Characteristics of the 2010 Census Nonresponse Follow-Up Operation

• Activity Number: 609
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 4, 2011 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods
• Author(s): Hilda S. Dimmock*+
• Companies: U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: Nonresponse ; 2010 Census ; Vacant Delete Check ; NRFU Residual ; NRFU

Abstract

The 2010 decennial census was the 23rd national census. Although other procedures were used in isolated areas, the majority of the country received a paper questionnaire delivered by the US Postal Service or by census employees. The questionnaire packets included a request for the recipient to complete the form for the household as of April 1, 2010 and return it by mail to a data collection center in a pre-paid envelope. For the addresses from which no mail response was received, the Census Bureau sent enumerators to verify the status of the address and conduct an interview based on the April 1 status. The data collection period was conducted between May 1 and July 30, 2010.

The Census Bureau conducted a concurrent quality assurance operation called Nonresponse Followup Reinterview and two subsequent quality control operations called NRFU Vacant Delete Check and Nonresponse Residual Followup.

This presentation will discuss the procedures used to contact and collect the data for all addresses in the Nonresponse Followup universe.