Feb 1 -- The U.S. Census Bureau has requested OMB approval of revisions to the Household Pulse Survey (Phase 3) and invites the public to submit comments by March 4, 2021.
Data produced by the Household Pulse Survey are designed to inform on a range of topics related to households' experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. Topics to date have included employment, facility to telework, travel patterns, income loss, spending patterns, food and housing security, access to benefits, mental health and access to care, and educational disruption (K-12 and post-secondary).
The requested revision, if approved by OMB, will remove selected items from the questions for which utility has declined and add questions based on information needs expressed via public comment and in consult with other Federal agencies. The new items relate to disability, child health access, telehealth and childcare; additionally, questions on individuals' intention to receive the Covid-19 vaccine were added with OMB's approval on December 30, 2020, and questions previously approved regarding economic stimulus payments were launched into production once payments began to be issued.
The universe for the Household Pulse Survey is the approximately 140,000,000 housing units in the United States. For operational efficiency, only housing units linked to one or more email addresses or cell phone numbers will be eligible for the sample. One respondent from each housing unit is selected to respond for him or herself. The sample for each data collection cycle is approximately 1,165,000 housing units.
In Phase 1, the Census Bureau observed response rates in the range 6-7 percent for households who were invited to participate for the first time and asked to respond in a one-week period. In Phase 2, we extended the response period to 13 days and sent additional reminders to respondents. These efforts had the effect of increasing response rates to a range of 8.1 to 10.3 percent. In Phase 3, we continued with the 13-day response period and observed a response rate of 9%. Based on this experience, we are assuming a 9 percent response rate for Phase 3.1 and expect to receive 105,000 responses each data collection cycle. Sample from each data collection cycle will be independent from the prior cycles.
Household Pulse Survey website:
https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/household-pulse-survey.html
Proposed revised survey instrument:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/DownloadDocument?objectID=108123300
Census submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202101-0607-005 Click IC List for data collection instruments, View Supporting Statement for narrative and technical documentation.
FR notice inviting comment:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/02/01/2021-02076/agency-information-collection-activities-submission-to-the-office-of-management-and-budget-omb-for
Point of contact: Jason Fields, Social Economic and Housing Statistics Division, Demographic Programs Directorate, Census Bureau jason.m.fields@census.gov
