[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 74 (Wednesday, April 17, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16000-16002]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07611]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; 2020 Census 
Post-Enumeration Survey Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-Up

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 June 17, 2019.

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]). You may also submit comments, identified by Docket 
number USBC-2019-0002, to the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. All comments received are part of the public 
record. No comments will be posted to http://www.regulations.gov for 
public viewing until after the comment period has closed. Comments will 
generally be posted without change. All Personally Identifiable 
Information (for example, name and address) voluntarily submitted by 
the commenter may be publicly accessible. Do not submit Confidential 
Business Information or otherwise sensitive or protected information. 
You may submit attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, 
Excel, WordPerfect, or Adobe PDF file formats only.

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, U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 
Silver Hill Road, Room 2H465, Washington, DC 20233, 301-763-8132 (or 
via the internet at [email protected]).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract

    As in previous censuses, the Post-Enumeration Survey (PES) for the 
2020 Census will be conducted to provide estimates of census net 
coverage and components of census coverage (such as correct 
enumerations, omissions, erroneous enumerations [including duplicates], 
and whole-person imputations) for housing units and people living in 
housing units for the United States and Puerto Rico, excluding remote 
Alaska. (See Definition of Terms.) Group quarters (such as college 
dormitories and correctional facilities) are out of scope

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because populations can change significantly between census enumeration 
and PES enumeration operations. Similarly, remote Alaska is out of 
scope for the PES because the seasonal nature of addresses and the 
population throughout the year make it infeasible to accurately conduct 
the matching and follow-up operations necessary for dual-system 
estimation. For this reason, the Census Bureau's past post-enumeration 
surveys have never included remote Alaska. These coverage estimates 
provide insight into the quality and coverage of census results and 
operations. As in the past, including in the 2010 Census Coverage 
Measurement program, the 2020 PES operations and activities must be 
conducted separate from, and independent of, the other 2020 Census 
operations.
    The 2020 PES will use the dual-system estimation procedure, which 
depends on two independent systems of measurement. The independence 
between the PES and census operations is a fundamental necessity for 
dual-system estimation. The PES will comprise two independent 
enumerations of housing units and the household population within the 
same sample areas. These two enumerations are called the enumeration 
sample (E sample) and the population sample (P sample). The primary 
sampling unit is the basic collection unit (BCU), which is the smallest 
unit of collection geography for 2020 Census operations. The E sample 
contains the list of housing units and people enumerated in the 2020 
Census within a sample of BCUs. The P sample contains housing units and 
people in the sample set of sample BCUs, but obtained independently 
from the census. The independent roster of housing units is obtained 
during the PES Independent Listing, while the independent roster of 
people is obtained during the PES Person Interview. The P sample 
housing units and people will be matched to all census housing units in 
the sample BCUs and surrounding BCUs.
    During the Independent Listing operation, field staff, referred to 
as ``listers,'' will canvass every street, road, or other place where 
people might live in their assigned BCUs and construct a list of 
housing units from scratch. Following the completion of listing for 
each BCU, the addresses are computer and clerically matched in the 
Initial Housing Unit Matching operation. Addresses that remain 
unmatched or have unresolved address status after matching will be sent 
to the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up operation, during which listers 
collect additional information that might allow a resolution of any 
differences between the Independent Listing and the preliminary census 
address list results. Matching to a preliminary census file of housing 
units allows the PES to conduct person interviews close to census day 
(April 1, 2020), rather than waiting until the final census list is 
available. In the Final Housing Unit Matching operation addresses 
collected in the Independent Listing operation are matched to the final 
census list of housing units. The Initial Housing Unit Follow-up field 
operation seeks to answer questions needed to resolve the match or 
enumeration status of addresses identified in the Initial Housing Unit 
matching operation, while the Final Housing Unit Follow-up field 
operation seeks to answer similar questions identified in the Final 
Housing Unit matching operation. A Federal Register Notice has been 
issued for the PES Independent Listing operation (Federal Register 
Notice Vol. 83 FR 53849, pages 53849-53850). Federal Register Notices 
for the Person Interview and Person Follow-up operations will be issued 
at a later date.
    Addresses identified for both Initial and Final Housing Unit 
Follow-ups will generally need additional information to determine 
housing unit status (for example, to clarify if the addresses refer to 
a housing unit or commercial building and to identify duplicate 
addresses) or to resolve inconsistencies between the PES and census 
addresses. Using paper questionnaires tailored to capture information 
needed to resolve each specific status question or discrepancy, listers 
will contact a member of each housing unit and ask questions to resolve 
housing unit status or to clarify discrepancies. If the listers do not 
find anyone at home after several attempts, they will try to collect 
the information from a proxy or by observation as a last resort. 
Proxies are respondents who are not members of the household.
    The Initial and Final Housing Unit Follow-up operations will also 
have separate quality control operations. The first quality control 
operation is the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control, which 
contains 15 percent of the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up workload. The 
second quality control operation is the Final Housing Unit Follow-up 
Quality Control, which contains 15 percent of the Final Housing Unit 
Follow-up workload. These operations are implemented to ensure that the 
work performed is of acceptable quality.

II. Method of Collection

    The Housing Unit Follow-up and Housing Unit Follow-up Quality 
Control operations will be conducted through personal visits using 
paper questionnaires. Listers will receive work assignments grouped by 
geography and in close proximity to the lister's residence whenever 
possible. The PES Initial Housing Unit Follow-up and Initial Housing 
Unit Follow-up Quality Control operations will occur May 6, 2020 
through June 19, 2020. The PES Final Housing Unit Follow-up and Final 
Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control operations will occur starting 
May 19, 2021 through June 18, 2021.
    A sample of approximately 180,000 housing units will be selected 
for the Initial Housing Unit Follow-up operation and approximately 
8,000 housing units will be selected for the Final Housing Unit Follow-
up operation. Housing Unit Follow-up listers are expected to knock on 
every door that requires additional information over several spaced 
visits in their assigned BCUs to try to find a resident or proxy to ask 
about the units. The Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control 
operation will contain about 27,000 housing units and the Final Housing 
Unit Follow-up Quality Control operation will contain about 1,200 
housing units.

Definition of Terms

    Components of Census Coverage-- The components of census coverage 
include correct enumerations, erroneous enumerations, whole-person 
imputations, and omissions. Correct enumerations are people or housing 
units that were correctly enumerated in the census. Erroneous 
enumerations are people or housing units that were enumerated in the 
census but should not have been. Examples of erroneous enumerations are 
duplicates, nonexistent housing units or people, and people or housing 
units that were enumerated in the wrong place. Omissions are people and 
housing units that were not enumerated in the census but should have 
been. Lastly, whole-person imputations are census records for which all 
of the demographic characteristics were imputed. Many of these 
imputations represent people in housing units where we knew the 
household count but did not obtain sufficient information about the 
people residing at the housing unit.
    Net Coverage--Reflects the difference between the true population 
(which is estimated by the Post-Enumeration Survey) and the census 
count. If the census count was less than the actual

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number of people or housing units in the population, then we say there 
was an undercount. If the census count was more than the actual number 
of people or housing units in the population, then we say there was an 
overcount.
    For more information about the Post-Enumeration Survey, please 
visit the following page of the Census Bureau's website: https://www.census.gov/coverage_measurement/post-enumeration_surveys/.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-XXXX.
    Form Numbers: D-1303, D-1303PR, D-1340, D-1340PR, D-1380, D-1380PR, 
D-1325, and D-1325PR.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Individuals or Households.

                                                   2020 Census
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                                                                     Estimated    Estimated time
                            Operation                                number of     per response    Total burden
                                                                    respondents    (in minutes)        hours
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Initial Housing Unit Follow-up..................................         180,000               5          15,000
Initial Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control..................          27,000               5           2,250
Final Housing Unit Follow-up....................................           8,000               5             667
Final Housing Unit Follow-up Quality Control....................           1,200               5             100
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 18,017 hours.
    Estimated Total Annual Cost: $0. (This is not the cost of 
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for 
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to 
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services 
required specifically by the collection.)
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, U.S. Code, Sections 141 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.

Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer, 
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2019-07611 Filed 4-16-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P