[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 123 (Monday, June 28, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34631-34633]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-16403]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Census 2000 Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation--Housing Unit and 
Person Activities

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 August 27, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Linda Engelmeier, 
Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 
5033, 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 Magdalena Ramos, Bureau of the Census, Room 
2126A/SFC2, Washington, DC 20233, (301) 457-4295.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Bureau of the Census developed the Accuracy and Coverage 
Evaluation approach for measuring coverage of the population in the 
decennial census. In the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation, we 
independently count a sample of housing units and the people living in 
those units, then compare those results to the census. We then use this 
comparative information to produce final estimates of the coverage for 
Census 2000. The Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation approach was tested 
during the Census 2000 Dress Rehearsal in Columbia, South Carolina. The 
Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation was formerly referred to as the Post-

[[Page 34632]]

Enumeration Survey in the Census 2000 Dress Rehearsal.
    The Independent Listing Operation is the first step in the Accuracy 
and Coverage Evaluation process. During the Independent Listing, the 
Bureau of the Census will obtain a complete housing inventory of all 
addresses within the Census 2000 Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation 
sample of block clusters before the Census 2000 enumeration commences. 
The materials for the Independent Listing have been submitted to the 
Office of Management and Budget and are awaiting approval.
    The address listings will be matched to the address list used in 
the census; the unmatched cases will be sent to the field for 
reconciliation during the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation Housing Unit 
Follow-up Operation using the Housing Unit Follow-up Questionnaires, 
Forms D-1303 and D-1303 PR. The D-1303 is the English language version 
and will be used in the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation sample areas 
in the 50 states and the District of Columbia; the D-1303 PR is the 
Spanish language version of the follow-up form and will be used only in 
sample areas in Puerto Rico. For quality assurance purposes, a sample 
of the housing unit follow-up cases will be verified to ensure that the 
follow-up enumerators visit the block clusters, resolve the cases, and 
correctly follow procedures. The information obtained using the D-1303 
and D-1303 PR will be used to resolve match status for unmatched cases 
and to assign final match codes. The results from the matching will be 
used to identify clusters for the Targeted Extended Search (TES) 
Operation.
    The TES attempts to correct erroneous enumerations and nonmatches 
caused by census geocoding errors. A geocoding error occurs when a 
housing unit is counted in the wrong Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation 
sample cluster. Because of geocoding errors, the people in the housing 
units can be counted in the incorrect block and, as a result, may be 
counted more than once. The housing units in the TES clusters are sent 
to the field for resolution using the Targeted Extended Search Field 
Followup Questionnaires, Forms D-1360 and D-1360 PR. The D-1360 is the 
English language version and will be used in the Accuracy and Coverage 
Evaluation sample areas in the 50 states and the District of Columbia; 
the D-1360 PR is the Spanish language version and will be used only in 
sample areas in Puerto Rico. The goal of the TES field follow-up is to 
determine the correct geographic location of the housing units in the 
cluster. The results of TES field follow-up will be used during person 
matching to allow the clerical matchers to correctly code the people in 
the TES clusters. The TES will be conducted during the same time period 
as the Person Interview. The resultant address listing from the Housing 
Unit Follow-up Operation will be used in the Person Interview.
    The Person Interview will be conducted using a Computer Assisted 
Personal Interviewing (CAPI) instrument. During the initial phase of 
this operation, the Census Bureau will target sample cases for 
telephone interviews. This is done to allow interviewing to start since 
personal visits cannot be done until Nonresponse Follow-up for Census 
is 90 percent complete. Telephone cases will be city style addresses 
selected from households that returned their census questionnaires and 
provided their telephone numbers. After the conclusion of the 
Nonresponse Follow-up Operation for a sample block cluster, all 
remaining sample cases will be interviewed using a person-to-person 
approach. Telephone interviews may also be used later in the process 
for hard to enumerate areas or situations.
    Intensive probing techniques will be used to reconstruct a roster 
of the sample housing unit. The interviewer will attempt to determine 
the status of the sample units and their occupants on Census Day, April 
1, 2000. For households where the Census Day residents have moved out, 
we will obtain a proxy interview from the current residents or another 
reliable proxy. When combined with our efforts to match responses to 
the results of the census count, the interview data will identify 
persons missed or incorrectly included in the census as well as persons 
correctly enumerated. For quality assurance, a sample of respondents in 
the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation sample will be reinterviewed using 
the CAPI instrument. There will be a Spanish language version of the 
instrument that will be available for use in the 50 states, District of 
Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
    After the person interview, person matching for input into dual 
system estimation (DSE) processing will be conducted. The estimation is 
called DSE because two independent sources of information or systems 
are used. The people enumerated during the Person Interview Operation 
will be matched to the people enumerated in the census for the same 
addresses. Unresolved cases will be reconciled in the field during the 
Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation Person Follow-up Interview using the 
Person Follow-up Questionnaires, Forms D-1301, D-1301(S), and D-1301 
PR. The D-1301 is the English language version and will be used in the 
sample areas in the 50 states and the District of Columbia except in 
selected areas; the D-1301(S) and D-1301 PR are Spanish language 
versions of the follow-up form. The D-1301(S) will be used in sample 
areas, where needed, in the 50 states and the District of Columbia; the 
D-1301 PR will be used only in sample areas in Puerto Rico. The 
completed follow-up interview files will be reviewed and used to 
resolve a person's residence status and match status. The person 
follow-up interview will undergo a quality assurance operation to 
ensure that the interviewer contacted the household and conducted an 
interview. The information from the person interview will be used in 
the Census 2000 coverage estimates.
    Because the initial housing unit operations (matching and field 
follow-up) are conducted before the inventory of census housing units 
is final, a final housing unit match and field reconciliation are 
needed for selected cases that were not followed up during the original 
housing unit operations. The field reconciliation will be conducted 
using the Final Housing Unit Follow-up Questionnaires, Forms D-1340 and 
D-1340 PR. The D-1340 is the English language version and will be used 
in the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation sample areas in the 50 states 
and the District of Columbia; the D-1340 PR is the Spanish language 
version of the follow-up form and will be used only in sample areas in 
Puerto Rico. As in the initial Housing Unit operation, a sample of the 
housing unit follow-up cases will be verified to ensure that the 
follow-up enumerators visit the block clusters, resolve the cases, and 
correctly follow procedures. The results of the final housing match are 
needed to produce housing unit coverage estimates.

II. Method of Collection

    Telephone and person to person interview.

III. Data

    OMB Number: Not available.
    Form Number:

Housing Unit Follow-up Interview--D-1303, D-1303 PR
Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Assurance Interview--D-1303, D-1303 PR
CAPI Person Interview--No form number
CAPI Nonresponse Conversion--No form number
CAPI Person Quality Assurance
Interview--No form number

[[Page 34633]]

Targeted Extended Search--D-1360, D-1360 PR
Person Follow-up Interview--D-1301, D-1301(S), D-1301 PR
Person Follow-up Quality Assurance Interview--D-1301, D-1301(S)
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Interview D-1340, D-1340 PR
Final Housing Unit Follow-up
Quality Assurance Interview--D-1340, D-1340 PR

    Type of Review: Regular.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 325,486 Housing units (HUs)
    Estimated Time Per Response:

Housing Unit Follow-up Interview--3 minutes
Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Assurance Interview--3 minutes
CAPI Person Interview--20 minutes
CAPI Nonresponse Conversion--20 minutes
CAPI Person Quality Assurance Interview--10 minutes
Targeted Extended Search--2 minutes
Person Follow-up Interview--15 minutes
Person Follow-up Quality Assurance Interview--15 minutes
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Interview--3 minutes
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Assurance Interview--3 minutes

    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: Total = 195,042 Hours.

Housing Unit Follow-up Interview=13,983 Hours (279,664 HUs x 3 minutes)
Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Assurance Interview=2,331 Hours (46,610 
HUs x 3 minutes)
CAPI Person Interview=108,495 Hours (325,486 HUs x 20 minutes)
CAPI Nonresponse Conversion=21,699 Hours (65,097 HUs x 20 minutes)
CAPI Person Quality Assurance Interview=6,781 Hours (40,686 HUs x 10 
minutes)
Targeted Extended Search=1,460 Hours (43,800 HUs x 2 minutes)
Person Follow-up Interview=32,549 Hours (130,194 HUs x 15 minutes)
Person Follow-up Quality Assurance Interview=5,425 Hours (21,699 
HUs x 15 minutes)
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Interview=1,988 Hours (39,758 HUs x 3 
minutes)
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Assurance Interview=331 Hours 
(6,626 HUs x 3 minutes)

    Estimated Total Annual Cost: No cost to the respondents except for 
their time to respond.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.

    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141, 
193, and 221.

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 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: June 23, 1999.
Linda Engelmeier,
Departmental Forms Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information 
Officer.
[FR Doc. 99-16403 Filed 6-25-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P