The Census Bureau has turned to new techniques and new technologies in preparation for next year’s national head count, but some of the solutions it had been counting on proved to be unreliable and have forced the agency to rework its plans at a late date, according to a CRS report.
CRS noted that the traditional census-taking method of using mail-out, mail-back census forms "is increasingly complicated and expensive, and has attracted congressional scrutiny." The 2010 census will use only a short-form questionnaire that asks for the age, sex, race, and ethnicity (Hispanic or non-Hispanic) of each household resident, his or her relationship to the person filling out the form, and whether the housing unit is rented or owned by a member of the household. Meanwhile, the traditional alternative long form which also asks for socioeconomic and housing data from a sample of the population, is being replaced by the American Community Survey, an ongoing survey of about 250,000 households per month that gathers largely the same data as its predecessor.
Another innovation for 2010 was to have been the development of highly specialized handheld computers to automate two essential census field operations: address canvassing and nonresponse follow-up (NRFU). The goal of pre-census address canvassing is the verification and correction of census maps and addresses where the census forms are to be sent. NRFU requires enumerators to try repeatedly to visit or telephone persons who have not completed their census questionnaires and obtain information from them.
"Testing eventually revealed such serious problems with the handheld devices that the Bureau is using them only for address canvassing and will resort to the traditional paper-based approach for NRFU. The change means that the Bureau must hire and train more NRFU staff, at increased expense. The total life-cycle cost of the 2010 census may be between $13.7 billion and $14.5 billion, instead of the previously estimated $11.5 billion. The problems with the handhelds have fueled concerns that the success of the 2010 census could be at risk. Some fear, in particular, that the late-date changes to NRFU could impair census accuracy, reduce coverage, and exacerbate the recurrent likelihood of differential undercount – the greater tendency for minorities and less affluent members of society than for whites and wealthier persons to be undercounted," CRS said.
It added: "Part of the Bureau’s effort to maximize census accuracy and coverage is a communications strategy to publicize the census, then motivate compliance with it. The strategy includes paid advertising, Bureau partnerships with local governments and other organizations, and the Census in Schools program. In addition, the Bureau plans to make questionnaires accessible to persons who lack English proficiency or have visual or hearing impairments. About 13 million forms in Spanish and English are to be mailed to neighborhoods where Spanish-speaking residents are concentrated. Questionnaires in Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Russian, along with guides in 59 other languages, are to be available if requested. Telephone assistance, including for the hearing impaired, is to be available, as are Braille and large-print questionnaire guides."
