The Census Bureau has already committed to using the Internet as a primary response option in the 2020 Census. With this commitment in mind, the 2012 National Census Test (NCT) was developed to research the design and implementation of a secure, user-friendly online survey instrument. The primary goal of the NCT was to evaluate within-household coverage strategies
for an electronic survey instrument. A secondary goal was to evaluate self-response rates of various mixed-mode contact strategies. This paper will focus on that secondary goal. Experimental contact strategies, which build off previous Census and American Community Survey research, utilize an Internet Push methodology with additional reminders, new motivational wording, and various timing strategies for the paper questionnaire mailing. Under the 2012 NCT Internet Push approach, households did not receive a paper questionnaire in the initial mailing but instead received an instruction card with information on how to provide responses online. Paper questionnaires were mailed to households who did not respond by a pre-determined date. This paper examines the proportion of Internet responses and overall selfresponse rates, including Internet, telephone, and mail responses for each of six experimental contact strategies.