Measuring Survey Nonresponse by Race and Ethnicity

• Activity Number: 206
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods*
• Author(s): Deborah Harner Griffin*+
• Affiliation(s): U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: survey nonresponse ; race ; American Community Survey ; ethnicity

Abstract

The Census Bureau has proposed replacing the Census long form with the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS will utilize mail, telephone and personal visit methods of data collection. It is critical that these three operations work effectively across geographic areas and population subgroups. The Census 2000 Supplementary Survey (C2SS) was a national test using ACS methods that was conducted in 2000. This test achieved an overall survey response rate of 96.4 percent with high rates of response in each mode. This study was designed to determine if population subgroups in the C2SS had equally high rates of response.

Measuring survey nonresponse for a specific population group can only be done indirectly since the true characteristics of the nonrespondents are unknown. We calculated response rates for areas with varying concentrations of the following racial and ethnic groups: White, Black, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Hispanic. The analysis showed that the C2SS had high survey response rates regardless of the dominant racial or ethnic group. Differential levels of response were found for these groups across modes.