The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). The objective of this research is to conduct both cognitive and usability testing of the paper-and-pencil 2010 Enumerator Questionnaire (EQ). This questionnaire will be used in the 2010 Census for Non-Response Follow-Up (NRFU) as well as Update-Enumerate operations. Though these questions have been tested in a self-administered form as well as for use on an automated instrument, this is the first time a cognitive test will be conducted this decade using the interviewer-administered questions on a paper instrument. Additionally, usability testing will be conducted using the same instrument so that recommendations from both can be issued in conjunction. Attached is a draft of EQ form.
Between June and July, staff from the Center for Survey Methods Research (CSMR) will conduct cognitive and usability testing. Usability testing will consist of up to 20 interviews. Cognitive testing will be conducted with a maximum of 40 interviews. This yields a maximum of 60 interviews.
The cognitive interviews will be semi-structured interviews with respondents who represent a diverse population, varying in their education and income levels as well as varying across races, ethnicities and living conditions. There will be two portions of the cognitive test. For 30 cognitive interviews, participants will play the part of respondents in the NRFU operation. Participants will complete the interview using their own household information. All participants will be asked to think aloud while they are answering the NRFU questions, and they will also provide commentary on their experience during a retrospective debriefing. Since there are advantages and disadvantages to both the think-aloud and retrospective approaches, we hope to maximize the benefits of each by using both procedures. Interviews will be conducted in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
For the remaining 10 cognitive interviews, respondents will play the part of Update Enumerate respondents. Since this operation happens mostly in very rural areas, including American Indian reservations, we will have one interviewer travel to an Indian reservation and conduct 10 interviews with respondents who may be interviewed this way in 2010. The same interviewing approaches will be used.
The usability interviews will be semi-structured interviews with respondents representing a diverse population who also vary in their education and income levels. For the usability interviews, participants will play the part of the interviewer using the paper questionnaire. Participants will be given a training that will last about an hour and include at least one training case to provide experience with the questionnaire. After the “training” session, the participate will conduct several “real” cases in which their behavior will be observed. The respondents for these interviews will be Census Bureau staff who will have scripts for answering the interviewer’s questions. All participants will be asked to provide commentary on their experience during a retrospective debriefing. They will be asked a series of probes about what happened and what they expected. Finally, they will be asked to complete a paper-and-pencil questionnaire designed to measure their satisfaction with the questionnaire. Subjective satisfaction ratings will be collected for such design elements as the layout of form and question sequencing. A copy of the satisfaction questionnaire is also enclosed.
Cognitive interviews will be tape-recorded, with the participants' permission, to facilitate summary of the results; usability interviews will be video-recorded, with the participants' permission, for the same purposes. All participants will be informed that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential. Respondents will receive $40 for their participation in a cognitive interview. Because the usability interviews are three times longer, respondents will receive $80 for participation in each of those interviews.
The estimated time for completion of each of the cognitive interviews is an hour. The estimated time for completion of each usability interview is 3 hours (including training and test scenarios). Thus, the estimated burden for this research is 100 hours.
The contact person for questions regarding data collection and study design is:
Jennifer Hunter Childs
Center for Survey Methods Research
U.S. Census Bureau
Room 5K112F
Washington, D.C. 20233
(301) 763-4927
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