55032 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 186 / Wednesday, September 24, 2008 / Notices 

asked, the overall length of the average 

interview will not change. 

The Census Bureau uses the 

information collected in the SOC to 

publish estimates of the number of new 

residential housing units started, under 

construction, completed, and the 

number of new houses sold and for sale. 

The Census Bureau also publishes many 

financial and physical characteristics of 

new housing units. Government 

agencies use these statistics to evaluate 

economic policy, measure progress 

towards the national housing goal, make 

policy decisions, and formulate 

legislation. For example, the Board of 

Governors of the Federal Reserve 

System uses data from this survey to 

evaluate the effect of interest rates in 

this interest-rate sensitive area of the 

economy. The Bureau of Economic 

Analysis uses the data in developing the 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The 

private sector uses the information for 

estimating the demand for building 

materials and the many products used 

in new housing and to schedule 

production, distribution, and sales 

efforts. The financial community uses 

the data to estimate the demand for 

short-term (construction loans) and 

long-term (mortgages) borrowing. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations; Not-for-profit 

institutions. 

Frequency: Monthly. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Legal Authority: Title 13, United 

States Code, Sections 9(b), 161, and 182. 

OMB Desk Officer: Brian HarrisKojetin, (202) 395–7314. 

Copies of the above information 

collection proposal can be obtained by 

calling or writing Diana Hynek, 

Departmental Paperwork Clearance 

Officer, (202) 482–0266, Department of 

Commerce, Room 6625, 14th and 

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, 

DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 

dhynek@doc.gov). 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB 

Desk Officer either by fax (202–395– 

7245) or e-mail (bharrisk@omb.eop.gov). 

Dated: September 19, 2008. 

Gwellnar Banks, 

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. E8–22412 Filed 9–23–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Census Bureau 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; Generic Clearance 

for the 2010 Census Program for 

Evaluations and Experiments 

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau. 

ACTION: Notice. 

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, 

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)). 

DATES: To ensure consideration, written 

comments must be submitted on or 

before November 24, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Diana Hynek, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6625, 

14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

Internet at dHynek@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument(s) and instructions should 

be directed to Jason Machowski, Bureau 

of the Census, HQ–3H470C, 

Washington, DC 20233; (301) 763–4173. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The Census Bureau will conduct the 

2010 Census Program for Evaluations 

and Experiments (CPEX) to evaluate the 

current census and to build a 

foundation on which to make early and 

informed decisions for planning the 

next one in 2020. Program planners 

designed CPEX to measure the 

effectiveness of the 2010 Census design 

(including operations, systems, and 

processes), in addition to determining 

how the design impacts data quality. 

The 2010 CPEX consists of 

assessments, experiments, and 

evaluations. Assessments document 

final volumes, rates, and costs for 

individual operations or processes; they 

do not involve unique data collections, 

and therefore will not be submitted for 

clearance. Experiments are quantitative 

studies that occur during a decennial 

census. The decennial environment is 

required for experimental studies 

because it provides the best conditions 

to learn about the value of new methods 

and to accurately measure their 

effectiveness and feasibility. Finally, 

evaluation studies analyze, interpret, 

and synthesize the effectiveness of 

census components, and their impact on 

data quality and coverage. Evaluation 

studies use data collected from census 

operations, processes, systems, and 

auxiliary data collections. 

The 2010 CPEX program will operate 

as a generic clearance. This public 

notice specifically accounts for data 

collection plans for four experiments 

and three evaluations. The balance of 

evaluations that potentially require 

independent data collections in the 

2010 CPEX will be submitted to the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) on a flow basis, as more detail of 

the activities are known. The estimated 

number of respondents and annual 

reporting hours being requested cover 

both the known and yet to be submitted 

experiments and evaluations. 

The Census Bureau plans four 

experimental designs: Alternative 

Questionnaire Experiment (AQE); 2010 

Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) Contact 

Strategy Experiment; 2010 Deadline 

Messaging (DM) Experiment, and 2010 

Privacy Notification (PN) Experiment. 

Most of the experimental designs have 

been developed to test more than one 

research objective, resulting in multiple 

treatments per study. All experimental 

questionnaires received will be treated 

as the respondents’ official census form. 

This public notice also includes three 

evaluations: 2010 AQE Reinterview 

Evaluation; 2010 Content Reinterview 

Evaluation; and 2010 Alternative Group 

Quarters (GQ) Questionnaire Evaluation. 

Alternative Questionnaire Experiment 

(AQE) 

The AQE has several objectives. The 

overall goal of the study is to continue 

efforts to develop a user-friendly 

mailout questionnaire that can be 

accurately completed by respondents. 

This experiment will test various 

designs on how the Census Bureau asks 

respondents to provide their data on the 

paper form. A large focus of the 2010 

AQE is on methods to improve the 

completeness and accuracy for reporting 

of race and Hispanic origin. Four panels 

will test the performance of a combined 

race and Hispanic origin question (these 

data are currently collected by asking 

two separate questions: one on race and 

one on Hispanic origin). In addition to 

testing a combined question on race and 

Hispanic origin, seven panels will be 

devoted to potential refinements of the 

current separate-question approach, for 

a total of eleven panels devoted to race 

and Hispanic origin research. Other 

topics covered by the AQE include an 

examination of true residence status by 


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Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 186 / Wednesday, September 24, 2008 / Notices 55033 

collecting additional information on the 

initial census return pertaining to 

household coverage (one panel) and an 

examination of the effectiveness of all 

questionnaire changes made since 

Census 2000 (one panel). The Census 

Bureau accomplishes the latter by 

administering the Census 2000 form to 

a subset of the 2010 universe. 

The AQE comprises fourteen panels, 

including a control panel. The estimated 

sample size for each panel dealing with 

race and Hispanic origin is 30,000. The 

estimated sample size of the panel 

examining alternative designs of the 

undercount (and overcount) questions 

in the mail form, to effectively identify 

census coverage errors for follow-up is 

30,000. The estimated sample size of the 

panel examining combined effects on 

the data of all questionnaire changes 

made in the 2010 mail questionnaire is 

10,000. For all panels, a national sample 

of households will be selected with a 

stratified sample design. Sample 

households will receive one of thirteen 

experimental forms instead of the 

standard 2010 Census form. For the 

control panel, the estimated sample size 

is 30,000. These households will receive 

the standard 2010 Census form. 

The performance of the experimental 

treatments will be measured in two 

ways. First, researchers will compare 

item nonresponse statistics and overall 

mail response rates to the 2010 Census 

‘‘control’’ panel (i.e., the standard 2010 

census form which excludes 

experimental factors). The statistics 

include mail response rate, data item 

nonresponse rates, data item 

distributions, ‘‘correctness’’ of the 

household count question, and the rate 

at which respondents incorrectly skip 

questions that they should answer. 

Second, researchers will analyze 

findings from the AQE Reinterview 

Evaluation described later in this 

document. 

2010 Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) 

Contact Strategy Experiment 

The primary objective of this 

experiment is to understand the effects 

of changing the number of NRFU 

contacts in a census environment. This 

study has the potential to provide large 

cost savings through a possible 

reduction in NRFU contacts. In recent 

decennial censuses, enumerators have 

attempted six contacts. The goal is to 

determine whether cost savings can be 

realized by reducing the number of 

NRFU contacts, while maintaining the 

same level of data quality. 

The 2010 NRFU Contact Strategy 

Experiment comprises three panels 

(including a control panel), with an 

estimated sample size of 40,000 each, 

for an estimated total sample of 120,000. 

Three Local Census Offices (LCOs) will 

be chosen. In each of these three, one 

field office supervisor district (FOSD) 

will be selected for this experiment. 

Within the selected FOSDs, the panels 

(that is, number of contacts) will be 

assigned to whole crewleader districts 

(CLDs). Panels are split into two 

enumerator form treatments (allowing a 

maximum four contacts, or a maximum 

five contacts) and a ‘‘control’’ (that is, a 

maximum of six contacts). There are up 

to eight CLDs in each FOSD. All 

enumerators in a particular CLD will 

use the same enumerator form. 

2010 Deadline Messaging (DM) 

Experiment 

The goal of the 2010 DM Experiment 

is to assess alternatives for increasing 

mail response by including a deadline 

message for questionnaire return on 

various mailing pieces in addition to 

implementing a delayed mailing 

schedule (building on previously 

successful testing). The Deadline 

Messaging experiment tests three 

different messages, which are 

implemented both in combination with 

the compressed schedule and without 

the compressed schedule. The 

experiment also implements the 

standard mailing materials (no deadline 

message) sent on the compressed 

schedule, for a total of seven treatments. 

The treatments are as follows: Deadline 

Messaging 1: Tests a ‘‘mild’’ set of 

deadline messages on the advance letter, 

initial questionnaire cover letter, and 

outgoing envelope of the initial 

questionnaire package (i.e., uses a mild 

set of messages that simply indicates the 

date that the form should be mailed 

back by); Deadline Messaging 2: Tests a 

set of deadline messages with 

‘‘progressive urgency’’ on the advance 

letter, initial questionnaire cover letter 

and outgoing envelope of the initial 

questionnaire package (i.e., uses a 

stricter and progressively more urgent 

message wording that emphasizes the 

‘‘deadline’’ date and also provides a 

reminder that census response is 

required by law); Deadline Messaging 3: 

Tests a ‘‘NRFU motivation’’ set of 

deadline messages on the advance letter, 

initial questionnaire cover letter, and 

outgoing envelope of the initial 

questionnaire package (i.e., people are 

reminded about the inconvenience of 

interviewers coming to their home); 

Compressed Schedule: 2010 Census 

standard materials mailed on a 

‘‘compressed schedule’’. That is, the 

advance letter, initial questionnaire 

package and reminder postcard are all 

slightly delayed, to reach the 

respondent closer to Census Day; and 

the three combination treatments. A 

control panel will receive the standard 

set of 2010 mailing materials sent on the 

standard mailing schedule. The 

estimated sample size for all panels is 

10,000 each, for a total of 80,000. 

2010 Privacy Notification (PN) 

Experiment 

The goal of the 2010 PN Experiment 

is to improve alternatives for increasing 

mail response by testing alternative 

presentation and placement of privacy 

messages in the initial questionnaire 

cover letter, reminder postcards, and 

envelopes. A sample of households will 

receive the alternative wording included 

on the cover letter that arrives with their 

2010 Census questionnaire in one of two 

treatments: Privacy 1: Tests an added 

administrative records use message on 

the initial questionnaire cover letter; 

and Privacy 2: Tests an added 

administrative records use message and 

alternative statistical purpose message 

on the initial questionnaire cover letter. 

A control panel will receive the 

standard set of 2010 mailing materials. 

The estimated sample size is 10,000 for 

each panel, for a total of 20,000. (Note: 

The control panel for the PN 

Experiment is shared with the control 

panel for the DM Experiment. Therefore 

the sample size for it is not shown here 

to avoid counting it twice.) 

2010 AQE Reinterview Evaluation and 

2010 Content Reinterview Evaluation 

While they are technically two 

separate evaluations, the Census Bureau 

will combine the 2010 AQE Reinterview 

Evaluation and the 2010 Content 

Reinterview Evaluation into one 

statistical design for purposes of 

operational efficiency. The overall 

sample for the 2010 AQE Reinterview 

Evaluation and the 2010 Content 

Reinterview Evaluation is 58,500. As 

planners finalize the sample design for 

these evaluations, the Census Bureau 

will divide the 58,500 into three 

subsamples. The Census Bureau will 

use the first two subsamples for the 

2010 AQE Reinterview Evaluation and 

the remaining subsample for the 2010 

Content Reinterview Evaluation. 

In addition to the eleven panels 

devoted to race and Hispanic origin 

research, the Census Bureau will collect 

data via a follow-up reinterview from a 

subset of AQE respondents that focuses 

on the race and Hispanic origin 

questions. This reinterview will ask 

probing questions in addition to the 

various race and Hispanic origin 

treatments tested in the AQE. The data 

obtained in the probing reinterview will 

be critical to producing bias measures 

for the experimental AQE race and 


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55034 Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 186 / Wednesday, September 24, 2008 / Notices 

Hispanic origin questions. As 

mentioned above, the AQE Reinterview 

Evaluation will be administered to two 

subsamples. The first subsample will 

ask probing questions on the design of 

separate race and Hispanic Origin 

questions, while the second subsample 

will ask probing questions on the design 

of a combined race and Hispanic Origin 

question. 

The Census Bureau will also conduct 

a Content Reinterview Evaluation. The 

Census Bureau conducts this evaluation 

to measure response error (including an 

examination of the reliability and 

accuracy of responses to the census 

questionnaire). In short, the reinterview 

consists of asking respondents the same 

set of questions on the Decennial 

Census Short Form (D–1) to determine 

if questions are worded sufficiently to 

produce consistent responses. 

2010 Alternative Group Quarters (GQ) 

Questionnaire Evaluation 

By collecting an alternative address 

for all GQ respondents, this test 

examines additional ways of correcting 

duplicates and other erroneous 

enumerations in the Census without a 

costly follow-up operation. The address, 

previously asked of only GQ 

respondents who are allowed to claim a 

‘‘usual home elsewhere,’’ would be 

asked of everyone. Results will be 

compared against the ‘‘control,’’ which 

consists of the standard 2010 Census 

individual GQ forms. This test is 

comprised of one treatment with an 

estimated sample size of 2,500. For this 

test, researchers will select whole GQs 

rather than selecting a subsample of 

residents from many GQs. For example, 

an entire college dormitory would be in 

sample as opposed to sampling 

residents of the dormitory who stay in 

rooms ending with an even number. 

II. Method of Collection 

For experiments, the information will 

be collected through a variety of forms 

(delivered by mail or an enumerator) or 

face-to-face interviews. For evaluations, 

the information will be collected during 

personal visits by enumerators using 

paper forms or telephone interviews. 

The range of methods that may be 

needed for the balance of evaluations 

include customer satisfaction surveys, 

telephone surveys, field personal visits, 

and/or focus groups with respondents. 

The detailed methods will be provided 

in the separate OMB clearance 

submissions. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: None. 

Form Numbers: The forms are too 

numerous to list here (if needed, see 

contact information above). 

Type of Review: Regular submission. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

700,000. 

Estimated Time per Response: 10 

minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 10,000. (Please note that this 

only reflects burden hours that are in 

addition to what is already accounted 

for in the 2010 Census forms clearance 

package. Experimental forms replace the 

official 2010 Census for households in 

the experimental sample). 

Estimated Total Annual Cost: $0. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. 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. 

Dated: September 19, 2008. 

Gwellnar Banks, 

Management Analyst, Office of the Chief 

Information Officer. 

[FR Doc. E8–22417 Filed 9–23–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Census Bureau 

Proposed Information Collection; 

Comment Request; 2010 Coverage 

Follow-up Telephone Operation 

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau. 

ACTION: Notice. 

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, 

Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 

3506(c)(2)(A)). 

DATES: To ensure consideration, written 

comments must be submitted on or 

before November 24, 2008. 

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments 

to Diana Hynek, Departmental 

Paperwork Clearance Officer, 

Department of Commerce, Room 6625, 

14th and Constitution Avenue, NW., 

Washington, DC 20230 (or via the 

Internet at dHynek@doc.gov). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

instrument(s) and instructions should 

be directed to Frank Vitrano, U.S. 

Census Bureau, Room 3H174, 

Washington, DC 20233–9200, 301–763– 

3961 (or via e-mail at 

frank.a.vitrano@census.gov). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

The Census Bureau has completed 

four studies designed to evaluate the 

efficacy of modified procedures for 

improving coverage through the use of 

a coverage follow-up of the population 

and its housing: (1) The 2004 Census 

Test Coverage Research Follow-up 

(OMB Control Number 0607–0910); (2) 

the 2005 National Census Test Coverage 

Follow-up (OMB Control Number 0607– 

0916); (3) the 2006 Census Test 

Coverage Follow-up (OMB Control 

Number 0607–0923); and (4) the 2008 

Census Dress Rehearsal Coverage 

Follow-up Telephone Operation (OMB 

Control Number 0607–0946). 

Historically, the decennial census has 

been affected by undercounts that affect 

certain demographic groups (such as 

babies and minorities), and people in 

certain living situations (such as renters 

who move often and people whose 

residence is complicated or ambiguous). 

The 2010 Coverage Follow-up (CFU) 

telephone operation will serve to clarify 

initial enumeration responses in an 

effort to improve within-household 

coverage. 

Coverage interviews in the decennial 

censuses traditionally involve a second 

interview with the respondent to 

determine if changes should be made to 

their household roster as reported on 

their initial census return. The 

questions in the CFU interview attempt 

to determine if people were omitted 

and/or erroneously enumerated. 

Corrections to the roster are made, 


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