[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 196 (Tuesday, October 13, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52448-52449]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-24466]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit 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: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: American Community Survey Methods Panel Tests.
    Form Number(s): ACS-1, ACS-1(SP), ACS-1PR, ACS-1PR(SP), ACS 
CATI(HU), ACS CAPI(HU).
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0936.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Burden Hours: 92,422.
    Number of Respondents: 169,667.
    Average Hours per Response: 28 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct the American 
Community Survey (ACS) Methods Panel tests.
    Given the rapid demographic changes experienced in recent years and 
the strong expectation that such changes will continue and accelerate, 
the once-a-decade data collection approach to a census is no longer 
acceptable as a source for the housing and socio-economic data 
collected on the census long-form. To meet the needs and expectations 
of the country, the Census Bureau developed the ACS. This survey 
collects detailed socioeconomic data every month and provides 
tabulations of these data on a yearly basis. The ACS allows the Census 
Bureau to provide more timely and relevant housing and socio-economic 
data while also reducing operational risks in the census by eliminating 
the long-form historically given to one in every six addresses.
    Full implementation of the ACS includes an annual sample of 
approximately three million residential addresses a year in the 50 
states and the District of Columbia, and another 36,000 addresses in 
Puerto Rico. A sample this large allows for annual production and 
release of single-year estimates for areas with a population of 65,000 
or more. Lower levels of geography require aggregates of three and five 
years' worth of data in order to produce estimates of comparable 
reliability to the census long-form. However, an ongoing data 
collection effort with an annual sample of this magnitude requires that 
the ACS continue research, testing and evaluations aimed at improving 
ACS questionnaires content and related data collection materials. In 
addition, the ACS Methods Panel during the 2010-2012 period may include 
testing methods for increasing survey and operational efficiencies; 
alternative methods or procedures may be developed and evaluated that 
could potentially reduce the overall survey cost, lessen respondent 
burden, and improve response rates. At this time, specific plans are in 
place to propose three methods panel tests: A content reinterview 
study, the 2010 ACS Content Test, and an Internet Mode Test. Since the 
ACS Methods Panel is designed to address emerging issues, we may 
conduct additional testing as needed. Testing would focus on methods 
for reducing data collection costs or testing new questions that have 
an urgent need to be included on the ACS.
    During Census 2000, a content reinterview study (CRS) was conducted 
in conjunction with the long form, which the ACS now replaces. The 
decennial CRS was an evaluation of the quality of the data collected in 
the census, focusing on response bias and simple response variance 
(reliability). The Census Bureau proposes to design and implement a CRS 
to look at the current ACS production questions on an ongoing basis. 
This will allow for the identification of problems with reliability. 
Results from the CRS will provide data users with concrete data quality 
measures (such as reliability or bias measures) for each ACS item.
    The ACS CRS will allow the Census Bureau to continuously monitor 
the data quality of the ACS and identify questions that are currently 
unreliable or that may become unreliable due to changes in the survey 
climate (e.g., changes in policy that change the definition of what the 
ACS is trying to measure). The results from the CRS, generated on a 
yearly basis, would identify which questions require modifications and 
future testing via a content test, thus providing a more scientific 
approach to determining the need for content testing of current ACS 
items. The CRS will be conducted by telephone only with a small sample 
of cases that responded during production.
    Second, in response to Federal agencies' requests for new and 
revised ACS questions, the Census Bureau plans to conduct the 2010 ACS 
Content Test. Changes to the current ACS content and the addition of 
new content were identified through the Interagency Committee for the 
ACS and through recent legislative action. The primary objective of the 
2010 ACS Content Test is to test whether changes to question wording, 
response categories, and redefinition of underlying constructs improve 
the quality of data collected. The Census Bureau proposes to evaluate 
changes to the questions, or for new questions, to compare the 
performance of question versions to each other as well as to other 
well-known sources of such information. The proposed topics for content 
testing are new questions to

[[Page 52449]]

measure computer and Internet access and usage, as well as parental 
place of birth and revisions to veteran's identification and period of 
service, cash public assistance income, wages income and property 
income, and the Food Stamp program name.
    A third test, the ACS Internet ModeTest, is planned to determine 
the best methods for informing sample households about an ACS Internet 
response option and encouraging them to respond. By offering an 
Internet response option in the ACS, the Census Bureau is taking 
further steps to comply with the e-gov initiative and potentially 
reduce collection costs. The objectives of the Internet ModeTest 
include: potential improvement in self-response rates; potential cost 
savings if we can change the distribution of responses by mode (i.e., 
obtain more responses by Internet); and potential improvement in data 
quality including a potential reduction in item nonresponse.
    Two additional tests are currently planned. The specific details of 
these tests are not known at this time but would include an additional 
content test for new questions that have an urgent need to be included 
on the ACS as well as an additional test of new methods to address an 
emergent need.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: One time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., sections 141, 193 and 221.
    OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, Room 7845, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) 
or e-mail ([email protected]).

    Dated: October 6, 2009.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. E9-24466 Filed 10-9-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P