Survey Methodology #2012-02 - New Relationship And Marital Questions: A Reflection Of Changes To The Social And Legal Recognition Of Same-Sex Couples In The U.s. - U.s. Census Bureau Page 12

to include respondents with a broad spectrum of reactions to the changes we made to the questions, to

determine whether backlash would affect response.

We selected Ohio, North Carolina, Nevada, and the Washington, DC metropolitan area as interview

locations. Nevada was chosen because registered domestic partnerships are recognized for both same‐

sex and opposite‐sex couples. North Carolina was chosen as a southern state where individuals could

potentially have conservative views, as same‐sex marriage and legal relationships are not recognized.

Ohio was chosen because it is a Midwestern state in which same‐sex marriage is not recognized and

DOMA is written into the state constitution. The Washington, DC metropolitan area was selected

because it is convenient to the Census Bureau and offers a mix of place types: since same‐sex marriage

is legal in the District of Columbia, recognized but not legal in Maryland, and neither legal nor

recognized in Virginia.

Recruiting for the Ohio, North Carolina, and Nevada interviews was contracted to Community

Marketing, Inc., a California‐based marketing group that has developed and maintains a database of

LGBT consumers. They were able to recruit opposite‐sex respondents in the required categories as well.

Based on their database and the desire to avoid interviewing in college towns, Cleveland, Ohio;

Charlotte, North Carolina; and Las Vegas, Nevada were selected as interviewing sites. The contractor

arranged for focus group facilities to be used as the interviewing sites in Cleveland and Charlotte. In Las

Vegas, interviews were conducted in conference rooms in a local hotel.

Recruiting for the Washington, DC area interviews was handled by Census Bureau staff. These

interviews were conducted either in the Census Bureau’s cognitive laboratory or in locations convenient

to respondents.

Interviewing for all the sites was done by staff from the Census Bureau. Respondents were paid $40 by

the researchers for their participation. All the sessions were tape‐recorded and the tapes were used to

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Parent category: Legal