The Census Bureau has contracted with NORC to design and conduct an independent evaluation of the communications campaign for the 2010 Decennial Census.  Because the communications campaign is a major public expenditure that has great potential to affect the quality and cost of the Census, a rigorous and independent evaluation of the campaign is essential to assess its success and plan for the 2020 Census.

The 2010 Census, the Census Integrated Communications Campaign will use a mix of mass media advertising, media outreach to specific populations, national and local partnerships, grassroots marketing, school-based programs, and special events designed to ensure that everyone, especially the hard to count, is reached.

The NORC evaluation will allow stakeholders to determine if the significant investment in the 2010 communications plan was justified by such outcomes as reduced non-response follow-up burden, reduced differential undercount, and increased cooperation with enumerators. It is designed as a multi-method approach that will increase the depth and breadth of evidence available for the assessment and will support valid, robust, and actionable conclusions about the impact of the communication plan.

The evaluation must determine whether the communications campaign achieved its three primary goals:

• increasing the mail response rate;
• improving the overall accuracy of the 2010 Census by reducing differential undercounting of population by race/ethnicity; and
• improving cooperation with census enumerators by directly and indirectly influencing public awareness, attitudes, intentions, and ultimate behaviors.

More Information

The U.S. Census Bureau