[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 19, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46895-46898]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-16966]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

 Census Bureau


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; 2017 Puerto 
Rico Census Test

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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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.

DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be submitted on 
or before September 19, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Jennifer Jessup, 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 Robin A. Pennington, Census Bureau, HQ-2K281N, 
Washington, DC 20233; (301) 763-8132 (or via email at 
[email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The Census Bureau will conduct a 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test, with 
components designed to test new approaches or validate existing 
approaches and systems integration related to (1) Address Canvassing, 
including In-Office and In-Field components; (2) Optimizing Self-
Response, including contact strategies, language support, and 
questionnaire content; (3) Update Enumerate, including technical and 
operational testing; and (4) Nonresponse Followup, including 
technological and operational improvements. The Address Canvassing 
component of the 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test is included in the 
Address Canvassing Testing package because the background, description, 
and systems to be used are the same in both the stateside and Puerto 
Rico operations.
    Optimizing Self-Response, one of four key innovation areas for the 
2020 Census, is focused on improving our methods for increasing the 
number of people who take advantage of self-response options and 
refining the questionnaire content to increase the efficiency and 
effectiveness of census operations, and at the same time reducing 
costs.
    Another key innovation area for the 2020 Census is Reengineering 
Field Operations. Making our methods for enumerating the households 
that do not initially respond more efficient can contribute to a less 
costly census while maintaining high-quality results. Our redesigned 
methods need to be tested in Puerto Rico because of a number of 
differences from stateside operations.
    A test in Puerto Rico includes a review of other innovations that 
are unique to this U.S. territory. Because of the unique structure of 
addresses in Puerto Rico, newly defined algorithms were necessary to 
update and maintain the address frame. These algorithms make it now 
possible to refresh the address frame with U.S. Postal Service data. 
Another innovation is the introduction of the self-response methodology 
that in the past has been the standard methodology used in urban and 
suburban areas of the States. In the 2000 and 2010 censuses, data 
collection throughout Puerto Rico used only the

[[Page 46896]]

Update/Leave methodology that is usually reserved for more rural areas 
stateside (in particular, in areas where mail is not delivered to 
houses, or where street name/house number addresses are not common). 
With a more accurate address frame of Puerto Rico's addresses, this 
test will indicate how effectively and where the innovations of the 
reengineering of address canvassing and the optimizing of self-response 
can be applied.

Optimizing Self-Response

    The 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test is designed to evaluate several 
strategies to optimize the rate at which the public self-responds to 
the census. A higher rate of self-response will mean fewer cases for 
the Nonresponse Follow-up operation, saving taxpayer money by reducing 
costs. For the first time in Puerto Rico, the Census Bureau is 
introducing both a mail contact strategy and an Internet response 
strategy. The Census Bureau began testing both strategies in Puerto 
Rico for the 2015 National Content Test and will continue to test these 
strategies in the municipios selected for the 2017 Census Tests.
    Internet Push is the primary mail contact strategy proposed for the 
stateside 2020 Census and has been used in Census Bureau research and 
testing efforts since 2012. Internet Choice includes a paper 
questionnaire in the first mailing, along with an invitation to 
complete the questionnaire online, providing a choice of Internet or 
paper from the beginning of the contact strategy.
    We plan to study the following in the 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test:
     Comparing the self-response rates for the ``Choice'' panel 
and the Internet instrument uptake rates, where we invite the 
respondent to use the Internet in the initial letter mailing 
(``Internet Push'').
     Measuring the effects of incorporating household contact 
strategies, as tested to date, to encourage self-response, including 
letter and postcard reminders.
    The Bureau will continue its testing and further evaluation of 
questionnaire content that we studied stateside:
     Testing of a combined race and Hispanic-origin question 
that is similar to one the Census Bureau used in the 2015 National 
Content Test. Based on results from the 2010 Race and Hispanic Origin 
Alternative Questionnaire Experiment (Compton, et. al. 2012), the 2017 
Puerto Rico Census Test provides an opportunity to further test a 
combined race and Hispanic-origin question.
     Testing new response categories for opposite sex and same 
sex husband/wife/spouse and unmarried partner for the relationship 
question.

Nonresponse Follow-up (NRFU)

    The 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test will allow the Census Bureau to 
continue to refine, optimize, and assess the operational procedures and 
technical design of the Nonresponse Follow-up operation. This will 
build upon the results of previous stateside field tests where the NRFU 
operation had been conducted. Specifically:
     Operational procedures
    [cir] Testing continued refinements to the field data collection 
instrument for enumeration, including where potential problems exist in 
our questionnaire pathing and interview software user interface issues.
    [cir] Continuing refinement of our re-designed method of 
enumerating multi-unit structures, designed to identify vacant 
households with a minimal number of contact attempts, and minimization 
of respondent burden.
    [cir] Continuing refinement of our Quality Control Reinterview 
process, to detect and deter falsification by field enumerators. This 
may include, for instance, new methodologies for sampling reinterview 
cases, and further use of administrative records and paradata to 
identify/rule out potential falsification.
    [cir] Continuing evaluation of our enumerator training procedures 
and content, including both online training modules and in-classroom 
training.
    [cir] Continuing our refinement and operational testing of field 
supervisor to enumerator ratio, based on the results of previous tests 
to ensure that staffing ratios of enumerators to supervisors are 
validated as feasible during field operations.
    [cir] Adding special collection of certain rural Puerto Rico 
addresses in the enumeration instrument.
    [cir] Integrating a Non-ID Field Verification assignment into the 
NRFU workload. The Non-ID Field Verification cases are intended to 
verify whether the living quarters associated with Non-ID self-
responses that cannot be matched to the Census Bureau address frame 
actually do exist and were assigned to the correct census block.
     Technical Design
    [cir] Continuing refinement of the alerts generated by the 
operational control system to identify potentially problematic field 
behavior in real time.
    [cir] Continuing refinement of the optimization and routing 
algorithms used to make field assignments.
    [cir] Continuing work to integrate into the Census Bureau's 
enterprise data collection systems.

Update Enumerate (UE)

    The 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test will allow the Census Bureau to 
test the Update Enumerate operation, which combines listing 
methodologies of Address Canvassing with the enumeration methodologies 
from Nonresponse Follow-up. This operation was used in the 2010 Census 
for about 1 percent of all addresses, mostly in geographic areas that:
     Do not have city-style addresses;
     Do not receive mail through city-style addresses;
     Receive mail at post office boxes;
     Have unique challenges associated with accessibility;
     Have been affected by natural disasters; or
     Have high concentrations of seasonally vacant housing.
    The following objectives are being tested for Update Enumerate:
     Integrating listing and enumeration operations and 
systems;
     Building on previous stateside test experiences to 
evaluate the impact on cost and quality of the contact strategy on 
enumerator productivity and efficiency;
     Testing refinements to the field data collection 
instrument for enumeration, including such things as allowing 
collection of data from ``other'' address for in-movers and whole 
household ``usual home elsewhere'' cases;
     Testing field supervisor to enumerator ratios to ensure 
that staffing ratios of enumerators to supervisors are validated as 
feasible during field operations.

II. Method of Collection

Test Sites

    The Census Bureau will conduct the 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test 
concurrently in Carolina, Lo[iacute]za, and Trujillo Alto municipios. 
These locations offer particular characteristics that support the 
Census Bureau's research goals. Conducting the 2017 Puerto Rico Census 
Test in rural and urban areas will allow us to test our assignment 
routing strategies in lightly and densely populated areas and 
understand the unique challenges to field enumeration in Puerto Rico.

Self-Response

    The housing units in the selected areas included in the 2017 Puerto 
Rico Census Test will be contacted by mail and invited to complete 
their questionnaire via the Internet. Internet

[[Page 46897]]

self-response contact methods include either a letter or a postcard. We 
will also test optimal strategies for delivering mail materials, 
including paper questionnaires, to households that do not or cannot 
respond online. We will continue to test our Non-ID Processing 
methodology as another strategy for optimizing self-response. Non-ID 
Processing refers to address matching and geocoding for census 
responses that lack a preassigned census identification code. In the 
2017 Puerto Rico Census Test, we will continue to develop our 
capability to conduct real-time non-ID processing.
    This test will allow us to interactively prompt a respondent (while 
they are still online filling out the form) for additional address and 
location information if the respondent's address cannot be matched to 
an address with a Census ID or geocoded. A non-ID respondent whose 
address cannot be matched to our address database will be prompted 
during his or her Internet self-response session to confirm the address 
information they provided while filling out the form or to indicate the 
location of their address on an on-screen map. This test will allow us 
to better understand requirements related to scalability of planned 
systems and determine metrics for ongoing monitoring and evaluation. If 
the address match is not resolved during automated processing, Census 
Bureau staff will attempt to manually match or geocode addresses. We 
estimate that about one percent of the overall non-ID respondents will 
be contacted as part of the manual matching process. Additionally, we 
plan to test a mechanism for validating all non-ID responses by 
matching the response data to a composite file consisting of federal 
administrative records and third-party data.

Nonresponse Follow-up (NRFU)

    If a household does not ultimately respond to the self-response 
portion of the test by a specified date, it is included in the universe 
for the NRFU portion of the test, during which enumerators will attempt 
to follow up with the nonresponding households to collect data. In 
advance of the full deployment of enumerators following up with 
nonresponding households, a small number of the nonresponding cases may 
be subject to early follow-up to allow for the live testing of systems, 
data collection applications, and field procedures and to provide the 
field data collection supervisors to gain experience with the 
enumeration application.
    The Census Bureau will conduct NRFU with mobile smartphone devices 
provided via a contract with the Census Bureau to provide devices, 
peripherals, and service plans. The devices will utilize a Census 
Bureau provided enumeration application solution for conducting the 
NRFU field data collection.

Nonresponse Follow-up Quality Control Reinterview (NRFU-RI)

    A sample of cases that have been enumerated via Nonresponse Follow-
up will be selected for reinterview. This operation is intended to help 
us pinpoint possible cases of enumerator falsification. Like the NRFU 
operation before it, NRFU-RI will use the Census Bureau provided 
enumeration software on mobile devices. We will also test centralized 
phone contacts of the reinterview cases before sending them to an 
enumerator in the field, providing potential cost avoidance 
opportunities.

Non-ID Field Verification (FV)

    Households that self-respond to the Census without an ID and cannot 
be matched to our address frame (either via automated methods or 
clerical review) may be sent to the field for NRFU enumerators to 
conduct a field verification operation. This sub-operation is intended 
to verify that the housing unit exists, and if possible, to collect 
coordinate data to enable accurate attribution to a census block.

Update Enumerate (UE)

    Update Enumerate for the 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test will test 
three of the components of the operation: Update Enumerate Production, 
Update Enumerate Follow-up, and Update Enumerate Reinterview. In 
addition to the field operation, the Census Bureau is testing mailing 
out an invitation package to housing units with a mailable address to 
generate self-response before the operation begins. If a household 
self-responds, the UE fieldworker (enumerator) will not enumerate that 
house while listing the geographic area. This is a cost savings to 
Update Enumerate since the enumerator will not have to spend time 
collecting the enumeration of self-responding households.

Update Enumerate Production

    Enumerators visit specific geographic areas to identify every place 
where people could live or stay comparing what they see on the ground 
to the existing census address list and either verify or correct the 
address and location information. Much like Address Canvassing, 
enumerators classify each living quarter (LQ) as a housing unit or 
group quarter (GQ). If the LQ is classified as a GQ, no attempt is made 
to enumerate since the plan for the 2020 Census is to have a separate 
operation enumerate GQs.
    The enumerators will attempt to conduct an interview for each 
housing unit. If someone answers, the enumerators will provide a 
Confidentiality Notice and ask about the address in order to verify or 
update the information, as appropriate. The enumerators will then ask 
if there are any additional LQs in the structure or on the property. If 
there are additional LQs, the enumerators will collect/update that 
information, as appropriate. The enumerator will then interview the 
respondent using the questionnaire on the mobile device.
    If no one is home at a non responding housing unit, the enumerator 
will leave a Notice of Visit inviting a respondent for each household 
to go online with an ID to complete the 2017 Puerto Rico Census Test 
questionnaire. The Notice of Visit will also include the phone number 
for Census Questionnaire Assistance (CQA) if the respondent has any 
questions or would prefer to respond to the questionnaire on the phone.

Update Enumerate Follow-up

    The UE operation will have a UE Follow-up component for those 
households that were not enumerated on the first visit and have not 
responded via the Internet or CQA. The UE Follow-up will use the same 
contact strategies and business rules as Nonresponse Follow-up. UE 
enumerators will conduct the operation using Census Bureau provided 
listing and enumeration application on a Census Bureau provided mobile 
device, which securely collects and transmits respondent data.

Update Enumerate Reinterview

    A sample of cases enumerated via Update Enumerate or Update 
Enumerate Follow-up will be selected for reinterview. The intention of 
this operation is to help us pinpoint possible cases of enumerator 
falsification. Update Enumerate Reinterview will use the Census 
Bureau's enumeration software on mobile devices. We will also test 
centralized phone contacts of the reinterview cases before sending them 
to an enumerator in the field, providing potential cost savings.

Language Services

    Telephone questionnaire assistance will be available in Spanish as 
well as English.

[[Page 46898]]

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
    Form Number(s): Paper and electronic questionnaires; numbers to be 
determined.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Households/Individuals.
    Estimated Number of Respondents:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Estimated    Estimated time
                      Operation or category                          number of     per response    Total burden
                                                                    respondents      (minutes)     hours (hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geographic Area Focused on Self-Response
    Internet/Telephone/Paper....................................          95,000              10          15,834
    Nonresponse Follow-up.......................................          70,000              10          11,667
    Nonresponse Follow-up Quality Control RI....................           7,000              10           1,167
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
        Self-Response Subtotal..................................         172,000  ..............          28,668
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Geographic Area Focused on Update Enumerate
    Update Enumerate Response...................................          14,000              12           2,800
    Update Enumerate Follow-up Response.........................          14,000              10           2,334
    Update Enumerate Reinterview................................           2,800              10             467
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
        Update Enumerate Subtotal...............................          30,800  ..............           5,601
Non-ID Processing Phone Follow-up...............................             200               5              17
                                                                 -----------------------------------------------
            Totals..............................................         203,000  ..............          34,286
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Area Focused on Self-Response

    Estimate for Self-Response [Internet/Telephone/Paper]: 95,000 
respondents.
    Corresponding Nonresponse Follow-up Cases: 70,000 respondents.
    Corresponding Nonresponse Follow-up Quality Control Re-Interview 
Cases: 7,000 respondents.
    Area focused on Update Enumerate: 28,000 respondents..
    Corresponding Update Enumerate Cases: 14,000.
    Corresponding Update Enumerate Followup Cases: 14,000.
    Corresponding Update Enumerate Reinterview Cases: 2,800.
    Non-ID Processing Cases requiring a phone call to the respondent to 
derive a match to a census address or to assign to a census block: 200.

Total: 203,000 Contacts

    Estimated Time per Response:
    Paper/Internet Responders: 10 minutes per response.
    Nonresponse Follow-up Cases: 10 minutes per response.
    Nonresponse Follow-up Quality Control Reinterview Cases: 10 minutes 
per response.
    Update Enumerate Cases: 12 minutes per response.
    Update Enumerate Follow-up Cases: 10 minutes per response.
    Update Enumerate Reinterview Cases: 10 minutes per response.
    Non-ID Processing Cases requiring a telephone follow-up to match/
geocode: 5 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 34,286 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: There are no costs to 
respondents other than their time to participate in this data 
collection.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Sections 141, 191 and 193.

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: July 13, 2016.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2016-16966 Filed 7-18-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P