Summary: GAO discussed the Administration on Aging's (AOA) methodology for collecting data on minority participation, and its data collection methods employed in two other client tracking systems. GAO noted that: (1) the data collection instrument focused on participation in generic service categories instead of program participation; (2) AOA definitions of services lacked specificity and placed the burden on each state to decide on the appropriate categories; (3) the current data collection instrument's service categories are not comprehensive; (4) the AOA data collection instrument did not permit the generation of accurate counts of all participants, including minority participants; (5) AOA data collection procedures lacked participant identification numbers, had no guide for determining low-income and minority status, and lacked standardized data collection procedures; (6) two states had data collection systems that could measure participation in non-AOA programs and examine individual participation; (7) the two states' systems allow them to generate unduplicated counts of all participants, and facilitate their ability to determine minority and low-income status; and (8) the two states' data collection systems did not resolve the other problems associated with the national data on minority participation.
