'You Really Have to Puzzle This Out': Checking Residence and Coverage Duplications on a Census 2010 Questionnaire

• Activity Number: 114
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 3, 2009 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Laurie Schwede*+ and Anissa Sorokin and Virginia Wake
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: Census 2010 ; Coverage ; Duplicated Persons ; Residence Rules ; 2010 Census Alternative Questionnaire Experiment

Abstract

The census must count everyone once, in the right place. This is a challenge in our diverse, mobile society: Census 2000 had an estimated 5.8 million duplicated persons (Mule 2002). Following the NAS Residence Rule Panel suggestion to try to identify duplications on the census form itself, the Census Bureau designed a 2010 Alternative Questionnaire Experiment questionnaire to identify persons' alternate addresses and where to count them. This paper presents results of cognitive testing of this experimental overcount census form in household types prone to duplication. We also elicited descriptions of household members' living situations to check coverage. We present question wording, comprehension and layout results. We assess accuracy and completeness of the overcount screener, address, and residence data, and identify wider implications for the census and for survey methodology.