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This report documents three qualitative methods used to evaluate the 2020 Census Questionnaire Assistance (CQA) telephone operation for the 2020 Census and the findings and recommendations coming from the data collected. The three methods used were site visits, focus groups with some of the Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) at each of the 11 call centers, and an exit survey completed by over 1,000 CSRs toward the end of the operation. Overall, the CQA operation for the 2020 Census was successful with over 7,000 CSRs hired across all call centers, and nearly 5 million inbound calls handled directly by the CSRs. Recommendations include more testing of the system that CSRs used to handle calls, in order to minimize technical errors; more testing of the non-English, non-Spanish translations to improve quality; more flexibility to personalize the system – for example, to pin favorite FAQs or request and modify the timing of breaks and lunch; additional automated pathing to collect vacant and seasonal units, make address changes, and check on or modify existing census submissions. The data also highlight the need for a closer working relationship between the CSRs hired for the telephone operation and the enumerators working door-to-door on the Nonresponse Followup (NRFU) field operation. For example, NRFU enumerators could confirm any address changes reported to CQA. In return, CQA could confirm whether census data had been submitted by an address and help NRFU enumerators on the doorstep, if the respondent has a question about a completed census submission. While results show that the CQA operation was successful overall, these recommendations -- if implemented -- could improve operations for 2030.
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