American Housing Survey Pretesting Plan

The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). We will be conducting cognitive research on the 2012 American Housing Survey neighborhood modules, sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The neighborhood modules ask three different types of questions: questions about public transportation and pedestrian access, questions about working from home, and questions about types of neighborhood structures and landmarks.

In April and May 2012, staff from the Center for Survey Measurement and specially trained Field Representatives will conduct approximately 15 cognitive interviews in two rounds. In our recruiting efforts we will be targeting general population respondents, who will be recruited through advertisements in local newspapers and Craigslist.com, through our respondent database, and personal networks. Interviews will be conducted at the Census Bureau’s Response Research Laboratory and at locations convenient to interviewees. The interviews will be conducted in the local metropolitan area (DC, Maryland, Virginia).

We will be conducting our cognitive interviews using the concurrent think-aloud method. We will audio-tape the interviews to facilitate analysis of the results. A copy of the draft questionnaire with protocol probes is enclosed.

We will inform participants that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential and will be seen only by employees involved in the research project. Participants will receive $40 for their participation in this research.

We estimate that these interviews will take approximately one hour. Thus, the total estimated burden for this research is 15 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding data collection and statistical aspects of the design of this research is listed below:

Terry DeMaio

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 5K319

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-4894

[email protected]