Various Demographic Pretesting Activities

Protocol for 2011 American Housing Survey Healthy Homes, Home Accessibility, and Mortgage Modules

General Probes:

Tell me what you’re thinking.

Can you tell me a little more about that?

Q.5 STYPE

Cog probe: How did you arrive at that answer?

If necessary: Tell me a little more about that.

Q.6 FLOORS

Cog Probe: Tell me more about that.

Follow up as necessary to determine if the stories are in the apartment itself or in the building.

Q.8 BATHS

Cog probe: What does a full bathroom mean to you in this question?

Q.12 RATFREQ

Cog probe: What time period were you thinking of when you answered this question?

Q.16 ROACHFRQ

Cog probe: What time period were you thinking about when you answered this question?

Q.17 MAJR1

Cog probe: What do you think “quickly enough” means in this question?

What do you think “Major maintenance and repairs means in this question?

Did you have trouble deciding what “owner” meant in this question?

If yes  Is there another word that you would use?

NOTE TO INTERVIEWER: Pay attention to respondent’s answer to the open-ended question. Probe as necessary to see if wording of response categories can be improved.

Q20. MINR1

Cog probe: What do you think “minor maintenance and repairs” means in this question?

Q23. BLDMNT

Cog probe: Can you tell me how you arrived at your answer?

Q27. MOLD

NOTE TO INTERVIEWER: Be alert to whether R seems to have a problem in figuring out what size 8” by 11” refers to.

Q32. HLTH

Cog probe: How did you come up with your answer?

How easy or difficult was it for you to decide?

Q32b. HHSAFE

Cog probe: What do you think “window guards” means in this question?

Q36. ASTHMED

Cog probe: What do you think “daily medicines for asthma” means in this question?

Q43. MONOX

Cog probe: if DK  Do you know what a carbon monoxide detector is?

If no  Have you ever heard of the term before?

Q48. H20T

Cog probe: How did you decide the answer to this question?

How certain are you of your answer to this question?

Q50. H2MED

Cog probe: what do you think “medical attention” means in this question?

Q51. NOHHKID

Cog probe: if yes  Can you tell me about that?

Q56. POOLACC

Cog probe: if yes  Can you tell me about that?

Q57. POOLFEN

Cog probe: if yes  Can you describe the fence?

Q63. STAIRLGT

Cog probe: What do you think this question is asking?

Q109. RTOILET

Cog probe: if no  What do you think “raised toilet seats” means in this question?

If yes  Tell me more about that.

Q113. HIOUTLET

Cog probe: What do you think this question is asking?

Q114. LSWITCH

Cog probe: What do you think this question is asking?

Q117. CLCTRL

Cog probe: What do you think “easily usable climate controls” means in this question?

Q121. LEVEL

Cog probe: What do you think this question is asking?

Q158. REGMOR

Cog probe: Tell me how you came up with that answer.

Q160. MATBUY

Cog probe: Can you tell me what “regular mortgage” means to you in this question?
Are you familiar with the terms “home equity lump sum loan” and “home equity line of credit”? If yes  Can you tell me what the difference is between them?

Q.163 PMT

NOTE TO INTERVIEWER: Record whether R has mortgage statement with them and used it when answering this question series.

Q172. ADDTNS

Cog probe: How did you arrive at your answer?

Q173. PERUS1

Cog probe: How did you arrive at your answer?

Q.176 PMTPARTS

NOTE TO INTERVIEWER: Note if R has difficulty findings these elements on the statement.

Q177. PMIAMT

Cog probe: What do you think this question is asking in your own words?

Q183. PMTCHYR

Cog probe: What do you think this question is asking?
If we had asked “has the amount of your loan payment changed by any amount,” would your answer have been different? Would it have made it easier for you to understand?
If R answers No, Dk, Ref to Q.183  What time period were you thinking about when you answered this question?

Q184. WHYPMTCH

Cog probe: For any “yes”  Can you tell me more about that?

Q187. PMTCHAMT

Cog probe: What time period were you thinking about when you answered this question?

Q193. DOC

Cog probe: What do you think this question is asking?
[If necessary]  What does the phrase “the usual amount of information” mean to you in this question?

Q.195 MORGTYPE1

Cog probe: Did you have any trouble coming up with your answer?

Q.216 AMMORT2

Cog probe: What do you think this question is asking?

Q.217 MGREAS

Cog probe: For any “yes”  Can you tell me more about that?

Q. 219 FRSTTERM

Cog probe: How did you come up with your answer?

Debriefing Questions

Overall, would you say the survey questions were easy or difficult to respond to? Why?

Do you think there are questions some people would find difficult? Sensitive?

When we asked you questions about your home mortgage, if you hadn’t had your statement in front of you, how easy or difficult would it have been to answer those questions?

If this was a regular interview, would you have found your mortgage statement and used it?

Do you have anything else you would like to tell us that you haven’t had a chance to mention, yet?