Recent Inspection Finds Six ‘Areas of Concern’ in Census Head-Counting
Friday, June 18, 2010
By Susan Jones, Senior Editor
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/68030
(CNSNews.com) – As the Census Bureau continues counting people who did not respond to forms delivered earlier this year, the procedures for asking questions about race and ethnicity are not being followed, says the Commerce Department’s inspector general. And that’s not the only problem, says a report dated June 11.
The so-called “nonresponse follow-up” is the Census Bureaus’ largest and most expensive operation. It is scheduled to continue through July 27, as some 600,000 “enumerators” knock on doors across the country to conduct in-person interviews.
Staffers from the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General, which is overseeing the nonresponse follow-up, went out in the field between April 23 and May 14 to watch enumerators collect data and to interview workers at 22 of the 494 local Census offices between April 23 and May 14.
Based on those observations, the IG’s office identified six areas of concern and made five recommendations.
Areas of concerns include enumerators incorrectly completing the race and Hispanic-origin questions on the Census form. The IG’s report notes that enumerators are trained to collect data in a consistent manner, following standard procedures.
But, the report says: “We observed 43 enumerators incorrectly communicating the race question to 108 respondents, and 28 enumerators incorrectly communicating the Hispanic-origin question to 63 respondents.
“Errors we witnessed included not providing or referring to the information sheet and its categories, not asking if respondents wanted the question’s categories read aloud, and documenting the responses based on the enumerators’ assumptions rather than asking respondents themselves the questions.”
Other areas of concern include:
-- Completed enumeration questionnaires are not being tracked. Due to computer problems – “existing data-entry backlogs” -- the completed questionnaires are stored at the local Census offices for an indefinite time period until they are processed. Because questionnaires are not tracked during this time, it is difficult to later locate lost questionnaires, the report says. It also says some field staffers have implemented their own “ad hoc controls,” but such controls “cannot be relied upon to systematically track” the questionnaires.
-- Use of public database information raises confidentiality issues: The IG staffers say they observed some enumerators using confidential Title 13 Census information to conduct Internet reverse searches of online directories, online county tax Web sites, and the Multiple Listing Service used by real estate professionals. “The enumerator manual does not discuss using the Internet to obtain respondent information,” the IG’s report says. “While such a practice may be viewed as practical and even one showing initiative, Census needs to develop a policy for the appropriate use of Internet information…”
Moreover, enumerators who substitute Internet information for actual interviews – or who rely on neighbors or others for information about a particular person -- “could reduce the accuracy” of the 2010 Census results, the report said.
The IG staffers also found problems with how enumerators filled out the form left at households where no one answered the door; and they said enumerators were unable to get complete responses on one Army base, where respondents – citing the Privacy Act -- . provided only the total number of people living in the housing unit, rather than information on each individual.
The inspector general’s report – delivered to the Census Bureau on May 21 – recommends a refresher for enumerators on the procedures to be followed; the establishment of a standard process for tracking completed questionnaires; properly protecting Census information; and a “consistent set of instructions” for filling out forms left when no one is home.
It also says the Census Bureau should take steps “to ensure that military installations are cooperating with the census.”
The IG’s report says the Census Bureau “responded rapidly” to most of the recommendations – but it also noted that the impact of those corrective actions is limited, since more than half of the nonresponse follow-up work already had been done.