Interviewer Travel and New Forms of Data

The Director of the Census Bureau, John Thompson, recently blogged about a field test for the 2020 Decennial Census Nonresponse Follow-up. They are testing a number of new features, including the use of smartphones in data collection.

I've been working with GPS data from smartphones used by field interviewers. The data are complex, but may offer new insights into interviewer travel. Think of travel as a broad concept -- it's not just an expense or efficiency issue. The order in which calls are made may also relate to field outcomes like contact and response rates.

Perhaps these GPS data can help us understand how interviewers currently make decisions about how to work their sample. For example, do they move past sampled housing units when they first arrive to the area segment? Is this action associated with higher contact rates?

Of course, travel is also an expense or efficiency issue. I wouldn't want pushing for more efficient travel to interfere with other aspects of the process. For example, driving through an area segment might seem like inefficient travel. But if it improves outcomes, it actually increases efficiency.

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