The
Census 2000 Testing, Experimentation,Updated May 2002
** For program changes since the release of this document, please see "Program Modifications since May 2002"
Part A: The Census 2000 Testing, Experimentation, and Evaluation Program Overview
Introduction
What We Will Learn from the Evaluation Program
What We Will Learn from the Census 2000 Testing and Experimentation Program
Planning for the Next Decade
Conclusion
Part B: The Census 2000 Testing and Experimentation Program
Introduction
Census 2000 Alternative Questionnaire Experiment
Administrative Records Census 2000 Experiment
Social Security Number, Privacy Attitudes, and Notification Experiment
Response Mode and Incentive Experiment
Census 2000 Supplementary Survey
Use of the Employee Reliability Inventory File for Nonresponse Followup Enumerators
Ethnographic Studies
Part C: The Census 2000 Evaluation Program
Introduction
A: Response Rates and Behavior Analysis
B: Content and Data Quality
C: Data Products
D: Partnership and Marketing
E: Special Places and Group Quarters
F: Address List Development
G: Field Recruiting and Management
H: Field Operations
I: Coverage Improvement
J: Ethnographic Studies
K: Data Capture
L: Processing Systems
M: Quality Assurance Evaluations
N: Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation Survey Operations
O: Coverage Evaluations of the Census and of the Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation Survey
P: Accuracy and Coverage Evaluation Survey Statistical Design and Estimation
Q: Organization, Budget, and Management Information System
R: Automation of Census Processes
This document updates the February 2001 description of the Census 2000 Testing, Experimentation, and Evaluation Program. It includes changes made to the Census 2000 Evaluation Program in early 2002 due to resource constraints at the Census Bureau. The program was refined and priorities reassessed to obtain the best balance of resources needed for completing and releasing Census 2000 data products and conducting key Census 2000 evaluations. More detailed information about the program changes are provided in Part C: Census 2000 Evaluation Program.
The program is a comprehensive one that will inform us about Census 2000 and lead the way for planning the next decennial census in 2010, the American Community Survey, the Master Address File Updating System, and other Census Bureau censuses and surveys. The program is overseen by the Census 2000 Evaluations Executive Steering Committee and coordinated by the Planning, Research, and Evaluation Division. The following offices and divisions have direct responsibility for authoring final reports: Decennial Management Division; Decennial Statistical Studies Division; Demographic Statistical Methods Division; Director's Office; Field Division; Housing and Household Economics Statistics Division; Human Resources Division; Planning, Research, and Evaluation Division; Population Division; and Statistical Research Division.
This program, which is well underway, consists of tests of various census enumeration techniques, experiments with different questionnaires and ways to respond, an administrative records census experiment, and evaluations of all aspects of Census 2000. Relevant findings from the tests, evaluations, experiments, and other research will be synthesized into topic reports that address broad census subjects. The topic reports will be available beginning later this year.
Included in this document are three descriptions:
