In January through March of 2006, the American Community Survey (ACS) conducted the first test of new and modified content since the ACS reached full implementation levels of data collection. The results of that testing will determine the content for the 2008 ACS. To meet the primary objective of the 2006 ACS Content Test, analysts evaluated changes to question wording, response categories, instructions, or examples relative to the current version of the questions.

Military Service Status

The content test compared two sets of questions. The control version of the military service status question used a one-part question to collect several items of information: (1) the existence of current or prior military service (yes/no); (2) the type of service (active-duty /Reserve or National Guard Training only); and (3) the timing of active-duty service (now, last 12 months, prior to last 12 months). The test version uses a two-part question to collect the same first two items, but instead of the third, it asks whether the person is a military veteran.

The primary goal of the test question was to provide more accurate estimates of the number of civilian veterans. Analytical considerations associated this goal with a reasonable increase in the number of people identified as civilian veterans. This goal was not met. Not only did the test produce a lower estimate of civilian veterans than the control, it also produced a higher item nonresponse rate, and generally higher net difference rates and simple response variances. These findings suggest that respondents had more difficulty in answering the test question than the control.

The test question was also not successful in meeting the second objective of adequately identifying and counting military veterans. A major impediment to evaluating the results was the exclusion of people in group quarters and the military population serving overseas from the sample. Nevertheless, both direct and correlative evidence suggests that a substantial portion of the people identified as military veterans misreported their status.