Census Tests New Ways to Speed Up Community Surveys
Published Date: 4/18/2025
Notice
Summary
The Census Bureau is testing new ways to improve the American Community Survey (ACS) by asking up to 288,000 people to try out different questions and methods. These tests aim to make the survey easier and faster, with some parts taking about 40 minutes. The government is asking for public feedback before final approval, and these changes could affect how future surveys are done without costing extra money.
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 3 costs, 0 mixed.
Selected Households Must Respond; Time Burden
You may be required to respond to ACS Methods Panel tests if your address is sampled. Some tests ask up to 288,000 people for each experiment and most test questionnaires take about 40 minutes to complete (follow-up interviews may take about 20 minutes). The notice lists total burden of 664,000 hours over 3 years and annual burden hours of 221,333.
Large Sample Sizes for Specific Tests
Specific tests use very large samples—for example, the Questionnaire Timing Test and the Response Option and Error Message Design Test each sample 288,000 respondents; additional internet and mail/contact strategy tests sample multiple groups of 60,000; content testing samples 40,000 with a 40-minute instrument and a 40,000 follow-up interview at 20 minutes. The total maximum number of test respondents listed is 1,016,000 over the 3-year program.
Testing Internet, QR, and Mail Changes to Reduce Follow‑up
The tests include changes like adding QR codes to mailings, revised web response buttons and error messages, improvements to login and navigation, and redesigned mail messaging and contact timing. The Census says if these changes are successful they could increase self-response and decrease data collection costs and reduce CAPI nonresponse follow-up activity.
Content Testing May Add or Change Questions
The Census will test changes to ACS question wording, response categories, and constructs and may test new questions; it will solicit proposals from other federal agencies to change or add ACS questions and will compare revised questions to current ACS items and benchmarks. Follow-up interviews may be used to measure response bias or variance.
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