Census Bureau Seeks Comments on HTOPS

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For data collection for the Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (HTOPS) in March, April and May, 2025, the Census Bureau is asking for public comment by March 30.

The HTOPS, per the Federal Register Notice, “is designed to ensure the availability of frequent data collection for nationwide estimates on a variety of topics for a variety of subgroups of the population.”

“The topical survey that will field in March will include labor force focused content to test a series of questions that are being designed for production use in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) labor force module. The April topical survey will include content from the Household Pulse Survey. The Household Pulse Survey will continue to serve as an experimental endeavor in cooperation with other federal agencies to produce near real-time data to understand the effects of current events, including natural disaster events or other social or economic events facing the nation or a significant portion of the nation. … The May topical will provide important methodological data to compare the HTOPS responses against a national benchmark and similar survey design, pulling questions from Pew’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey. These will be used for methodological assessment of the current panel members representativeness compared to this national benchmark and other similar data collection strategies and will be used to inform directions for future recruitment and replenishment. The May topical also pilots a short series seeking to measure reasons for migration to be used in other surveys like the Survey of Income and Program Participation.”

Census Bureau Seeks Comments on HTOPS

For data collection for the Household Trends and Outlook Pulse Survey (HTOPS) in March, April and May, 2025, the Census Bureau is asking for public comment by March 30.

The HTOPS, per the Federal Register Notice, “is designed to ensure the availability of frequent data collection for nationwide estimates on a variety of topics for a variety of subgroups of the population.”

“The topical survey that will field in March will include labor force focused content to test a series of questions that are being designed for production use in the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) labor force module. The April topical survey will include content from the Household Pulse Survey. The Household Pulse Survey will continue to serve as an experimental endeavor in cooperation with other federal agencies to produce near real-time data to understand the effects of current events, including natural disaster events or other social or economic events facing the nation or a significant portion of the nation. … The May topical will provide important methodological data to compare the HTOPS responses against a national benchmark and similar survey design, pulling questions from Pew’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey. These will be used for methodological assessment of the current panel members representativeness compared to this national benchmark and other similar data collection strategies and will be used to inform directions for future recruitment and replenishment. The May topical also pilots a short series seeking to measure reasons for migration to be used in other surveys like the Survey of Income and Program Participation.”

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