[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 188 (Friday, September 27, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Page 59648]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-23577]


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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: Current Population Survey November Email Address Collection 
Test Supplement.
    OMB Control Number: None.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: New collection.
    Burden Hours: 1,375.
    Number of Respondents: 27,500.
    Average Hours per Response: 3 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The Census Bureau requests clearance for the 
collection of data concerning the November 2013 Email Address 
Collection Test Supplement. The Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics (BLS) sponsor the Current Population Survey (CPS) which has 
been conducted for over 70 years.
    The CPS has collected data on household employment for decades. 
Through the years, survey improvements were made to keep the data 
quality and survey response rates high. Over the last few years, CPS, 
like many surveys, has seen response rates declining slowly. A review 
of paradata has found one of the main reasons for this decline is not 
just refusals but also respondent avoidance (i.e. the interviewers are 
unable to make contact with the respondent). This has led to an effort 
to think of new ways to contact respondents and reduce respondent 
burden so that they may be more likely to answer CPS over the many 
months needed.
    One of the solutions recommended is to research the possibility of 
using the Internet as a data collection mode as well as a tool to help 
increase response rates. We foresee that in the future, we could 
collect email addresses from our respondents. For those that are 
eligible, we could then send an email to the respondent with a secure 
link allowing the respondent to complete the CPS the next month over 
the Internet and in turn, keep up response rates while lowering costs 
of interviewing. Internet is not limited to just a survey data 
collection mode. These emails could be used for other contacts as well. 
We could allow the respondent to set up a time to meet with the 
interviewer at their convenience and save on travel costs associated 
with the multiple personal visits. The email could also serve as a 
``Thank You'' with information that lets respondents know their 
participation is helping improve the quality of our data.
    This supplement is the first step in the review of the feasibility 
of this plan. It will test the ability of collecting email addresses 
and collecting interest in being contacted by email or answering the 
survey through the Internet for possible future enhancements to CPS.
    The information collected during this field test will primarily be 
used to determine the ability to collect email addresses for 
respondents and review characteristics of those respondents. We will 
review to see what factors or characteristics of the household, 
respondent or the interview effect the ability to collect a valid 
address. We will also use the data to see how the respondents respond 
on interest in other modes. Again, we will look at this data across 
housing, person and interview characteristics to see if they impact the 
responses.
    The results of this test will inform us whether there are enough 
respondents willing to do CPS by self-administered web that we could 
contact through email to pursue the next steps in development and 
testing of new modes of contact and collection for CPS. The overall 
combination of results of email address collection and opinions given 
will be used in determining next steps.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: One time.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141, 
181, and 182 and Title 29, United States Code, Sections 1-9.

    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: September 24, 2013.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2013-23577 Filed 9-26-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P