[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 75 (Thursday, April 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18607-18608]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-07951]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; American Community 
Survey Methods Panel Tests, 2017 Mail Design Test

    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, 2017 Mail 
Design Test.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0936.
    Form Number(s): ACS-1, ACS CATI, ACS CAPI, ACS Internet.
    Type of Request: Non-substantive Change Request.
    Number of Respondents: 288,000.
    Average Hours per Response: 40 minutes.
    Burden Hours: No additional burden hours are requested under this 
non-substantive change request.
    Needs and Uses: The American Community Survey (ACS) collects 
detailed socioeconomic data from about 3.5 million housing units in the 
United States and 36,000 in Puerto Rico each year. The ACS also 
collects detailed socioeconomic data from about 195,000 residents 
living in Group Quarter (GQ) facilities. An ongoing data collection 
effort with an annual sample of this magnitude requires that the ACS 
continue research, testing, and evaluations aimed at reducing 
respondent burden, improving data quality, achieving survey cost 
efficiencies, and improving ACS questionnaire content and related data 
collection materials. The ACS Methods Panel is a research program that 
is designed to address and respond to issues and survey needs.
    In the Census Bureau's continuing effort to reduce respondent 
burden and address concerns about the perceived intrusiveness of the 
ACS, the Census Bureau seeks to test three candidate changes to the 
current ACS mail materials. The three experimental treatments are 
designed to increase public awareness of the ACS through new messaging 
and an updated look and feel that increases respondent engagement and 
self-response, while softening the tone of the mandatory requirement of 
the survey.
    The Census Bureau previously tested the impact of removing or 
modifying the mandatory messages from the mail materials (see Oliver, 
B., Risley, M., & Roberts, A. (2016). 2015 Summer Mandatory Messaging 
Test. Washington DC, U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on February 10, 2017 
from https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/working-papers/2016/acs/2016_Oliver_01.pdf). This proposed test is aimed at building 
on that research and improving the results based on additional feedback 
the Census Bureau obtained from the National Academies' Committee on 
National Statistics (see Plewes, T.J. (2016). ``Reducing Response 
Burden in the American Community Survey.'' Proceedings of a Workshop 
conducted by the Committee on National Statistics Division of 
Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education).
    The three experimental treatments are:
     The Softened Revised Design treatment from the 2015 Summer 
Mandatory Messaging Test.
     A Partial Redesign treatment that maintains the same 
wording as used in the Softened Revised Design treatment but includes 
some methodological changes: A ``Why We Ask'' brochure in the initial 
mailing, changes to the cover of the paper questionnaire, and the use 
of a letter instead of a postcard for the fifth mailing.
     A Full Redesign treatment that includes the same 
methodological changes as the Partial Redesign treatment but also 
modifies the wording in most of the mailings to a more personal 
approach with plain language.
    The purpose of this test is to study the impact of these three 
candidate mail designs on self-response, cost, and the precision of the 
estimates. To field this test, the Census Bureau plans to use the ACS 
production sample (clearance number: 0607-0810, expires 06/30/2018). 
Thus, there is no increase in burden from this test since each 
treatment will result in the same burden estimate per interview (40 
minutes). The ACS sample design consists of randomly assigning each 
monthly sample panel into 24 groups of approximately 12,000 addresses 
each. Each group, called a methods panel group, within a monthly sample 
is representative of the full monthly sample. Each monthly sample is a 
representative subsample of the entire annual sample and is 
representative of the sampling frame.
    The Census Bureau proposes to test these mail designs as part of 
the ACS August 2017 panel, adhering to the same data collection 
protocols as production ACS. The Census Bureau proposes to use two 
randomly selected methods panel groups for each treatment. Hence, each 
treatment will have a sample size of approximately 24,000 addresses. In 
total, approximately 96,000 addresses will be used for the three 
experimental treatments and the control treatment (current production). 
The current production treatment will have the same mail materials as 
the rest of production, but will be sorted and mailed at the same time 
as the other treatment materials. The remaining sample will receive 
production materials.
    The Census Bureau proposes to evaluate treatment comparisons by 
comparing self-response rates at various points in the mailing schedule 
and by comparing the final response rates. The Census Bureau proposes 
comparing treatments at points in the mailing schedule where the 
material differs by design. For each comparison, [alpha] = 0.1 and a 
two-tailed test will be used so that the Census Bureau can measure the 
impact on the evaluation measure in either direction with 80 percent 
power. The effective samples were calculated based on the previous 
year's data for the August panel. The sample size will be able to 
detect differences of approximately 1.25 percentage points between the 
self-response return rates of the control and experimental treatments. 
Additional metrics of interest include overall costs and response rates 
by subgroups.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: One-time test as part of the monthly American Community 
Survey.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Sections 141, 193, 
and 221.
    This information collection request may be viewed at 
www.reginfo.gov. Follow the instructions to view Department of Commerce 
collections currently under review by OMB.
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this

[[Page 18608]]

notice to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

Sheleen Dumas,
PRA Department Lead, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-07951 Filed 4-19-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P