1. Casey Eggleston, Jennifer Hunter Childs, & Gerson Morales
The Right to Remain Silent? Public Opinion about the Use of Administrative Records to Obtain Missing Information for the Decennial Census
Casey Eggleston, Jennifer Hunter Childs, & Gerson Morales
U.S. Census Bureau
Presented at the 2016 International Conference on Questionnaire Design, Development, Evaluation, and Testing on Friday, November 11
*Disclaimer: This presentation is released to inform interested parties of ongoing research and to encourage discussion of work in progress. Any views expressed are
those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the U.S. Census Bureau.

2. Background

3. What are administrative records?
Administrative record = data from government and commercial sources used for providing programs/services, such as:
Tax Return data from Internal Revenue Service (IRS),
Address data from United States Postal Service (USPS)
Phone numbers and other contact information from telephone service providers

4. Administrative Records and the Decennial Census
In 2010, 28% of households did not respond initially to the census and required costly in-person follow-up
Census Bureau is considering expanding use of administrative records for the non-response follow-up operation (NRFU) of the 2020 Census
Likely uses:
Occupied/vacant status
Person counts

5. Methodology

6. Research Questions
Do people view the use of administrative records for decennial enumeration as a violation of privacy?
Does it matter what type of information is gathered from records (vacant status, household count, name and DOB)?
How do privacy perceptions of administrative record use compare to current practice of proxy (neighbor) interviews?
Our team has already engaged in a substantial amount of research on the topic of public opinion on administrative record use, including assessing favorability toward record use, evaluating the impact of admin record source, the impact of framing (such as time or cost savings, or benefits to the community), and identifying characteristics that predict favorability toward record use.

7. Survey Items
“If your household did not return a census form in 2020, do you feel it would or would not be an invasion of your privacy to use information from other government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration, to find out…”
“IF ANYONE was living at your address?”
“HOW MANY people were living at your address?”
“NAMES AND AGES of the people living at your address?”

8. Survey Items Also asked about:
Privacy perceptions of using administrative records INSTEAD of mailing a census form
Privacy perceptions of getting information from NEIGHBORS
Whether it is more respectful of privacy to use records or ask neighbors for non-response
“Do you feel it would or would not be an invasion of your privacy if the Census Bureau used information from other government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration, to complete your census form for you INSTEAD of mailing a questionnaire to your address?”
“If your household did not return a census form in 2020, do you feel it would or would not be an invasion of your privacy if the Census Bureau used information provided by your NEIGHBOR to complete your census form for you?”
“If your household did not return a census form in 2020, the Census Bureau could ask your neighbors to provide information about your household or it could use information you've already provided to other government agencies such as the Social Security Administration. Do you think it is more respectful of your privacy to get missing information from your neighbors or to get it from other government agencies?”

9. Survey Methodology Gallup Nightly Survey
≈121 responses daily
Subsample of National RDD Sample
Landline and Cellphone
AAPOR Response Rate 3 = 8-11%
Goal: Understand public trust in federal statistical system and factors that predict trust
Data collection: September 23, 2016–present (ongoing)
As of this presentation, about 3,700 responses
Not intended for population estimates
Overall goal = to understand public trust in the federal statistical system and factors that may contribute to trust
Although the sampling method is intended to be nationally representative, the low response rate means that we cannot use the data for population estimates. Instead, these data are intended to inform discussion and to provide information about general trends. Ryan’s disclaimer: “Data are intended to be used to gain insights into people’s attitudes about the FSS and the potential use of administrative records, not as statistically precise estimates of a target population.”

10. Results

11. Privacy Perceptions
Weighted frequencies. Privacy perceptions fairly evenly split on the most realistic admin record uses for the decennial census, with the fewest respondents viewing it as an invasion to simply collect the household count. We have seen in other work on this topic that household vacant status is perceived to be a slightly more sensitive topic, even though it actually provides the least detailed information about an address. As supported by other studies, respondents are HIGHLY opposed to our current method of enumerating non-responding households, which is proxy interviews with neighbors. The vast majority of respondents viewed this as a violation of their privacy, even more so than if the Census Bureau never actually surveyed people to conduct the decennial census and just used records.

12. Privacy Perceptions
Weighted frequencies. Privacy perceptions fairly evenly split on the most realistic admin record uses for the decennial census, with the fewest respondents viewing it as an invasion to simply collect the household count. We have seen in other work on this topic that household vacant status is perceived to be a slightly more sensitive topic, even though it actually provides the least detailed information about an address. As supported by other studies, respondents are HIGHLY opposed to our current method of enumerating non-responding households, which is proxy interviews with neighbors. The vast majority of respondents viewed this as a violation of their privacy, even more so than if the Census Bureau never actually surveyed people to conduct the decennial census and just used records.

13. Neighbor or Admin Record?
Weighted frequencies. The don’t know and refuse rate for other items was low (typically less than 1% each) but for this item it was exceeding 10% because respondents simply refused to identify either option as “more respectful” of their privacy. After a few days of data collection, we had to add the insist neither option to account for the high item non-response. Unlike the other items, this one used a positive wording (which option is “more respectful” of your privacy) to make it easier to understand. But it may be that there would be a different pattern of responses if we framed this in terms of the least violation instead, perhaps with fewer refusals to choose between records or neighbors. We may field this alternative question in the future.

14. What predicts privacy perceptions?
ATTITUDES! Especially trust in federal statistics and belief that they respect privacy
A few item-specific predictors:
Non-White respondents see vacant status as a privacy violation more often
Oldest respondents see less privacy concerns with household size and name/DOB
Men less likely to view it as a privacy violation to replace survey with records or to ask neighbor
Overall, the big driver of privacy perceptions for all of the admin record items was attitudes (trust in the federal statistical system). Item-specific predictors seem to be related to factors that might make admin record data seem more sensitive/invasive to respondents (e.g., household size might seem more sensitive if you have children in the home). More sensitive information may be more prone to perceptions of privacy violation.

15. Straightlining vs. Changing Opinions
Weighted frequencies. About 60% of respondents give the same answer to all the admin record items (i.e., straightlining), either they are all perceived to be privacy violations or none of them are perceived to violate privacy. The other 40% have more nuanced opinions that are sensitive to the details about the admin record use case (flippers).

16. Who changes opinions?
In terms of demographic characteristics, those who viewed all record use as a violation and those who changed opinions were similar:
Non-white respondents
Least educated (high school or less)
Lower income categories
Younger and older (as opposed to middle age group 44-65)
Differences on trust and attitude questions (moderate views)
On almost all trust/attitude items, those who changed opinions were in between people who viewed all record use as a privacy violation and those who saw none of the record uses as a violation. These items were mostly all that remained significant when putting all the factors into a logistic regression model to predict opinion change.

17. Conclusion

18. Summary
Many respondents see admin record use as a violation of privacy (43% for least invasive)
Even more (87%) view neighbor proxy interviews as a violation of privacy
41% of respondents had variable privacy perceptions depending on specific record use
Trust in federal statistics was key both to predicting privacy perceptions and predicting opinion change across record use cases
Demographic factors were associated with privacy perceptions but mostly became insignificant when controlling for attitudes

19. Implications & Future Research
Privacy concerns are an important potential factor in public response to administrative record use for the 2020 Census.
Future research goals include (1) follow up with open-ended data about specific privacy concerns, (2) develop respondent messaging that explains admin record use while alleviating privacy concerns, (3) identify general ways to improve trust in the federal statistical system.

20. References U.S. Census Bureau (2009) Administrative Records Handbook.
Keller & Konicki (2016). Using 2010 Census Coverage Measurement Results to Better Understand Possible Administrative Records Incorporation in the Decennial Census. Presented at the Joint Statistical Meetings.

21. Contact me at: casey.m.eggleston@census.gov
Questions or comments?
Contact me at:

22. Appendix

23. Gallup Items - Introduction
For the next census in 2020, the Census Bureau is considering ways to save money, minimize inconvenience to households, and improve the accuracy of the data by using information that people have already provided to other government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration. Thinking about the following ways the Census Bureau might use this information from other agencies, please tell me whether you feel each one would or would not be an invasion of your privacy.

24. Gallup Items – Instead of Survey
Do you feel it would or would not be an invasion of your privacy if the Census Bureau used information from other government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration, to complete your census form for you INSTEAD of mailing a questionnaire to your address?

25. Gallup Items – Neighbor
If your household did not return a census form in 2020, do you feel it would or would not be an invasion of your privacy if the Census Bureau used information provided by your NEIGHBOR to complete your census form for you?

26. Gallup Items – Neighbor or Admin Records
If your household did not return a census form in 2020, the Census Bureau could ask your neighbors to provide information about your household or it could use information you've already provided to other government agencies such as the Social Security Administration. Do you think it is more respectful of your privacy to get missing information from your neighbors or to get it from other government agencies?