[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 92 (Monday, May 15, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22308-22309]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09727]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


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: American Community Survey Methods Panel Tests, 2017 Adaptive 
Strategy 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 households 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.
    Residents of sampled housing units are initially invited to self-
respond to the survey through a series of mailings. Mail materials are 
sent to sampled housing units using an internet push strategy. This 
method encourages households to respond via Internet in the first two 
mailings and then provides a paper questionnaire in the third (sent 
about two weeks after the first mailing), followed by additional 
reminders. The internet was added as a mode of data collection to the 
ACS in 2013. The addition of this mode helped lower the data collection 
costs for the ACS and provided a convenient way for respondents to 
complete the survey. However, this frustrates some respondents who do 
not have Internet

[[Page 22309]]

access or prefer to respond by paper. In fact, the addition of the 
internet mode resulted in self-response rates decreasing in certain 
areas (Baumgardner, S., Griffin, D., & Raglin, D. 2014. ``The Effects 
of Adding an Internet Response Option to the American Community 
Survey'', 2014 American Community Survey Research and Evaluation Report 
Memorandum Series, ACS14-RER-21. Retrieved March 6, 2017 from https://www.census.gov/library/working-papers/2014/acs/2014_Baumgardner_04.html). Those less likely to respond by internet 
include those 65 and older, adults with less than a high school 
education, and those living in households with a total income of less 
than $20,000 (Pew Research Center, September 22, 2015). ``Coverage 
Error in Internet Surveys.'' Retrieved on March 15, 2017 from http://www.pewresearch.org/2015/09/22/coverage-error-in-internet-surveys).
    The Census Bureau seeks to test an additional mailing strategy in 
areas with a low likelihood to respond via the internet. The new 
strategy would involve mailing a paper questionnaire to these areas 
earlier in the mailing process, giving households the option to respond 
by paper or via the internet. This strategy is called the Choice 
method. The purpose of this test is to study the impact of offering a 
choice in response modes on self-response, cost, and the precision of 
the estimates. The Census Bureau proposes to test this strategy as part 
of the October 2017 ACS production panel (clearance number: 0607-0810, 
expires 6/30/2018). Thus, there is no increase in burden from this test 
since it will result in the same burden estimate per interview (40 
minutes).
    Census tracts will be identified as Choice census tracts based on a 
method similar to that being developed for the 2020 Census that looks 
at varying combinations of low availability of high-speed internet 
connections, historically low ACS survey response via the internet, and 
a large proportion of the population aged 65 and older, for example. 
Based on current analysis and estimates, of the over 70,000 tracts in 
the United States, approximately 33 percent would be identified as 
Choice tracts. Of the approximately 288,000 housing units in a given 
month of ACS sample, approximately 100,000 would be in the Choice 
tracts. For testing purposes, approximately half of the housing units 
in Choice tracts will be sent the choice mailing materials, while the 
other half will receive production mailing materials. All households in 
tracts not selected to receive the Choice method will receive the 
current production materials following the Push mailing strategy.
    The Census Bureau proposes to evaluate mailing strategies by 
comparing self-response rates and by comparing the final response 
rates, which include responses obtained via interviewer modes. This 
will help determine the impact of offering a paper questionnaire 
earlier in the mailout process. For this comparison, a two-tailed test 
(at the [alpha] = 0.1 level) will be used so that the Census Bureau can 
measure the impact on the evaluation measure in either direction with 
80 percent power. The sample size will be able to detect differences of 
approximately 1 percentage point between the self-response return rates 
of the identified tracts receiving the Push materials versus those 
receiving the Choice materials. Additional metrics of interest include 
response rates by sub-groups, overall costs, and the impact on 
reliability of the ACS estimates.
    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 notice 
to [email protected] or fax to (202) 395-5806.

Sheleen Dumas,
PRA Departmental Lead, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2017-09727 Filed 5-12-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P