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SURVEY OF STATE STATUTES AFFECTING CITIZEN COMPLIANCE WITH INFORMATION-GATHERING AGENCIES

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Mr. Speaker, except for two States and a few others requiring data on schoolage children, our State governments can operate extensive statistical gathering programs without the "benefit" of mandatory compliance. This speaks well for our States and reflects clearly against the U.S. Bureau of the Census arguments that it cannot assure census accuracy without threats of prison or a fine to the respondent for noncompliance. The States do have similar "officiality" that is deemed important and succeed with public cooperation, not fear of punishment. There are several hundred companies operating with neither the force of law nor color of officiality. They must rely solely on public good will to succeed. Let us look at their views on the question of compliance.

PRIVATE RESEARCH FIRMS SUCCEED WITH VOLUNTARY SURVEYS

Required to conduct their total operations without Government prestige or compulsion, market research firms should be in a good position to evaluate the necessity and desirability of forced participation in the census. I wrote to nearly 200 firms across the country to learn their thinking on the subject. This question was presented to the president of each company:

"In the surveys and polls you undertake, both through interviews and by mail, do you receive a high response yielding meaningful results based on the willingness of respondents to cooperate? I wish to contrast your dependence on voluntary response with mandatory compliance utilized in many Census Bureau surveys." The responses I have received, now numbering more than 100, are most useful and enlightening.

The overwhelming answer to my question was to affirm the principle of volunteerism as a desirable and effective method of surveying, in some cases it is considered more accurate than results of mandatory questioning. A few company presidents accepted the present status of the law but by a 5-to-1 ratio the expression of preference for the voluntary approach was endorsed. Several different reasons were given for this viewpoint. I would like to provide actual statements quoted verbatim from the letters I received to describe the thinking of private market research organizations toward voluntary data gathering.

The overall conclusion by these specialists in market research and statistics was that total reliance on public cooperation for the accuracy and success of their canvassing provides no disadvantage and is no impediment to successful operations. I think the following excerpts from letters will illustrate this point: HUNTINGTON WOODS, MICH., August 15, 1967.

Hon. JACKSON E. BETTS,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.:

We have virtually no trouble with respondent cooperation in undertaking the many studies with which we are involved every year.

MILTON I. BRAND,
President, Brand, Gruber & Co.

NEW YORK, N.Y.,
August 31, 1967.

Hon. JACKSON E. BETTS,
Congress of the United States,

House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.:

With respect to our own work, as you correctly point out, there is no obligation for anyone to respond to any questions asked by us, nor do we seldom offer payment or other incentive to do so. Nevertheless, we find a high level of cooperation among both business organizations and private individuals. As you may know, most of our studies contain some kinds of information that might well be considered difficult to obtain-income or sales volume, for example. Although the rate of refusal on these questions may be slightly higher than on less confidential data, it is rarely in excess of 8 per cent of those interviewed.

ARTHUR B. DOUGALL,
Chairman of the Board, Stewart, Dougall & Associates.

PRINCETON, N.J.,
August 29, 1967.

Hon. JACKSON E. BETTS,
House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.:

We do not feel that the questions that you have raised regarding confidentiality or respondent's freedom to refuse an interview are important differences between Census work and the work of our own organization. We feel that given the type of studies that we do, these are not important limitations to our work.

JOSEPH C. BEVIS,

Chairman of the Board, Opinion Research Corp.

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Census Bureau with respondent's willingness and cooperation every bit as high as and probably more so than if these people were being called on by a person only hired for that one study. I can't imagine it posing any problem at all to me. In this last year I have operated in every state in the Union. I have done thousands of questionnaires in Canada, Mexico, Hawaii; and now, we are getting ready to work in the United Kingdom, Belgium and France.

Mrs. MARIAN S. MCCULLOUGH, President, Winona Interviewing Service, Inc.

CHICAGO, ILL.,
August 11, 1967.

Hon. JACKSON E. BETTS,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.:

As far as secrecy is concerned, this should be the least of your worries because a reputable private agency cannot do work for all the large food companies, as we do, and have a large mouth. We are constantly working on new products, product concepts, and the like, and what we do is always confidential and secrecy is about as natural as getting up in the morning. So, in short, we do have the strictest degree of confidentiality even though there is no law that says we have to keep our findings secret.

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The non-response on personal interviews and telephone interviews, when contact with a respondent is made is relatively minute.

Certain questions relative to income have a higher non-response than less personal questions, but even this non-response is not of a significant nature.

Mail surveys have various percentages of returns depending on the interests of the subject matter, and the amount of inertia (on the part of the respondents) in taking the physical time to answer the questions and mailing the questionnaires. However, of those questionnaires returned, the nonresponse is negligible. GEORGE FINE,

Market Research Service.

Several company presidents thought the mandatory features of census questionnaires unnecessary because the official Government format and documentation are adequate to gain the cooperation of any reluctant, respondents. Two examples of these replies follow:

Congressman JACKSON E. BETTS,
House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.:

CHERRY HILL, N.J.,
August 29, 1967.

It is believed that the Census Bureau would, through personal interviews, receive a high level of response and meaningful results on a voluntary basis from both individuals and business. This has been our experience in both consumer and industrial/commercial surveys. Generally, people will cooperate as long as their doing so is not detrimental to them. An invaluable advantage in the case of the Census Bureau's survey work, is that the "official" stamp of the Federal Government is present.

HUGH F. BRESLIN,

Director, Arthur S. Kranzley & Co.

DALLAS, TEX.,
August 15, 1967.

Mr. JACKSON E. BETTS,

8th District, Ohio, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.:

In answer to your letter of August 9th, we of course receive high response and meaningful results from the surveys we make on a voluntary basis. If we didn't we would be out of business.

CECIL B. PHILLIPS,
President, MARC, Inc.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.,
August 16, 1967.

Hon. JACKSON E. BETTS,

Congress of the United States,

Washington, D.C.:

I have been in the marketing research business for over eleven years and, contrary to some opinions, I have found that the general public welcomes the opportunity to answer questions and express opinions if approached with courtesy and dignity.

CLIFFORD V. LEVY, President, Far West Surveys. WEST HARTFORD, CONN.,

August 16, 1967.

Hon. JACKSON E. BETTS,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.:

In our experience, we have found that there is a high degree of cooperation on the part of respondents; providing, of course, that they have the time and the ability to answer questions. Our work covers a broad area of subject matter but even in the case of very personal questions, we find respondents cooperative. The refusal rate is less than one half of one percent. It should be pointed out, however, that we are careful to tell the respondent all we can about the purpose of the study, the need for their opinion and the fact that their name will not be used in any way. Our opening remarks always include that "we are not selling anything."

A. C. BOURGET, President, The Marketing Service Co., Inc.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.,

August 22, 1967.

Hon. JACKSON E. BETTS,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.:

We certainly do receive a high response yielding meaningful results in the surveys and polls we conduct, by mail, by telephone, and by personal interview. There are always a few who refuse to reveal such data as the family income, but almost invariably, these are less than five percent of the total people interviewed. We have always been able to analyze the results and interpret the meaning of the survey, in spite of this small refusal.

BERT RUSSICK, President, Mid-Continent Surveys.

Congressman JACKSON E. BETTS,

MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.,
August 22, 1967.

House of Representatives,

Washington, D.C.:

Your first outline to me about willingness of respondents to cooperate does not bother me at all. I believe that people, by in large, are willing to be interviewed as long as we treat them in a businesslike manner. We are making a tally now of these 3,300 questionnaires to see really how many people did refuse to do the job. I would expect my trained interviewers to be able to complete any study for the

Census Bureau with respondent's willingness and cooperation every bit as high as and probably more so than if these people were being called on by a person only hired for that one study. I can't imagine it posing any problem at all to me. In this last year I have operated in every state in the Union. I have done thousands of questionnaires in Canada, Mexico, Hawaii; and now, we are getting ready to work in the United Kingdom, Belgium and France.

Mrs. MARIAN S. MCCULLOUGH, President, Winona Interviewing Service, Inc.

CHICAGO, ILL.,
August 11, 1967.

Hon. JACKSON E. BETTS,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.:

As far as secrecy is concerned, this should be the least of your worries because a reputable private agency cannot do work for all the large food companies, as we do, and have a large mouth. We are constantly working on new products, product concepts, and the like, and what we do is always confidential and secrecy is about as natural as getting up in the morning. So, in short, we do have the strictest degree of confidentiality even though there is no law that says we have to keep our findings secret. ALBERT W. HACH MEISTER,

Vice President, Jackson Bee Angell & Associates, Inc.

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The non-response on personal interviews and telephone interviews, when contact with a respondent is made is relatively minute.

Certain questions relative to income have a higher non-response than less personal questions, but even this non-response is not of a significant nature.

Mail surveys have various percentages of returns depending on the interests of the subject matter, and the amount of inertia (on the part of the respondents) in taking the physical time to answer the questions and mailing the questionnaires. However, of those questionnaires returned, the nonresponse is negligible. GEORGE FINE,

Market Research Service.

Several company presidents thought the mandatory features of census questionnaires unnecessary because the official Government format and documentation are adequate to gain the cooperation of any reluctant, respondents. Two examples of these replies follow:

Congressman JACKSON E. BETTS,
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.:

CHERRY HILL, N.J.,
August 29, 1967.

It is believed that the Census Bureau would, through personal interviews, receive a high level of response and meaningful results on a voluntary basis from both individuals and business. This has been our experience in both consumer and industrial/commercial surveys. Generally, people will cooperate as long as their doing so is not detrimental to them. An invaluable advantage in the case of the Census Bureau's survey work, is that the "official" stamp of the Federal Government is present.

HUGH F. BRESLIN,

Director, Arthur S. Kranzley & Co.

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