The primary purpose of the second iteration of the Census Barriers, Attitudes, and Motivators Survey (CBAMS II) is to determine, by replicating the 2008 CBAMS (CBAMS I), the degree to which census mindsets (distinct attitudinal segments) have changed since the implementation of the 2010 Census Integrated Communications Campaign (ICP) and to develop new mindset classifications if necessary.

Analysis of CBAMS I data provided insight into how the target audiences felt about the census, and why they may or may not participate in the 2010 Census. CBAMS I revealed five distinct mindsets among the population that varied in their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, the census: Leading Edge, Head Nodders, Insulated, Unacquainted, and Cynical Fifth (ICF Macro, 2008).

Attitudinal segments will continue to play an important part of the Census Bureau’s communications strategy for the intercensal years leading up to the 2020 Census. To support this, we developed the following research questions for CBAMS II:

1. What is the best method for creating mindsets?
2. How are mindsets now different from mindsets before the 2010 Census?
3. What are the current census mindsets?
4. Who is in each mindset?
5. How can we reach the mindsets?
6. What are the attitudes toward the use of administrative records?
7. How can we classify new respondents into the segments?

Similar to CBAMS I, CBAMS II is a nationally representative multi mode survey that utilized landline and cell phone interviewing along with in-person interviews in areas considered particularly hard-tocount: American Indian Reservations, areas with high Hispanic population density, areas with high Asian population density, and rural areas with high poverty. We revised the content of the CBAMS II questionnaire to support our current research goals while allowing enough overlap to allow for comparisons between the two surveys.