Cognitive Interviews for New Items to Measure Industry-Recognized Certifications or Similar Training among Adults in the U.S.

Draft Items and Cognitive Interview Protocol for the Enumeration of Industry-Recognized Certifications and Other
Training
Background:
Questions are being asked without response categories in order to understand how respondents report. Categories will
be developed based on the cognitive interviews. For respondents who live with other adults, we will ask them to answer
two or three questions about other adults in their household to see how proxy reporting might work. We anticipate
respondents will have difficulty with specific questions about certifications. Interviewers will stop the interview if it
becomes clear the respondent cannot answer specific questions as a proxy.
The ACS educational attainment item will be asked as part of the recruitment screener and then again at the end of the
cognitive interview as shown below. The in-person interviews will include a show response card, attached as a separate
document. The recruitment screener is attached in a separate document.
The Other Training section follows the same basic format as the certifications section in order to determine if the other
training meets the same or similar criteria as a certification or not.
Introduction
COG INT: I am going to ask you some questions and I’d like you to think out loud as you consider your answers. By think
out loud I mean tell me your initial reactions, if anything about the question is unclear, and the kinds of things that might
go through your mind as you think about the answer. There are no right or wrong answers. To get a feel for what I mean,
we’ll go through a couple of introductory questions. I’m going to read you a question, and I’d like you to think out loud as
you answer.
Intro1: What kind of work do you do?
Intro2: Tell me all of the people who live in your household.
Great. I’ll also ask some follow-up questions here and there as we go through. Let’s get started.
Certifications
1. Do you have a professional certification?
[If needed]: By professional certification I mean a certification that shows you are qualified to perform a specific
job. Examples are PMP certification, Certified Medical Assistant, Certified Construction Manager, and Linux+
certification.
If no, COG INT: Have you ever had any professional certification? [If never had, go to licensure question, Q11]
COG INT: Do you have more than one certification? What are they? Let’s talk first about your most recent
certification…
PROXY: Does anyone in your household have a professional certification?

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By professional certification, I mean certification that shows you are qualified to perform a specific job.
Examples are PMP certification, Certified Medical Assistant, Certified Construction Manager, and Linux+
certification.
COG INT for PROXY: Who in your household has a certification?
Does he she/they have more than one certification? What are they? [Pick one person to talk about ]
2. What is the name of this certification? ______________________________________
PROXY: What is the name of [PERSON’S] certification?
3. Were you certified by your state, industry, a company, a professional association, or some other organization?
1=State
2=Industry
3=Company
4=Professional association
5=Other__________________________
COG INT: What is the name of the organization that certified you?____________________________
4. Did you have to pass a test or exam to obtain this certification?
PROXY: Did he/she have to pass a test or exam to obtain this certification?
COG INT: Do you currently hold this certification?
When did you get it?
If expired: So you have answered that you have a certification, but it is expired. Can you tell me more about that?
Why did you let it expire?
5. Did you have to demonstrate you could perform certain job tasks to obtain this certification?
COG INT: Tell me more about what you had to do.
6. How long did it take you to obtain this certification?
(Note that we are trying to measure level of effort. We think time is the most efficient way to measure this, but
an alternative measure could be the number of activities they did, like classes, so we are following up with that in
the probes to see if respondents cognitively think about time or activities when answering).
COG INT: Remind R to think aloud. Walk me through how you came up with your answer.

Note or probe the unit of time R uses, e.g. per day, week, or month over what period of time?
How many hours did you spend in a classroom or receiving other instruction to earn this certification?
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Did you take any classes or courses to prepare for certification? If yes, about how many course hours or credit
hours?
Did you study on your own? If yes, about how many hours?
Did you need on-the-job experience to qualify for certification? If yes, how much experience?
What other activities did you have to do to get the certification? How many hours did you spend on that?
7. What is the main reason you decided to get this certification?
COG INT: Are you using this certification in your current job?
8. Do you have to take periodic tests or continuing education classes in order to maintain this certification?
COG INT: Do you have to renew it regularly? How often? When was the last time you took a periodic test?
Tell me more about those tests. (More than one, easy, difficult, need to study)
When was the last time you took continuing education classes?
Tell me more about those classes.(how many, how long, where) ; How many credit hours did you take? How did
you earn them?
9. Would you be able to use this certification if you took the same job with another employer?
Can you give me an example of a company you could go work for?
Could you work for that company without this certification?
Can anyone with this certification do that?
10. Can this certification be revoked or suspended for any reason?
For what reason could it be revoked or suspended?
If you changed your occupation, would the certification expire?
Let’s talk about those other certifications you have? Tell me more about what they are and when you got them.
How did you decide which certification to answer about?
11. Do you have a state or industry license?
a. What is the name of the license?
If R has a certification: Is this the same as your certification or something different?
If R does not have a certification: How is that different from a professional certification? (Then go back
through certification questions asking about license and using the term license instead of certification)
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Educational Attainment
12. What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed?
[For in-person interview – Hand response show card]
Note verbatim response and mark the corresponding category below.
IF R has certification: We asked you this question when we first called you to invite you to this interview. Did you
change your answer?
Did you think about your certification when you answered?
In Person: Where do you think your certification fits on this list?
If the verbatim response doesn’t fit into the following categories from the American Community Survey, probe to
place it.
a. No schooling
b. Nursery school
c. Kindergarten
d. Grade 1-11
e. 12th grade NO DIPLOMA
f.

Regular high school diploma

g. GED or alternative credential
h. Some college credit, but less than 1 year of college credit
i.

1 or more years of college credit, no degree

j.

Associate’s degree (for example: AA, AS)

k. Bachelor’s degree (for example: BA, BS)
l.

Master’s degree (for example: MA, MS, MEng, Med, MSW, MBA)

m. Professional degree beyond a bachelor’s degree (for example: MD, DVS, DDM, LLB, JD)
n. Doctorate degree (for example: PhD, EdD)

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Other training
13. Did you take any other training to improve your employment opportunities? [If yes, continue. If no go to
Proxy]
14. What was the name of this training? ______________________________________
If can’t provide a name, ask what was the topic or purpose?
Did the training lead to a degree, certification, certificate, or license?
Where did you get this training?
When did you complete the training?
15. What did you have to do to complete the training?
COG INT: Tell me more about what you had to do.
Did you have to demonstrate you could perform certain job tasks to complete the training?
Did you have to take classes or course to complete the training? How many credit or hours did you have to take?
Did you have to have on-the-job training as part of the training?
16. How long did it take you to complete the training?
COG INT: Remind R to think aloud. If not clear, walk me through how you came up with your answer.
Note and probe on unit and period of time.
17. What is the main reason you decided to get this training?
18. Do you have to take periodic tests or continuing education classes in order to stay-up-to date with your training?
COG INT: Do you have to retake your training regularly? How often? When was the last time you took a periodic
test?
Tell me more about those tests. (More than one, easy, difficult, need to study)
When was the last time you took continuing education classes?
Tell me more about those classes.(how many, how long, where) ; How many credit hours did you take? How did
you earn them?
19. Would you be able to use this training if you took the same job with another employer?
Can you give me an example of a company you could go work for?
Can anyone with this training do that?
If has more than one training….Let’s talk about that training you have/(or if unclear) do you have other training?
Tell me more about what it is and when you got it.
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20. IF RESPONDENT has other training ask: Thinking again about the question, “what is the highest degree or level of
school you have completed?”
IN person: Where do you think your training fits on this list?
Phone: Did you think about your other training when you answered the question?
Proxy
[If more than one adult in the household]
Now, let’s go back to some of these questions again. I’d like you to tell me if you think you could answer them
about other adults in your household.
[Ask proxy version of questions 1-3 and, if the respondent believes he or she can answer as a proxy, continue with
other items using proxy language. When the respondent seems to have exhausted their knowledge of the other
adult’s certifications or certificates, terminate the interview].

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