CENSUS TO OFFER ONLINE OPTION FOR SURVEYS

Agency’s move is part of larger effort to shift from paper forms to digital records

By HOPE YEN Associated Press
12:01 a.m., Dec. 18, 2012
Updated 6:18 p.m. , Dec. 17, 2012

For the first time, the Census Bureau is giving U.S. households a chance to respond to government surveys over the Internet, part of a bid to save costs and boost sagging response rates in a digital age.

The new online option will supplement the traditional census mail-out operation. It is a major shift for the agency, which has relied almost exclusively on paper forms since 1970 but is now moving toward a more Internet-based system after spending a record $13 billion on the 2010 census.

“The online response option is part of an ongoing digital transformation at the Census Bureau,” said Thomas Mesenbourg, the Census Bureau’s acting director.

“The Census Bureau is transforming to make responding to surveys more convenient, conducting surveys more cost-effective and America’s statistics more accessible on digital and mobile devices.”

Beginning this week, more than 3.5 million U.S. households that are randomly selected each year to participate in the American Community Survey will be sent letters asking them to respond online. The ACS questionnaire, formerly known as the census “long form,” asks households for wide-ranging details from education and income to disabilities, language use and commute times.

The Census Bureau also will add a new series of questions on computer and Internet usage to the survey, with data gathered becoming available beginning in 2014.

If households don’t respond within two weeks, the Census Bureau will send out copies of paper surveys and follow up with interviews by phone or in person.

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/dec/18/tp-census-to-offer-online-option-for-surveys/