Effectiveness of Messaging to Encourage Response to the ACS
Jenna Fulton
U.S. Census Bureau
Gerson Morales
U.S. Census Bureau
Jenny Hunter Childs
U.S. Census Bureau
The American Community Survey (ACS) is an ongoing and mandatory survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau that collects information about states, local areas, and communities. ACS responses are collected mainly through self-administered web or mail surveys, with non-response efforts conducted by telephone and in-person interview. However, with declining rates of ACS self-response, more costly follow-up efforts to obtain responses have been needed (Walker, 2015). In order to learn how to reverse this trend, we conducted research to identify messages that educate Americans on the importance of the ACS and encourage self-response. The U.S. Census Bureau contracted with the Gallup Organization to capture stated willingness to participate in the ACS after hearing messages intended to convey the survey's relevance and motivate self-response, as well as attitudes toward trust, privacy, and confidentiality as they relate to federal statistics. This research investigated the relationship between stated willingness to participate in the ACS given the messages presented and attitudes toward privacy, confidentiality, and trust as they relate to federal statistics.