REPORT ON FSUC SURVEY REGARDING PROPOSALS FOR A MID-DECADE CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING INTRODUCTION On May 18, 1971, the Executive Director of the Federal Statistics Users' nference appeared before the Subcommittee on Census and Statistics of the House st Office and Civil Service Committee to present the views of FSUC in support proposals for a mid-decade census. In the course of the hearing, the Executive rector offered to survey FSUC members in order to obtain an additional expression their views on the scope of a mid-decade census, the level of detail they believe essential, and on the penalty provisions of the law. Congressman Charles H. lson, Chairman of the Subcommittee, responded to Mr. Aiken's offer and requested at the FSUC membership be surveyed. Accordingly, on June 30, 1971, an in-depth questionnaire was sent to the ficial Representative of the 188 member organizations. A follow-up questionnaire is sent to non-respondents on July 21, 1971. Prior to the initial distribution of the questionnaire, a Special Newsletter the mid-decade census issue was sent to all FSUC members. In addition, this ecial Newsletter was sent as a matter of interest to various non-member users, : well as to each subscriber to the FSUC Newsletter. All recipients of the ecial Newsletter were informed that the initial mailing of the questionnaire uld be to Official Representatives of member firms, but that anyone wishing to spond was cordially invited to do so. Twenty non-member firms or organizations participated in the survey. Nonember respondents included one business firm, eight universities and eleven local >vernments. Most of the non-member respondents are affiliated with trade and rofessional association members of FSUC, that is, through their membership on vernment statistics committees of such organizations. Others participated at eir own request. Some of those participating in the survey duplicated the questionnaire for istribution to persons who might have differing uses and points of view. This ffort resulted in 33 additional responses from eleven organizations. On the ther hand, some members indicated that the questionnaire form had been circulated > others in the organization and that the single questionnaire response repreented the consolidated views of several individuals. RESPONSE RATES AND TYPES OF USERS A total of 156 responses were received from 123 firms or organizations, repreenting an over-all response rate of 59.1 percent. One response was in the form of letter with the remaining 155 in the form of questionnaires from which the results ave been tabulated. [Three additional questionnaires were received after the losing date of the survey.] A good cross-section of users was covered in the survey, as will be seen in he following tabulation which classifies respondents by types of firms or organiations. 63-434 O 72 27 -2 Classification of Respondents to FSUC Mid-decade Census Questionnaire 1/ Includes 8 state governments and 16 local governments. The preceding table listed number of respondents by class. tabulation lists the number of responses by class: Business firms State and local governments. Universities.... Nonprofit research. Trade associations. Labor unions. Total.... The following The first three groups account for 83.4 percent of the total responses. With regard to labor unions, it should be pointed out that although the ten members constitute a small proportion of the total members of FSUC, in terms of the total universe of union membership, they account for 97 percent of that total. The three labor union members of FSUC that responded to the questionnaire account for 89 percent of the total U.S. union membership. -3 VIEWS ON MID-DECADE CENSUS AND MANDATORY RESPONSE In tabulating the results it was evident that there were some variations in the responses as between the various classifications of respondents. Hence, the responses in this section and the following section on Penalty Provisions have been classified according to the preceding tabulations. On the question of whether or not respondents favor a mid-decade census to be taken in 1975, 98.7 percent answered the question. Responses were as follows: FSUC member views on a mid-decade census have been obtained through the use of surveys conducted in 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1971. These surveys are indicative that an increasing number of our members favor a mid-decade census. The percentage of respondents favoring a mid-decade census in these years is as follows: 33 percent in 1962; 40 percent in 1965; 85 percent in 1966; and 95 percent in 1971. On the question of whether or not respondents favor a census in the middle of every succeeding decade, 98.1 percent answered the question. Responses were as follows: On the question of whether or not respondents favor the mandatory requirement for response to a mid-decade census, 96.8 percent answered the question. were as follows: Responses -4 VIEWS ON PENALTY PROVISIONS OF CENSUS LAW On the question of whether or not respondents believe provisions of the law for compulsory response in the censuses should be amended to remove the jail penalty, 84.5 percent answered the question. Responses were as follows: Respondents were also asked if they believe that the level of fine should be increased; 61.5 percent answered the question. Responses were as follows: Respondents were asked for their views as to whether or not the jail sentence provision of the law should be made less than 60 days, or whether they thought it should be made more than 60 days. Response rates to both of these questions were extremely low: On the question of reducing the jail sentence, there were 40 responses, and 72.5 percent of these favored a reduction. On the question of increasing the jail sentence, there were only 26 responses, and only 30.8 percent of the respondents favored an increase. - A number of respondents Individual Comments Regarding the Penalty Provisions expressed individual comments regarding the penalty provisions. quoted in Appendix A attached to this Report. These comments are ITEMS RECOMMENDED FOR INCLUSION OR OMISSION Section II of the FSUC questionnaire listed all of the subject items included in the 1970 Census of Population and Housing and respondents were asked to indicate which items they would recommend for inclusion or omission in a mid-decade census. -5 Respondents were also asked to indicate how they would rank the items recommended for inclusion in terms of priority, viz, high, medium or low. - - These results are tabulated in Tables A and B, attached. Each group of items 100 percent, and the 20 percent, 15 percent and 5 percent samples are listed according to how the respondents rank them in terms of high, medium or low priority. Table A covers population items and Table B covers housing items. It is obvious that all respondents did not answer this part of the questionnaire. However, the range of response for population items was from 86 percent to 93 percent and for housing items the range was from 86 percent to 90 percent. In addition, respondents were asked to indicate what subject items, not reported in the 1970 census, they believe should be included in a mid-decade census in 1975. Part II of Tables A and B lists the recommended additional items according to classification of users. ITEMS OF MAJOR INTEREST: - Population Items Of the 32 population items included in the 1970 census, 16 of these were rated of high priority in a mid-decade census by 50 percent or more of the total respondents. Table C, attached, lists these 16 items ranked according to the combined percentage of those rating them of high and medium priority. In other words, by combining these two priority ratings we find that the total degree of primary interest ranges from 80 percent to 97 percent. The table also shows the degree to which respondents require the information on a small area basis, viz, at the county, urban place, census tract level or at the minor civil division (township) or city black level. In the case of the university group, 21 population items were rated of high priority by 50 percent or more of the respondents. For the nonprofit research group, the number of items with this rating was 18. - Housing Items Of the 33 housing items included in the 1970 census, 11 of these were rated of high priority in a mid-decade census by 50 percent or more of the total respondents. Table D, attached, lists 14 housing items ranked according to the combined percentage of those rating them of high and medium priority, showing the total degree of primary interest. Three additional items are included in this tabulation because the combined percentage of those rating them of high and medium priority equalled 80 percent or more. The table also shows the degree to which respondents require the information on a small area basis. As one would expect, the state and local government group indicated the highest degree of interest in housing items. For this group, 17 housing items were rated of high priority by 50 percent or more of the respondents. For both population and housing items, it is to be noted that some of the less than 100 percent sample items were of greater interest and rated a higher priority than some of the complete count (100 percent) items. Likewise, some of the 15 percent sample items were of greater interest and rated a higher priority than some of the 20 percent items. This was also the case as between some 5 percent and 15 percent items. |