Life is interconnected. For instance, I found that hunger, homelessness and even unemployment are portals to an interconnected web of personal, environmental and system factors. These include chronic physical conditions, mental health and addiction issues, climate change and federal, state and local policies. So, it’s not surprising that research on any of these topics can be informed by including the nodes of this interconnecting, interacting network.

Our research on historically undercounted populations is similarly interconnected. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts research on public trust, cultural relevance, language usage, question comprehension and many other topics to develop better methods to reach and collect data from the historically hard to count. But the interconnectivity goes deeper. 

Consider research on our field operations, on improving efficiency of enumerators using adaptive design, on leveraging administrative records to predict housing unit occupancy, on improving our frame of housing units. All such research interacts with and ultimately impacts the enumeration of historically undercounted people and their households. In fact, using this lens, it is easy to see that many 2030 Census research projects currently being proposed directly or indirectly involve the enumeration of historically undercounted populations. It is in this context that I write about our interwoven research agenda to address the 2030 Census enumeration of historically undercounted people.

Last week, the Census Bureau held another webinar about our preparations for the 2030 Census. It addressed how we’re using public comments submitted in response to our 2030 Census Federal Register notice about our plans for the next decennial count.

We were pleased so many of the comments sought to improve our efforts to reach and enumerate historically undercounted people. We recognize the need to engage and collaborate with partners, stakeholders, tribes and the public to gather their perspective to inform our research.

If you’ve been following our journey toward the 2030 Census, you already know we’re conducting 55 projects in five different enhancement areas. You can read about all of them in our 2030 Census Research Explorer tool.

You’ll note that several projects primarily focus on reaching, motivating and accurately counting historically undercounted populations (HUPs). But as discussed above, this research intersects with many more projects even if the titles of the research do not include the term “historically undercounted population.” In fact, 22 or 40% of our research projects are investigating how to increase participation of historically undercounted populations, while nine (16%) others are probing how to improve external engagement, which necessarily includes research to engage HUPs. That means over half of our projects involve research that addresses our ability to effectively enumerate these critically important populations.

Our efforts in this arena cover a wide range of topics. Among them:

• Conducting research to inform our overall 2030 Census communications campaign and developing outreach strategies for historically undercounted populations.
• Exploring how we can use administrative records and analysis of 2020 Census data to investigate the undercount of young children, one of the most persistently undercounted groups.
• Examining the use of tailored contact strategies – that is, messaging, materials and methods of inviting households to self-respond to the census. Improving and increasing self-response is critical to the quality of census data, and we want to design our contact strategies with the needs and preferences of different demographic groups and geographic areas in mind.
• Developing an internet self-response instrument specifically for certain types of non-institutional group quarters, such as college student housing or military barracks.

Many Federal Register comments suggested avenues of research the Census Bureau was already pursuing, which validated and enhanced our research program.

Additionally, based on the feedback, we have added a new project to improve our outreach to historically undercounted populations. We received many comments that suggested that we include culturally diverse training and educational materials, and use tailored, unique cultural approaches with historically undercounted populations. In response, we are investigating how we might add training that ensures Census Bureau staff build specialized skills on cultural competencies, including field staff and Census Questionnaire Assistance. To that, we say “thank you”! We are now researching our options for how we might conduct that training and what it could contain.

Improving how we collect and present information on historically undercounted and hard-to-count populations is important work. Note that I added “hard to count” because there are certain populations like students in college dorms and those in selected group quarters that are always difficult to count and require more resources yet are not historically undercounted. We’re taking a single enterprise approach across the Census Bureau – both within and outside of the 2030 Census research program – on the collection and reporting of data on these populations. For example, we also have experts throughout the agency working together on topics like the undercount of young children and historically undercounted populations.

(By the way, stay tuned for an upcoming blog post from Deborah Stempowski, our Associate Director for Decennial Census Programs, that will tell you lots more about the historically undercounted and hard-to-count categories! A deeper understanding of the differences and nuances between these populations is extremely helpful in devising strategies to reach and more accurately count them.)

Again, we can’t thank you enough for putting so much thought and effort into your comments on how to conduct the best 2030 Census possible. Your input represents public service and civic engagement in its truest forms. You gave us much to contemplate and incorporate, and we – and ultimately the public – are better for it.

Much research, testing and learning lies ahead. We’ll continue to communicate with you about our preparations, progress, challenges and successes. Why? Because we live our values of transparency and scientific integrity. And we need you to be our active partners as we forge a new vision of how decennial censuses (and ongoing surveys, for that matter) can and should be conducted. As we endeavor to develop a superb 2030 Census, we ask that you stay engaged with us and with each other. We’re all in this together. Our efforts and our nation are stronger when we work together toward the common goal of a complete and accurate census.