[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 180 (Tuesday, September 19, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64404-64407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-20256]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Census Bureau


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment 
Request; American Community Survey Methods Panel: 2024 Sexual 
Orientation and Gender Identity Test

AGENCY: Census Bureau, Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of information collection, request for comment.

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[[Page 64405]]

SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information 
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information 
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The 
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment on the 
proposed revision of the American Community Survey Methods Panel Tests, 
prior to the submission of the information collection request (ICR) to 
OMB for approval.

DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed 
information collection must be received on or before November 20, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments by 
email to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#761715051958060417364a17561e0413104b" http: census.gov">census.gov</a>">acso.pra@census.gov</a>. Please reference American Community 
Survey SOGI Test in the subject line of your comments. You may also 
submit comments, identified by Docket Number USBC-2023-0007, 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, or Adobe PDF file formats.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed 
to Elizabeth Poehler, ADC for Survey Methods, U.S. Census Bureau, 301-
763-9305, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e1848d889b8083849589cf918e84898d8493a1dd80c189938487dc" http: census.gov">census.gov</a>">elizabeth.poehler@census.gov</a>.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract

    The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing monthly survey 
that collects detailed housing and socioeconomic data from about 3.5 
million addresses in the United States and about 36,000 addresses in 
Puerto Rico each year. The ACS also collects detailed socioeconomic 
data from about 195,000 residents living in group quarters facilities 
in the United States and Puerto Rico each year. Data is collected via 
self-response modes (internet and paper) as well as interviewer-
administered modes via telephone and in person. Resulting tabulations 
from this data collection are provided on a yearly basis. The ACS 
allows the Census Bureau to provide timely and relevant housing and 
socioeconomic statistics, even for low levels of geography.
    The Census Bureau plans to request Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) approval to conduct a test of sexual orientation and gender 
identity questions on the ACS. The test is referred to as the 2024 ACS 
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) Test. Federal agencies 
have expressed interest in and identified legal uses for this 
information, including civil rights and equal employment enforcement.
    The Census Bureau proposes to test question wording, response 
categories, and placement of sexual orientation and gender identity 
questions on the questionnaire. Of specific interest is how the 
questions perform when completed by proxy respondents. In the ACS, one 
person at an address typically answers questions about everyone living 
there. When one person answers a survey about others, we call this 
``proxy reporting.'' Questions on sexual orientation and gender 
identity are not currently asked on any federal surveys that use proxy 
reporting. The test will build on existing qualitative research 
conducted throughout the federal government and private sector, 
including work by the Federal Interagency Working Group on Measuring 
SOGI, the Measuring SOGI Research Group as part of the Federal 
Committee on Statistical Methodology, and the National Academies of 
Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM).
    We are proposing to test up to two versions of the questions using 
a nationally representative, split-panel test. A sample of housing 
units will be selected for this test; housing units in sample for the 
ACS will not be eligible. We are also proposing to test a variation in 
display of the questions in the internet mode. A follow-up reinterview 
will also be conducted to assess the reliability and quality of 
responses.
    Building on recommendations from NASEM and OMB Best Practices, the 
Census Bureau proposes to test a two-step gender identity question: 
first asking about sex assigned at birth and then asking about current 
gender. These questions will replace the existing question on sex.
    The proposed `sex assigned at birth' question would ask: What sex 
was <Name> assigned at birth? Mark (X) ONE box. The Census Bureau is 
proposing to omit the text, ``on your original birth certificate'' from 
the sex assigned at birth question as proposed by NASEM and OMB. Asking 
the question without this phrase has been used by some federal surveys 
and cognitively tested without issue (Asking About SOGI in the CPS: 
Cognitive Interview Results (census.gov)). Removing the reference to 
the birth certificate is more culturally sensitive to non-English 
speakers, some of whom may not have a birth certificate or have seen 
it. In recent years, many people who have a designation of X on their 
birth certificate were assigned male or female at birth before their 
parents chose to use X instead. Removing the birth certificate 
reference may help parents of those children answer this question. The 
Census Bureau also proposes to keep the existing order of the male and 
female categories to address a serious concern about how an 
inconsistency in the order of male/female categories across Census 
Bureau surveys could lead to interviewers accidentally selecting the 
wrong response category. Keeping the male/female order also minimizes 
the number of changes being tested at once.
    The `current gender' question will be asked only of people who are 
15 and older. The proposed question is: What is <Name's> current 
gender? The response categories will be Male, Female, Transgender, 
Nonbinary, and ``This person uses a different term'' (with a space to 
write in a response). The proposed question stem aligns with the NASEM 
report recommendations. It refers to the subject of the question in the 
stem so that respondents are not left to reason what the question is 
asking based solely on the response options. The wording is also more 
concise when administered in the proxy version of the question as shown 
above.
    The Census Bureau proposes to add ``nonbinary'' as a response 
option. Estimates suggest that over one million adults in the U.S. use 
this term to describe themselves. In previous research (e.g., CPS 
pretesting), respondents have commented that this category should be 
added and that not every person who is nonbinary considers themselves 
transgender. Data on the nonbinary population was also part of requests 
from federal agencies.
    The OMB best practices suggest using a `mark all that apply' 
instruction for the gender question. However, most federal surveys do 
not use `mark all that apply' for this question. Additionally, the 
California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) decided not to implement 
`mark all that apply' in part due to concerns about ``the potential for 
increases in

[[Page 64406]]

gender minority reporting from those who do not primarily identify as 
non-cisgender'' artificially inflating estimates. Given the lack of 
consensus in this area, the Census Bureau proposes to test two 
treatments. A treatment that allows only one response category to be 
marked will be compared to a treatment that allows multiple categories 
to be marked.
    Consistent with recommendations, a verification question will also 
be asked for anyone whose answer to the `sex assigned at birth' 
question and `current gender' question does not match. In addition, for 
evaluation purposes, the Census Bureau is considering asking the 
verification question to a sample of respondents whose answers are the 
same in the two questions. The Census Bureau is also proposing to add 
an open-ended write-in question to gather additional information about 
a person's gender identity for research purposes.
    The `sexual orientation' question will be asked only of people who 
are 15 and older. The proposed question is: Which of the following best 
represents how <Name> thinks of themselves? With response categories 
of: Gay or lesbian, Straight--that is not gay or lesbian, Bisexual, and 
This person uses a different term (with space to write-in a response). 
This question is in alignment with current recommendations of how to 
ask about sexual orientation, however it omits an explicit ``I don't 
know'' response category. This approach follows the conventions of the 
ACS, which does not offer an explicit ``don't know'' response option 
for any topics in the survey to minimize item nonresponse and increase 
data quality. Respondents can skip this question on the internet and 
paper modes. Interviewers can mark ``don't know'' and ``refusal'' in 
the computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI) instrument.
    To help address sensitivity in interviewer-led modes, especially if 
other household members are present, the Census Bureau is also 
proposing to use a flashcard for in-person interviews and use numbered 
response categories for both in person and telephone interviews so that 
respondents can indicate a response category number to select the 
appropriate category or categories.
    Both the `current gender' and `sexual orientation' question allow a 
write-in response. In the internet mode we will test two versions of 
the write in. In the first version the respondent will see the 
question, response categories, and the write-in field when they get to 
the screen with the question. In the second version, the respondent 
will only see the question and response categories when they get to the 
screen with the question. If the respondent selects the ``This person 
uses a different term'' category, then the write-in space will display, 
and the respondent can provide a write-in response. This display 
experiment will be embedded within the question wording experiment.
    A follow-up content reinterview is also proposed for this test. A 
subset of the ACS questions will be re-asked in the reinterview to 
measure response reliability. For half of the reinterview sample, we 
will reinterview the sample respondent as the original interview, for 
the other half we will reinterview another adult member of the 
household. This will allow us to compare response reliability for proxy 
vs. self-responses. We will also compare the reliability of the SOGI 
questions to other questions in the ACS.

II. Method of Collection

    Data collection for the test will mirror the data collection 
protocol for the ACS, which includes internet, paper, telephone, and 
in-person interviewing. In addition, a content follow-up reinterview 
will be conducted, most likely by telephone, though other modes such as 
internet are being considered. Interviews will be administered in 
English and Spanish.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: 0607-0936.
    Form Number(s): ACS-1, ACS-1(SP), ACS CAPI(HU).
    Type of Review: Regular submission, Request for a Revision of a 
Currently Approved Collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: We estimate that 271,680 sampled 
housing units will respond to the test of the 480,000 housing units 
sampled for the test. Additionally, responding housing units are 
eligible for a content follow-up reinterview. We estimate that 65,280 
sampled housing units will also complete the reinterview.
    Estimated Time per Response: 40 minutes for the average household 
questionnaire and 20 minutes for the content follow-up reinterview.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 203,015 hours.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          Estimated number   Estimated burden   Total estimated
                                                           of respondents       (in hours)        burden hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACS interview..........................................            271,680              0.667            181,211
Content Follow-up Reinterview..........................             65,280              0.334             21,804
                                                        --------------------------------------------------------
    Total..............................................  .................  .................            203,015
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $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, 193, and 221.

IV. Request for Comments

    We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau 
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is 
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether 
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy 
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed 
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden 
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. We will include, or summarize, each comment in our 
request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, 
phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information 
in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--
including your personal identifying information--may be made publicly 
available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold 
your personal identifying information from public review, we

[[Page 64407]]

cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Under Secretary for 
Economic Affairs, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2023-20256 Filed 9-18-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P


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