83 FR 63469 - Innovations for Public Opinion Research

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Bureau of the Census

Federal Register Volume 83, Issue 236 (December 10, 2018)

The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is publishing this notice in the Federal Register to request comments from the public and other government agencies on innovations for measuring and tracking public opinion towards the Census Bureau and the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau is looking to encourage and promote statistical, research, and methodological collaborations that seek to measure perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes toward the Census Bureau and the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau is interested in ongoing research methodologies that would be able to assess how current events affect public perception toward the Census Bureau as they unfold with the goal of making informed decisions related to the Census Bureau operations before and during the 2020 Census.

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 236 (Monday, December 10, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63469-63471]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2018-26631]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

[Docket Number 181016954-8954-01 ]


Innovations for Public Opinion Research

AGENCY: Bureau of the Census, Department of Commerce.

[[Page 63470]]


ACTION: Notice and Request for Information (RFI).

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is publishing this 
notice in the Federal Register to request comments from the public and 
other government agencies on innovations for measuring and tracking 
public opinion towards the Census Bureau and the 2020 Census. The 
Census Bureau is looking to encourage and promote statistical, 
research, and methodological collaborations that seek to measure 
perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes toward the Census Bureau 
and the 2020 Census. The Census Bureau is interested in ongoing 
research methodologies that would be able to assess how current events 
affect public perception toward the Census Bureau as they unfold with 
the goal of making informed decisions related to the Census Bureau 
operations before and during the 2020 Census.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be submitted on or before 
February 8, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Please direct all comments electronically to the following 
email address: [email protected].
    Response to this Request for Information (RFI) is voluntary. Any 
personal identifiers (e.g., names, addresses, email addresses, etc.) 
will be available to the public when responses are compiled. 
Proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should 
not be included in your response.
    This RFI is for information and planning purposes only. It should 
not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of 
the Federal Government, the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC), or the 
Census Bureau. Neither the DOC, nor the Census Bureau, intend to make 
any awards based on responses to this RFI or to otherwise pay for the 
preparation of any information submitted or for the government's use of 
such information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Jennifer Hunter Childs, Research Psychologist, 
Center for Survey Measurement, Research and Methodology Directorate, 
U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Washington, DC 20233; 
telephone: (202) 603-4827, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The data collected by the decennial census 
determine the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of 
Representatives--a process called apportionment--and the distribution 
of $675 billion in federal funds to local communities (Hotchkiss & 
Phelan, 2017). Even though responding to the census is required by law, 
the public's willingness to participate by completing the census 
questionnaire by self-response directly impacts the cost of the 
operation. If a household does not self-respond, a great deal of time 
and resources must be expended going door-to-door to personally 
enumerate non-responding units. Public opinions, behaviors, and 
attitudes toward the census can make a dramatic difference in both the 
public's willingness to self-respond and the quality of information 
collected. The Census Bureau needs to stay aware of public opinion as 
the 2020 Census approaches. The Census Bureau plans to use traditional 
methods to observe public opinion (via survey research and standard 
social media methods). This RFI is seeking information about certain 
information that may add value to those methods or identify innovative 
methods for further public opinion research.
    This RFI seeks to identify published works and descriptions of best 
practices using innovative methods to make use of already available 
public opinion data or big data at the national, regional, and state 
levels as well as by demographic group. In particular, the Census 
Bureau is interested in the use of ``real-time'' data that might relate 
to decennial census participation, and the ability to research issues 
that may quickly arise and have potential to impact attitudes towards 
and knowledge of the Census Bureau. To support this effort, information 
is requested on:
    (1) Innovations for measuring and tracking public opinion towards 
the Census Bureau and the 2020 Census across time at the national 
level, at regional or state levels, and by demographic groups using 
methods other than active data collection by survey research methods.
    (2) Innovations to capture online information-sharing and 
information-seeking behaviors that have the potential for affecting:
    a. decennial census participation, and/or
    b. public attitudes towards and knowledge of the decennial census 
or the Census Bureau generally.
    The Census Bureau needs to make informed decisions related to 
operations before and during the 2020 Census. We are interested in 
whether innovations in this area could yield novel information for the 
Census Bureau. For example, useful information may lead to a change in 
decennial census messaging or a series of advertising purchases 
targeted towards certain demographics or geographies. Useful 
information may also alert Census Bureau staff to potential issues 
related to the data collection process or the quality of census 
returns.
    To support this effort, the Census Bureau is requesting information 
on published works involving innovative public opinion research into 
areas in which the Census Bureau does not already have expertise (such 
as innovative methods for measuring public opinion via online 
information-seeking and -sharing behaviors), but might be useful for 
consideration in the 2020 Census planning and management.
    In particular, the Census Bureau seeks to know:
    (1) Do you seek to measure public opinion or perception in a way 
other than surveys? If so, in what ways and with what level of 
accuracy?
    (2) Do you have access to online information-seeking or -sharing 
behaviors, like social media, web scraping, google search data or other 
``big data'' for research purposes? If so, provide some example of 
research you conduct using these data.
    (3) The Census Bureau also is considering the possibility of 
entering into equitably apportioned joint projects of mutual interest 
with nonprofit organization and local, state, or federal government 
agencies to pursue collaboration or research into these areas. Would 
your organization be interested in this kind of agreement?
    Submissions could identify or inform joint projects to assess how 
recent events and the information media environment affect attitudes 
toward, knowledge of, and participation in Census Bureau data 
collections as they unfold. A secondary desirable end-result would be 
to gather information that would enable the Census Bureau to make 
informed decisions related to Census Bureau planning for the 2030 
Census. Finally, these potential projects must provide a mutual benefit 
to the Census Bureau and the partnering nonprofit organization or 
local, state, or federal government agency, such as forwarding the 
field of public opinion research.
    Projects of interest might make use of dependent variables 
including actual census response, census data quality or proxies 
thereof. Projects might be interested in independent variables such as 
sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., neighborhood, housing, and 
family characteristics), behaviors gathered using passive data 
collection tools, and self-reported attitudes or knowledge about the 
census. Data already available to the Census Bureau via public datasets 
or

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datasets available for purchase is of less interest than information 
that is not necessarily public, like behaviors on internet search or 
social media networking sites.

    Dated: December 3, 2018.
Ron S. Jarmin,
Deputy Director, Performing the Non-Exclusive Functions and Duties of 
the Director, Bureau of the Census.
[FR Doc. 2018-26631 Filed 12-7-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-07-P