In this assessment of the Census Coverage Measurement Person Interview Operations, we document the operational implementation and present results to the assessment research questions to ascertain the operations' effectiveness and identify any areas that may need improvement. The goal of Person Interview was to list the household roster of the sample address and collect information to determine where each person should have been counted on Census Day (April 1, 2010). The final data from the Person Interview Operation are inputs into the matching operation of the census persons enumerated in the Census Coverage Measurement sample areas and in the final estimation of coverage for the 2010 Census.

The Census Coverage Measurement Person Interview Operation was conducted from August 14, 2010 through October 4, 2010. The purpose of the Person Interview was to obtain a roster and information about the residents of the sample-housing unit at the time of the interview. This includes nonmovers and people who may have moved into the selected housing unit since Census Day, known as inmovers. In addition, the Person Interview collected information about persons who moved out of the sample-housing unit between Census Day and the time of the Census Coverage Measurement interview (outmovers). The demographic information collected for each person included name, sex, age, date of birth, race, relationship, and Hispanic origin. It also collected information to determine where each sample unit’s current resident was living on Census Day and the new address for each outmover. The Person Interview also collected information to determine if there were any other alternate addresses where any of the people listed may have been counted in the census and information necessary to geocode the alternate addresses for future operations.. The Census Coverage Measurement Person Interview was conducted by personal visit interviewers using a computer-assisted data collection instrument on a laptop computer. A telephone wording path was also provided to support instances when respondents requested an interview via telephone. In addition, there was a Spanish translation available.

The other component to the operation was a quality check of the operation, known as the Census Coverage Measurement Person Interview Reinterview operation. This operation was conducted to check the quality of the original Person Interview work done with the intent to detect and attempt to correct any instances of falsification. This involved conducting an independent Person Interview Reinterview with a sample of households to verify that the interviewer actually conducted the Person Interview and followed appropriate procedures. In situations where the Person Interview Reinterview instrument determined from the responses that a Person Interview might not have been conducted, a full Person Interview was conducted using the Person Interview Reinterview instrument. After a reinterviewer completed a case, the data from the two interviews were compared through computer and clerical matching, as well as a Regional Census Center review, to determine if the original interviewer conducted the interview correctly, followed proper procedures, and collected complete data. If it was determined that the case was falsified or incorrect, then the data collected in Person Interview Reinterview were used as the final version of the interview instead of the original Person Interview.