Accession Number:

ADA399006

Title:

2000 CENSUS: Best Practices and Lessons Learned for More Cost-Effective Nonresponse Follow-up

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE WASHINGTON DC

Personal Author(s):

Report Date:

2002-02-01

Pagination or Media Count:

55.0

Abstract:

Nonresponse follow-up where enumerators from the Bureau of Census went door-to-door to count those individuals who did not mail back their questionnaires was the most costly and labor intensive of all Census operations. According to bureau data, labor, mileage, and certain administrative costs alone amounted to about 1.4 billion, or about 22 percent of the total 6.5 billion allocated for the 2000 Census from fiscal year 1991 through fiscal year 2003. In terms of employment,the bureau hired about a half a million enumerators, which temporarily made it one of the nation s largest employers, surpassed by only a handful of big organizations like Wal-Mart and the U.S. Postal Service. Moreover,the workload and schedule of nonresponse follow-up the need to collect from about 42 million nonresponding households within a 10-week time frame made the conduct of this operation extraordinarily difficult and complex.

Descriptors:

• *LESSONS LEARNED
• *CENSUS
• ORGANIZATIONS
• MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
• COST EFFECTIVENESS
• RESPONSE
• WORKLOAD
• QUESTIONNAIRES

Subject Categories:

• Sociology and Law

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE