2020 Annual Survey of Refugees

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
2020 ASR Public Use Dataset errata.docx	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document	47.8 KB	05/17/2024 11:36:AM
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_corrected_ver2.pdf	application/pdf	2 MB	05/17/2024 09:27:AM
2020 ASR Users Guide_no appendices.pdf	application/pdf	1 MB	11/17/2023 10:13:AM
2020 ASR_Public_Use_File_correction_ver2.dta	application/x-stata-dta	15 MB	05/17/2024 10:06:AM
2020 ASR_Public_Use_File_correction_ver2.sas	application/x-sas	49 KB	05/17/2024 09:25:AM
2020 ASR_Public_Use_File_correction_ver2.sav	application/x-spss-sav	8.4 MB	05/17/2024 10:24:AM
2020 asr_public_use_file_correction_ver2.sas7bdat	application/x-sas-data	17.4 MB	05/17/2024 11:49: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

Project Citation:

Urban Institute. 2020 Annual Survey of Refugees. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-05-17. https://doi.org/10.3886/E195403V2

Project Description

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: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: refugees

Geographic Coverage: United States

Collection Date(s): 1/13/2021 – 4/11/2021

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): survey data

Methodology

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:

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): telephone interview

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: Households and Individuals

Geographic Unit: Census Region originally resettled in and country of birth

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Published Versions

V2 [2024-05-17]

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This material is distributed exactly as it arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.