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Dress Rehearsal Site--Questions and Answers Sacramento, California, Area |
Q: What is the purpose of a dress rehearsal?
A: The Census Bureau uses the dress rehearsal to provide for
operational testing of regional census center (RCC), local census
office (LCO), and data capture center (DCC) procedures and systems
planned for use in Census 2000, including the production of prototype
data products that comply with the requirements of Public Law 94-171
and provides an opportunity for others to comment on the range of
standard products and their formats. The dress rehearsal also may
include some procedures and systems that have not been tested
operationally in any prior field or processing activity.
Q: Why does the Census Bureau need a site with representation of the
African American, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander (API)
communities?
A: The Census Bureau has been asked to make Census 2000 more accurate. The
only way to do this is to reduce the differentials in the results among
racial and ethnic groups. The overall result of the 1990 census was very
good, with an estimated total undercount of approximately 1.6 percent,
although the undercounts for African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian
and Pacific Islanders were 4.4 percent, 5.0 percent, and 2.3 percent,
respectively. Selecting a site with a diverse population allows the
Census Bureau to test its methods and procedures designed to reduce the
differentials and produce an accurate Census 2000 for the Nation and all
components of the population.
Q: Why did the Census Bureau pick the city of Sacramento, CA? What were the
standards/criteria?
A: The site selection criteria for the 1998 dress rehearsal focused on the
need to find populations associated with the differential undercount.
To select the sites, the Census Bureau did not focus on meeting a
specific threshold for each criterion, but instead used the criteria
to identify those sites that had the most appropriate combination of
characteristics to provide a good operational test. The urban site
selected represents the size of a typical local census offices planned
for Census 2000, which was necessary to provide an understanding of
the effectiveness of census operations. To ensure adequate testing
of the paid promotion program, we selected a site that also was a
primary media market.
Q: How did the Census Bureau decide on the criteria to select the dress
rehearsal urban site?
A: The site selection criteria for the 1998 dress rehearsal focused on the
need to find populations associated with the differential undercount
as well as other characteristics such as a primary media market and
housing growth that our procedures and systems must be able to handle
in Census 2000. To ensure adequate testing of our paid promotion
program, we only considered sites that were primary media markets.
We selected a site that we believe will provide a good operational
test of our procedures and systems.
Q: Why did the Census Bureau choose to select a single, relatively less
populous city as the urban site rather than conducting the dress
rehearsal in a portion of a larger city?
A: The Census Bureau decided to include entire jurisdictions within the
dress rehearsal sites to better test some objectives for the dress
rehearsal. For example, inclusion of entire jurisdictions facilitates
the testing of the new promotion and outreach programs focused on
partnerships with local governments. Other fundamental changes, such
as testing wide distribution of unaddressed questionnaires, are more
difficult to explain to the public in a partial jurisdiction.
Q: Is the urban site difficult enough to give us confidence in our
methodology for Census 2000?
A: The Census Bureau was concerned about conducting the 1998 dress rehearsal
in a site that was too easy. To avoid this situation, staff ranked
the potential sites in terms of expected difficulty in enumeration
and selected the sites from that list.
Q: Was the Census Bureau concerned about the perception of going back to
northern California for the dress rehearsal?
A: The Census Bureau selected the sites to meet the objectives of the dress
rehearsal, based on the technical criteria specified (see attachment).
The requirement for a site with the diversity necessary to adequately
test our procedures resulted in the selection of a California site.
Only California sites met both requirements for diversity and size.
Q: Why are these characteristics used in site selection.
A: These types of characteristics focus on a wide range of population
and living situations that the Census Bureau will encounter during
Census 2000.
Q: Did the Census Bureau consider the labor market in the site selection
process?
A: Based on our experience in the 1990 census and the 1995 Census Test, and
our selection process, the Census Bureau believes that a variety of
factors will present challenges for staffing the dress rehearsal
operations, regardless of the unemployment rate. The greatest
challenge with any pool of applicants is our ability to communicate the
requirements of the job clearly; namely, that the data collection
positions involve almost exclusively evening and weekend work,
especially in hard to enumerate areas.
Q: What was our hiring experience in the 1995 Census Test?
A: The Census Bureau experienced hiring difficulties in all three sites,
though each had a relatively high unemployment rate. These hiring
difficulties included high turnover, difficulty recruiting staff to
work in specific areas and during the times and days required, and
competition from other longer-term employment opportunities. Based
on this experience, unemployment rate does not seem to be a very good
indicator of hiring difficulty.
Q: How many people will the Census Bureau hire to conduct the dress
rehearsal in Sacramento?
A: The Census Bureau anticipates peak staffing of about 320 temporary
workers. The duration of the jobs will vary from a few weeks to nine
months.
Q: Whom should people seeking employment contact?
A: The Census Bureau will open the local census office in the dress
rehearsal site January 4, 1998. People seeking employment may contact
the Sacramento Local Census Office as follows:
Bureau of the Census
Local Census Office
1020 - 12th Street, Suite 300
Sacramento, CA 95814
Telephone: 916-498-6682
FAX: 916-498-5117
Q: Will the Census Bureau change sites if it does not receive the funding
required in Fiscal Years (FYs) 1997 and 1998 to cover the cost of the
planned dress rehearsal?
A: We are hopeful that the Congress will provide sufficient funding to carry
out the dress rehearsal as planned. In the event that our funding level
for FY 1997 or FY 1998 falls below the requested level, we will assess
how to reduce the cost of the dress rehearsal. We do not have the
option of switching sites because preparatory activities, such as
procurement of space for the local census offices and the development
of the master address file, require a long lead time. In a worst
case scenario, we will drop one or more sites.
Q: What are the benefits to the localities? What data will they get?
A: In addition to the job opportunities created within the Sacramento
community, city officials will have the opportunity to observe
first-hand the methodology planned for Census 2000. This experience
could be beneficial in preparing for the decennial census. The
Census Bureau also plans to provide some data tabulations to the
city.
Q: What is the Census Bureau's history of tests and dress rehearsals?
A: As part of the planning for each decennial census, the Census Bureau
conducts a series of tests and dress rehearsals. The tests and dress
rehearsals conducted before the 1990 census and in preparation for
Census 2000 are outlined below.
1990 Census
1985 Test Censuses
- Tampa, FL
- Jersey City, NJ
1986 Test Censuses
- Central Los Angeles County Test Census - included 21
jurisdictions within Los Angeles County
- East Central Mississippi Test Census - covered a 7 county area,
including an American Indian reservation
1987 Test Census
- North Central North Dakota Test Census - covered a 10 county
area, including 2 American Indian reservations
1988 Dress Rehearsal
- St. Louis, MO
- East Central Missouri - covered a 14 county area
- Eastern Washington - covered an 8 county area, including
2 American Indian reservations
Census 2000
1995 Census Test
- Oakland, CA
- Paterson, NJ
- Northwest Louisiana - covered a 6 parish area
1996 Community Census
- Acoma Pueblo and Trust Lands, NM
- Fort Hall Reservation and Trust Lands, ID
- Chicago, IL (7 census tracts)
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