Testing of Pre-registration in Preparation for the 2020 US Census UNECE/Eurostat Group of Experts on Population and Housing Censuses September 23, 2014 Arona L. Pistiner Special Assistant to Associate Director for 2020 Census for International Collaboration and Policy 1

The Context for Census Taking in the 21 st Century  Evolving respondent behavior  Digital society  Need to contain costs United States Census Cost Per Housing Unit, (2010 US $) 2

Pre-Registration: A New Approach to Self-Response  Promote use of Internet and digital communication  Reduce paper  Use of advertising and partnership to provide understanding and promote participation 3

Pre-Registration: A New Approach to Self-Response  Provides an opportunity for respondents to “sign-up” for the Census  Advantages  For the Respondent –  They provide preferred mode of electronic contact  For the Census Bureau –  Allows for early engagement with respondents  Enables greater electronic contact, reducing need for paper 4

Pre-Registration: Current Status of Research Internationally  International Collaboration on Census Pre- Registration (ICCP)  United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, United Kingdom, Scotland  United States testing  2014 Census Test  2015 Census Test 5

The US Census Bureau Experience 2014 Census Test – Objectives  Test new contact and notification strategies, including and automated telephone contacts  Encourage respondents to pre-register with their or cell phone to receive future notifications  Provide multiple response options for respondents: internet, telephone, paper  Allow respondents to report their information without a pre-assigned identification number 6

 Sent postcard invitation to encourage respondents to pre-register  Opened pre-registration portal prior to full data collection  Collected address information and respondents’ contact mode preference: or text message  Used respondents’ preferred mode for all future contacts (except final contact when paper questionnaire was delivered) 7 The US Census Bureau Experience 2014 Census Test – Design

2014 Census Test Pre-Registration Portal 8

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 Very low participation with pre-registration  About 3 percent of invited respondents participated  Of these about 93 percent ultimately responded  Majority (about 92 percent) of pre-registrants selected as their preferred contact mode  Overall, achieved internet self-response in excess of 60 percent without any significant promotion or paid advertising 11 The US Census Bureau Experience 2014 Census Test – Preliminary Results

The US Census Bureau Experience 2014 Census Test – Lessons Learned  Develop messaging that respondents may receive after they’ve responded on the internet  e.g., “If you’ve already responded, thank you…”  Provide respondents with confirmation that we’ve received their internet response (e.g., receipt)  does not appear to be a viable option as a replacement for paper for initial contacts and invitations  Pre-registration participation was low and may require more promotion to fully inform the public of the purpose and value 12

The US Census Bureau Experience Looking Ahead – 2015 Census Test  Will employ advertising, promotion, and partnership  Use targeted, digital advertising to promote pre- registration and then encourage self-response, with or without a pre-assigned identification number  Use partnership efforts to reach out to specific communities, particularly hard-to-count and traditionally undercounted populations 13

Thank You! For additional information please contact: Arona L. Pistiner Jane Ingold 14