The purpose of the 2020 Census In-Field Address Canvassing (IFAC) Quality Results Report is to provide the results of the 2020 Census IFAC Quality Control (QC) program, as well as recommendations for future census listing operations.

IFAC was the first major field operation of the 2020 Census. Field staff, called production listers and QC listers, worked by canvassing (walking or driving) each assigned basic collection unit (BCU) and checking that each address they saw on the ground matched the electronic address list shown in the canvassing software. Listers updated all required attributes such as location, housing unit (HU) status, and structure type. If listers encountered living quarters not displayed on the list, they added the address to the list. After completing the BCU, listers reviewed the unworked addresses in the BCU and verified those addresses were not in the BCU, or if listers saw that an address was located just outside the BCU, they could move an address to “the fringe,” or the area just inside an adjacent BCU. The Census Bureau instructed listers to knock on the door of each address to verify the address information. When a knowledgeable person at least 15 years old was available, they were asked about the presence of any additional living quarters or hidden housing units, such as spaces converted to apartments, etc. In some cases, such as large apartments or condominiums, listers could speak to a building manager and request a list of housing units.

If residents or managers informed listers of additional housing units, listers added these to the address list. If listers could not contact a resident, the lister updated the address as best they could by observation. If a lister could not access the property, the lister marked the address as “Unable to Work” (UTW). Listers were required to enter a reason that they could not access the property and census field managers (CFM) subsequently reviewed each UTW record or BCU and accepted or rejected the UTW designations.

QC listers followed the same general procedures, with some variations. QC listers began working at a randomly selected location, usually an intersection, and worked a sample of addresses within a BCU. In BCUs with a smaller number of addresses, the sample included all the addresses in a BCU. QC listers worked with the address list information collected by the production lister. If the sample of addresses had more than the allowable number of errors for the BCU, the QC lister reworked the entire BCU.