Revised Pilot Test Plan

Revised Pilot test plan for 2009.

The 2009 NHES pilot test plan has been revised based on input from a variety of sources.

A flow chart of the new plan is attached and includes six embedded experiments across the screener and topical interviews. The aim of these experiments is to hone the mail out-mail back methodology for the 2011 field test.

Screener Experiments

Experiment 1: (core vs. extended survey) A comparison between an extended screener that contains general interest education questions and a ‘core’ screener that contains only the items critical to sampling for the topical interview. This experiment will look at the impact on unit non response rates between the two options.

Experiment 2: (grid vs. no grid) A comparison between two methods of rostering households to sample for the topical interview. The experiment will look at differences in number of children reported as well as item and unit response rates between the two form types.

Experiment 3: (Early telephone non response follow up) This experiment will look at the impact of starting telephone non response follow up at the same time as the first non response follow up mailing for a subset of respondents. Early telephone follow up can lead to some efficiency in the field and an earlier survey close out. Response rates will be an indicator of success for this experiment.

Experiment 4: (Fedex vs Phone) This experiment will look at the relative impact on response rate of a third mailing using Fedex express delivery compared to telephone non response follow up.

Topical Interview Experiments:

Experiment 5: (incentive for first topical mailing) Respondents eligible for a topical interview by mail will be assigned to one of three incentive treatment groups (0, $5, $15). The impact of the incentive on response rate, key demographic characteristics and overall survey cost will be analyzed to determine an optimal incentive for 2011.

Experiment 6: (mailing strategy for topical survey follow up) Westat has received indications that Fedex will greatly increase the cost of home delivery service by 2011. This experiment will compare Fedex to an alternate express delivery service (e.g., UPS or Priority mail) to measure the impact on response rates of an alternate express delivery service.

Experiment 7: Cases receiving telephone non response follow up will be randomly assigned to receive a $5 postpaid incentive or no incentive for completion of the topical interview.