2020 Annual Survey of Refugees

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Urban Institute

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
2020 ASR Users Guide.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 356.6 KB 11/14/2023 09:43:AM
2020 ASR Users Guide_appendices.pdf application/pdf 2 MB 11/27/2023 09:22:AM
2020 ASR Users Guide_no appendices.pdf application/pdf 1 MB 11/17/2023 10:13:AM
2020 ASR_Public_Use_File.dta application/x-stata-dta 15 MB 11/14/2023 08:42:AM
2020 ASR_Public_Use_File.sas application/x-sas 44.4 KB 11/22/2023 04:53:AM
2020 ASR_Public_Use_File.sas7bdat application/x-sas-data 17.4 MB 11/17/2023 10:14:AM
2020 ASR_Public_Use_File.sav application/x-spss-sav 8.4 MB 11/17/2023 10:14:AM
Appendix A - 2020 ASR Questionnaire.docx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document 111.6 KB 06/30/2022 09:39:AM
Appendix A - 2020 ASR Questionnaire.pdf application/pdf 196.3 KB 06/18/2023 04:17:PM
Data Dictionary (household variables weighted).pdf application/pdf 91.1 KB 11/22/2023 04:54:AM

Project Citation: 

Urban Institute. 2020 Annual Survey of Refugees. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-11-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/E195403V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Since the 1980s, the Office of Refugee Resettlement [1] (ORR) has conducted the Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR), which collects information on refugees during their first five years after arrival in the U.S. The ASR is the only scientifically collected source of national data on refugees’ progress toward self-sufficiency and integration. ORR uses the ASR results alongside other information sources to fulfill its Congressionally mandated reporting requirement following the Refugee Act of 1980.  

In the spring of 2021, ORR completed its 54th Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR). The data from the ASR offer a window into respondents’ first five years in the United States and show the progress that refugee families made towards learning English, participating in the workforce, and establishing permanent residence. This public use data deposit is only for the 2020 ASR with future years likely to be added to the ICPSR archive.

[1] The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) at the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) serves refugees and other humanitarian entrants, including asylees, Cuban and Haitian entrants, Special Immigrant Visa holders, Amerasians, victims of human trafficking, and unaccompanied children. By providing these arrived populations with critical resources, ORR promotes their economic and social well-being. Of these populations, the Annual Survey of Refugees focuses solely on refugees who have come to the U.S. in the past five fiscal years.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms refugees
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Collection Date(s):  View help for Collection Date(s) 1/13/2021 – 4/11/2021
Universe:  View help for Universe Refugees 16 years of age or older at the time of interview and arrived in the U.S. during Fiscal Year 2015-2019
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) survey data

Methodology

Response Rate:  View help for Response Rate
An overall response rate of 17 percent was achieved. Cohort response rates decreased with time since arrival to the U.S. — from a high of 25 percent for FY2019 refugees to a low of 13 percent for FY2015-16 refugees.  

The response rate was driven by the ability to locate and speak to, and among the refugees who were successfully contacted, 72 percent agreed to participate in the survey and completed it. 
 
Sampling:  View help for Sampling
The 2020 ASR targeted 1,500 completed interviews from refugee households entering the U.S. between FY 2015-2019. The sample was designed to allow for separate estimates and analyses from each of the three designated cohorts. Moreover, the design needed to accommodate both household- and person-level analyses.  

The sample was drawn as fresh cross sections by cohort; there was no longitudinal component. The survey objectives required that – in addition to primary stratification by cohort – the sample of households were stratified by year of entry and geographic region of origin.  

The 2020 ASR sampling frame was the Office of Refugee Resettlement's Refugee Arrivals Data System (RADS) dataset.
 
Collection Mode(s):  View help for Collection Mode(s) telephone interview
Weights:  View help for Weights Household- and person-level analytic weights were developed for the 2020 ASR to allow for valid statistical estimates of the target refugee population. Both sets of weights are comprised of two components – a base weight reflecting the selection probability and an adjustment that corrects for differential nonresponse and aligns the population to known totals from the sampling frame (RADS universe file)
Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Households and Individuals
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit Census Region originally resettled in and country of birth

Related Publications

This study is un-published. See below for other available versions.

Published Versions

V2 [2024-05-17]

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