[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 77 (Thursday, April 21, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22364-22365]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-9732]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; Survey of 
Income and Program Participation (SIPP) 2012 Re-engineered SIPP--Field 
Test

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing

[[Page 22365]]

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: To ensure consideration, written comments must be submitted on 
or before June 20, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Diana Hynek, Departmental 
Paperwork Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th 
and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet 
at [email protected]).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions 
should be directed to Patrick J. Benton, Census Bureau, Room HQ-6H045, 
Washington, DC 20233-8400, (301) 763-4618.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Census Bureau plans to conduct a field test for the Re-
engineered SIPP (SIPP-EHC) from January to March of 2012. The SIPP is a 
household-based survey designed as a continuous series of national 
panels. The SIPP represents a source of information for a wide variety 
of topics and allows information for separate topics to be integrated 
to form a single, unified database so that the interaction between tax, 
transfer, and other government and private policies can be examined. 
Government domestic policy formulators depend heavily upon the SIPP 
information concerning the distribution of income received directly as 
money or indirectly as in-kind benefits and the effect of tax and 
transfer programs on this distribution. They also need improved and 
expanded data on the income and general economic and financial 
situation of the U.S. population, which the SIPP has provided on a 
continuing basis since 1983. The SIPP has measured levels of economic 
well-being and permitted changes in these levels to be measured over 
time.
    The SIPP-EHC is molded around a central ``core'' of labor force and 
income questions that are supplemented with questions designed to 
address specific needs in complementary subject areas. The 2012 SIPP-
EHC again uses an Event History Calendar (EHC) which facilitates the 
collection of dates of events and spells of coverage, as did the 2011 
SIPP-EHC.
    The content of the 2012 SIPP-EHC will match that of the 2011 SIPP-
EHC very closely. The SIPP-EHC design does not contain free-standing 
topical modules. As in the 2010 and 2011 SIPP-EHC interviews, a portion 
of traditional SIPP topical module content is integrated into the 2012 
SIPP-EHC interview. Examples of this content include medical expenses, 
child care, retirement and pension plan coverage, marital history, 
adult and child well-being, and others. The EHC should assist 
respondent's ability to recall events accurately over the longer 
reference period and provide increased data quality and inter-topic 
consistency for dates reported by respondents.
    The 2012 SIPP-EHC field test will revisit survey respondents who 
were first interviewed in the 2011 SIPP-EHC field test. The 2012 SIPP-
EHC will interview respondents using the previous calendar year 2011 as 
the reference period. The 2012 SIPP-EHC is a critical evaluation in the 
transition to annual interviewing for the SIPP program. The 2012 SIPP-
EHC will be the first test of the revised interviewing method structure 
that will follow adults (15 years and older) who move from the prior 
wave household, and will be the first revised interviewing method test 
incorporating dependent data from the prior wave in the EHC interview 
of a current wave. Dependent data, primarily information collected in 
the EHC from the end of the reference year to the interview month in 
the prior wave, is a crucial component added to the 2012 SIPP-EHC to 
reduce the impact of seam bias for longitudinal uses of the monthly 
data from SIPP-EHC as analyses of monthly data span calendar years. The 
2012 SIPP-EHC will be the only opportunity to evaluate the ability to 
follow movers, implement dependent data use, and produce an initial 
evaluation of attrition related to the new instrument design and 
interview interval. Although the sample is limited to high-poverty 
strata in 20 states and cannot represent the characteristics of the 
test if implemented in a full nationally representative sample, a 
comparison can be effectively made to the same geographies and 
characteristics for the same period in the 2008 panel of the production 
SIPP. Additionally, the functionality of all of the interrelated 
systems to locate and re-interview respondents after a year can be 
tested.
    Approximately 2,600 households (based on response and coverage 
estimates derived from the 2010 SIPP-EHC field work) will be 
interviewed for the 2012 SIPP-EHC field test. We estimate that each 
household contains 2.1 people aged 15 and above, yielding approximately 
5,460 person-level interviews in this field test. Interviews take 60 
minutes per adult on average. The total annual burden for 2012 SIPP-EHC 
field test interviews will be 5,460 hours in FY 2012.

II. Method of Collection

    The 2012 SIPP-EHC field test instrument will consist of one 
household interview which will reference the calendar year 2011. The 
interview is conducted in person with all household members 15 years 
old or over using regular proxy-respondent rules.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-0957.
    Form Number: SIPP/CAPI Automated Instrument.
    Type of Review: Regular.
    Affected Public: Individuals or Households.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 5,460 people.
    Estimated Time per Response: 60 minutes per person on average.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 5,460.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: The only cost to respondents is their 
time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Section 182.

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: April 18, 2011.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2011-9732 Filed 4-20-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3511-07-P