to: media use, awareness of government agencies and
programs, awareness of community agencies and programs, free recall of
exposure to the paid advertising, free recall of exposure to
partnership-sponsored activities, aided recall about source of
information, knowledge and attitudes about the census, aided recall of
specific advertising, aided recall of specific partnership activities,
and census form receipt, handling, mailback behavior, and demographic
information.
The first wave of interviews will be conducted in September-October
1999 before the Educational Phase of advertising is launched. A total
of 2500 interviews will be completed nationally. The sample will be
drawn so that it is sufficient to yield statistically reliable results
for the total population and for the four targeted populations(African
Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and American Indians). These interviews
will reflect a selected oversampling of the four subpopulations. The
second wave of interviews will be conducted in February-mid-March 2000.
A total of 2500 interviews will be conducted with similar oversampling.
The final wave of interviews will be conducted during April 9-May 9,
2000. This survey will contain the larger number of questions for the
assessment of census form mailback behavior and the Partnership Program
to measure recall and exposure to partnership-related events and
activities. A total of 4000 interviews with oversampling of the four
targeted groups will be completed. Both Computer-Assisted Telephone
Interviewing (CATI) and personal visit interviewing will be conducted
in all three waves. Where valid phone numbers cannot be obtained for a
sample case, a personal visit interview will be conducted.
The survey instruments will be modeled after previous Census Bureau
surveys of a similar nature. In order to carry out historical
comparisons to the 1990 publicity campaign, the instrument will
replicate, at least in part, questions from the 1990 Outreach
Evaluation Survey.
II. Method of Collection
The collection methodology for all three waves of the Census 2000
Partnership and Marketing Program Evaluation (PMPE) will consist of
CATI with follow-up by personal interview using a paper form.
III. Data
OMB Number: Not available.
Form Number: Forthcoming.
Type of Review: Regular submission.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
WAVE 1 = 2,500
WAVE 2 = 2,500
WAVE 3 = 4,000
Total = 9,000 respondents
Estimated Time Per Response:
Wave 1
15 minutes for the telephone interview with a human
operator.
20 minutes for the personal follow-up interview completion
of a paper questionnaire.
Wave 2
15 minutes for the telephone interview with a human
operator.
20 minutes for the personal follow-up interview completion
of a paper questionnaire
[[Page 23269]]
Wave 3
20 minutes for the telephone interview with a human
operator.
25 minutes for the personal follow-up interview completion
of a paper questionnaire.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours:
Wave 1 = 730 hours
Wave 2 = 730 hours
Wave 3 = 1,500 hours
Total = 2,960 annual burden hours
Estimated Total Annual Cost: There is no cost to the respondent
other than the time to complete the information requested.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141 and
193.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information shall have a practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information;
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on respondents; including through the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology. Comments submitted in response to this notice will be
summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this
information collection; they also will become a matter of public
record.
Dated: April 20, 1999.
Linda Engelmeier,
Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information
Officer.
[FR Doc. 99-10905 Filed 4-29-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P