[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 146 (Monday, July 30, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44580-44581]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-18452]


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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: Generic Clearance for 2020 Census Field Tests to Research 
the Use of Automation in Field Data Collection Activities.
    OMB Control Number: None.
    Form Number(s): Unknown at this time.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Burden Hours: 2,167.
    Number of Respondents: 13,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 10 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau is committed to conducting a 
2020 Census that costs less while maintaining high quality results. 
Field data collection activities are a significant cost driver in the 
decennial census. Field data collection activities include creating and 
updating address lists, updating maps, enumerating households and 
persons, collecting data on vacant housing units, and conducting 
quality control operations. In previous censuses, these activities 
required the use of a large temporary field staff with limited training 
using manual or paper forms and systems.
    Advances in technology may create new opportunities to perform 
field data collection tasks in an automated environment. The Census 
Bureau plans to research and learn the use of new technologies to test 
their capabilities in performing data collection activities. As part of 
the learning process, the Census Bureau plans to conduct operations 
using new technologies. This research

[[Page 44581]]

and learning are integral to the Strategic Plan for the 2020 Census.
    Designing and testing innovations are part of the planning of every 
recent decennial census. To carry out these tests, the Census Bureau 
plans to conduct field activities by programming and using mobile 
computing devices, such as smart phones and tablets, and using multiple 
software operating systems. The tests will inform census planners and 
stakeholders on their ability to program applications on different 
devices. In addition, the tests will measure the accuracy, 
productivity, and user experience with different combinations of mobile 
device and applications. Tests may also provide data on the feasibility 
to program applications on privately owned devices. In previous 
censuses, the Census Bureau has purchased equipment that it issues to 
the temporary field staff. After the census, this equipment was 
disposed as excess property.
    The Census Bureau plans to conduct these tests in small geographic 
areas involving a small number of housing units and persons over the 
next three years. The specific areas have not yet been determined. We 
will follow the protocol of past generic clearances: 14 to 30 days 
before the scheduled start date of each field test, we will provide OMB 
with a detailed background on the activity, estimates of respondent 
burden, and samples of pertinent forms and/or questions. We will 
provide OMB annually a report documenting the activities performed 
under this clearance at the end of each year.
    The following sections describe the categories of activities to be 
included under the clearance. The Census Bureau has conducted these 
activities (or similar ones) previously and the individual respondent 
burden remains relatively unchanged from one time to another.

Address Listing and Mapping Tasks

    The Census Bureau maintains a Master Address File (MAF) of housing 
units and other living quarters. Census links each MAF location to the 
Census Bureau mapping system called the Topologically Integrated 
Geographic Encoding and Referencing (TIGER) database. The MAF needs 
updating to account for new housing units and other living quarters. 
The TIGER database needs updating to account for feature changes such 
as new streets and street names.
    The Census Bureau will update map features and address lists on 
mobile computing devices. During the test, it may be necessary to ask 
residents or other knowledgeable persons in a test area for street name 
and address numbers. The Census Bureau will record responses into 
extracts of the mapping and MAF databases that have been loaded onto 
the mobile computing device. The primary purpose of this activity 
during the test is to evaluate the performance of these tasks on a 
mobile computing device in a field environment. The data collected may 
be stored on the mobile computing device and/or other data storage 
system. Address data are protected information under U.S. Code Title 
13, and the test will comply with the Census Bureau privacy and 
security requirements for collecting, transmitting, storing, and using 
information obtained during the test.

Enumeration Functions

    During personal interviews, the decennial census asks a series of 
questions of a household respondent and records the answers. The 
enumeration functions research will focus on using various applications 
and mobile computing devices to enumerate households and persons. The 
research and evaluation may include: Developing an automated 
enumeration questionnaire; usability issues; conducting interviews; 
scheduling return visits; recording contact outcomes; recording the 
status of a housing unit (such as occupied or vacant); adding 
addresses; making work assignments; measuring production; having the 
ability to toggle to a Spanish instrument; enumerator routing; and 
transmitting data. To test enumeration functions, the Census Bureau may 
conduct the enumeration directly with a household member or 
knowledgeable respondent. The Census Bureau will provide the actual 
questions asked to Office of Management and Budget following 
established protocol.
    During these tests, the Census Bureau could develop other 
applications on the mobile computing devices to collect information. 
These applications could include: allowing respondents to enter their 
information directly into the device; perform voice recognition 
commands and recordings; and to input data during a phone call.

Quality Control Functions

    The quality control (QC) functions research is intended to test 
quality control functions and applications on different mobile 
computing devices for both listing and enumeration. The purposes of 
testing these functions are to develop requirements for the QC portion 
of the listing and enumeration applications in 2020. The scope of the 
tests may include revisiting areas and households to verify information 
collected in previous operations; correcting and adding map features, 
addresses, and households; and applying pass/fail requirements. The 
tests may include collecting GPS coordinates of addresses to identify 
and reduce incorrect geographic identifiers of addresses.
    All activities described directly support the Census Bureau's 
efforts to maintain or improve quality while controlling costs in the 
2020 Census. The information collected from households during these 
tests is to research new technologies to plan the 2020 Census. 
Information from respondents will not be used in any data products 
produced by the Census Bureau such as statistical measures or 
indicators. Responses may be used in future research studies that build 
upon the results of these early tests. The Census Bureau may use 
address and mapping information collected during these tests to update 
its MAF and mapping databases.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: One time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: U.S. Code Title 13, Sections 141 and 193.
    OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0336, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 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 email ([email protected]).

    Dated: July 25, 2012.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-18452 Filed 7-27-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P