For more than a decade, the Census Bureau has sought ways to incorporate data collected and maintained by other government and commercial entities into the data it collects and maintains for the purpose of strengthening data quality and reducing field costs. One category of resources available for this purpose is records collected and/or maintained by government agencies (federal, state, tribal, or local) or commercial entities to administer programs or to provide services. These data sources are referred to as administrative records.

This evaluation study began an investigation into whether to expand the use of administrative records during a decennial census for identification of and potential resolution of various types of coverage problems. For the 2010 Census, the Census Bureau used a model with administrative records to help identify housing units with people who were potentially missing from the count, otherwise known as undercounted persons.

The research in this evaluation begins to explore the possibility of using administrative records to identify people potentially overcounted during the 2010 Census. These overcounted people, who were counted in the wrong place or at more than one place, are referred to as erroneous enumerations. The research in this evaluation also begins to examine how administrative records might contribute to resolving potential coverage problems found during a decennial census. This aspect of the evaluation was accomplished by comparing administrative records data to results from a 2010 Census telephone follow-up interview (that is, the Coverage Followup operation) focused on resolving selected coverage problems in the United States.

The source of administrative records data analyzed in this evaluation is the Statistical Administrative Records System 2009. The Statistical Administrative Records System 2009 is a research database containing person and address data from different administrative record sources provided to the Census Bureau from other federal agencies. Most of the input files for the Statistical Administrative Records System 2009 were delivered in May or June 2009 and reflected their content on or near April 1, 2009.

Finally, this evaluation investigated the usefulness of the National Change of Address file in determining where people lived on or about Census Day (that is, April 1, 2010). The National Change of Address file contains information needed by the United States Postal Service to forward mail from one address to another for permanent and temporary moves.