Census 2020 - Multiple visits

[Kitty 34]

Did ours online months ago and have not been bothered since.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

https://2020census.gov/en.html is a great website for information also goes into a bit of why you may still see people going door to door even though the time period for initial responses is over with.

If anyone wants to also see how their exact area did you can go to the self-response and non-response follow up maps. I dug around and you get even get into 'tracts' of response rates and more. It's really interesting. I was surprised as some of the rural counties in my state (just a few in the grand scheme) had initial response rates below 50% yikes!

 

[barkley]

For that example of being asked to proxy for someone else in the same apartment you have never met, I would have advised the surveyor you don't know the person and wouldn't be able to provide any meaningful input on someone you don't know.

i tried that and they still asked each and every question. when i tried to get out of it i was shown a paper that cited the laws for not cooperating fully with a census worker. i don't know if the fines would have extended to not cooperating as a proxy but i wasn't going to chance it (no internet/google back then for me to check). i just checked the census site and it shows there is NOW a mechanism for someone in my position back then to just answer a single 'i don't know' for the entirety of the proxy process.

 

[disneypharm]

I did ours online and a guy called a month later to ask questions. I told him that I added everything online accurately and will not be giving a stranger more info about my household on the phone, so please don't call again! That probably stopped further inquiries.

 

[nicolita3]

Did they tell you this was their standard practice to interview the neighbors?
I can't see how interviewing a neighbor could guarantee them they are getting the correct information as you had said.

If the census people showed up at my door even though I know my neighbors I could not guarantee the info I would give then would be correct also.
I also would not feel comfortable giving out any info about my neighbors weather I knew it or not.

They said that was the practice if they couldnt get a hold of the person. They had a badge (I asked) that looked like what I had seen on the commercials that they were playing on TV around that time. I gave the first names of the 2 adults that l new that lived there, but like I said I do not know their last names. They asked about the kids and I said how many there were and if they were boys or girls, but I couldnt remember their names since there are 5 kids. I also had no idea about their ages, so I just gave an age range. I told them if they wanted anything more detailed about them to come back in a few hours when I knew that they would be home. The info I gave them probably could be found in any google search though. There were a lot of questions I could not answer, like if they owned or rented.

 

[amcnj]

Did they tell you this was their standard practice to interview the neighbors?
I can't see how interviewing a neighbor could guarantee them they are getting the correct information as you had said.

If the census people showed up at my door even though I know my neighbors I could not guarantee the info I would give then would be correct also.
I also would not feel comfortable giving out any info about my neighbors weather I knew it or not.

I think their main goal is to get any information they can, especially the number of persons living at an address. So after a few unsuccessful attempts at an address, they are told to try up to three neighbors. But of course a neighbor might not know the information or refuse to answer, feeling funny giving out any information about someone else. If they were able to get the number of residents at an address from a neighbor, I am not sure if that closes the case on that address, or if someone might still be sent to try and get a more complete picture.

 

[mrodgers]

In this day and age people randomly showing up at my door with no appointment, I will not let them in my home and will not give them any information. I do not know who they are even if they have some sort of ID, how do I know it is real.

Yup. Where I live also, if I glance out and you're not a neighbor, I hope you don't freak out over seeing a firearm because you will if I'm opening the door.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

If you dont answer the door, they go and ask your neighbor. My neighbor kept ignoring them and they came to my house and asked me the questions. I had no idea what their last name was or the birthdates of their children and their full names.

We also kept ignoring the surveys when they came in the mail. Not on purpose, we were just busy, and they kept getting put in the junk mail pile. Then they started coming by the house and leaving us “we were here” notes. At that point we tried to find the paper surveys we’d been sent, so we could fill them out, but they were long gone. Finally they stopped by when DH was home, and he gave them all the info they needed. Done!

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Thanks for the responses. At least I know I'm not the only one, and since I didn't get any scoldings I figure I'm not overreacting to that person coming to my door. If he had come during daylight hours I wouldn't have had so many issues. I was also a little worried since I'm not in the greatest of neighborhoods. I figure this was a side job for him that he did after his normal work day... but, he also wouldn't take no for an answer. I kept telling him no, and he was ignoring me and said, "just five minutes" and kept asking me questions. That just irritated me even more.

Census people are still coming to your door now? I thought collection was wrapped up a while ago and now they are in the data processing stage.

I know my area had lots of follow-up in-person field visits. I am not sure if some were also preformed over the phone.

My understanding of the process is if for some reason your submission was not accepted then someone will come to your door (or per above responses over the phone in some areas) to try and collect the information. Some addresses could be bad or mismatched too, resulting in more than one address listing for the same property in the system. Or if multiple households reside at the address, or had in the past, there may be multiple address listings for the same property In the system. Thus you may have a visit for a response for this other address variation/other household, even though you already submitted.

Aside from collecting the data, there are also follow up visits to insure data integrity. Kind of a check on the collectors. I think the figure is around 10% may experience these follow up visits.

You must have hit the jackpot and been the recipient of all of the above! But it still seems odd to me that people are still going door to door, unless there are perhaps some data verifications still occurring. Is there a local census office you can call and see if these people are legitimate?

He did have a badge hanging around his neck, but I wasn't about to open my security door to get a closer look. Since I did answer three times already, I'm not too concerned about following up on him. No one has come back since that visit.

If some one showed up at my door about the census months after I mailed it in I would kindly tell them " I mailed mine in have a nice day" If they insisted to talk to me I would ask for their managers card and I would call them. If they said they did not get it I would tell them" If they want me to fill out another form leave me one and I will mail it in."
In this day and age people randomly showing up at my door with no appointment, I will not let them in my home and will not give them any information. I do not know who they are even if they have some sort of ID, how do I know it is real.

I wasn't going to go on my porch in my pajamas to get a card from him (plus I didn't think about it). I like the idea about leaving a form for me to fill out and mail in. If they come back I'll remember that. If they come during the day (again) I won't have such an issue.

We also kept ignoring the surveys when they came in the mail. Not on purpose, we were just busy, and they kept getting put in the junk mail pile. Then they started coming by the house and leaving us “we were here” notes. At that point we tried to find the paper surveys we’d been sent, so we could fill them out, but they were long gone. Finally they stopped by when DH was home, and he gave them all the info they needed. Done!

I responded to the mailed survey right away, and the first person left a note three times. She caught me at home on the fourth time and I answered the questions. A week later, someone called me to verify that the answers were right, and asked me the same questions. - so that's three times in my book.

Another response above reminded me of a call I received around '89 or '90 (before home computers were commonplace). A collections agent asked me to go to a neighbor's house - someone I didn't know - and leave a message to call them back. I asked how they got my number, and they said that they had a database with everyone's addresses/phones. So, I left a message at that neighbor's house. A week later, the Collections agency called me back and TOLD me to go to that neighbor's house and tell them to call them, or get some information (I forget the details). I told them I wasn't comfortable doing that and that person told me I was OBLIGATED to do that for him. Yeah, I told him that there was no way I was going to continue contacting that neighbor or any other neighbor, and to never call me again. Then I hung up on that person.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

We did the census online. Had no visitor at all.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Did the census online, then the census takers hounded us like JW's - they wouldn't leave us alone! We sent them away from our front porch at least 3 times, and each time the info they had on us was completely wrong. They thought we were renters, or we had multiple families living at our address. No, and in fact we've been here 18 years - long enough for this to be our SECOND census at the same address. It didn't get messed up the last time, why now? To say this left us lacking confidence in the process is an understatement.