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 cognitive testing on the questionnaire for the 2020 Research and Testing Program Test 15. In January of 2013, the Census Bureau plans to field this survey to a CATI sample of 10,000 households. The survey is designed to test the usability of various commercial vendors’ contact frames when matched to the Master Address File, as well as to investigate respondents’ views towards new contact methods for the 2020 Census.
In June and July of 2012, Census Bureau staff will conduct a maximum of 20 cognitive interviews in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. In order to test respondents from the general public, both those who are favorable towards and not favorable towards the government, we plan to conduct interviews in neutral locations, for example, non-profit service providers, libraries, and churches, as well as in the Census Bureau laboratory. We will be recruiting from a vendor list, calling respondents and asking if they are interested in participating in a Census Bureau research study. If so, appointments will be made to meet in person to conduct the research. The same vendor list (sampled without replacement) will be used for the actual Test 15 survey.
The 2020 R&T Test 15 survey is being fielded in a CATI interview, but for cognitive testing, it will be conducted in person using a paper script. In addition to the CATI script, the debriefing interview will reveal the contact phone numbers and email addresses provided by the third party vendor, in an attempt to understand what information our survey has elicited, what information was bad information from the vendor, and what was concealed due to privacy concerns on the part of the respondent. This will allow us to evaluate our survey questions. Because this could be perceived as sensitive, the two researchers working on this study have background in privacy and confidentiality issues and are trained to deal with these issues accordingly. The “verification” debriefing will only be applied when the researcher judges that the respondent is amicable to this line of questioning. A draft protocol is attached.
Cognitive interviews will be tape-recorded, with the participants' permission, to facilitate summary of the results. 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.
The estimated time for completion of each of the cognitive interviews is an hour. Thus, the estimated burden for this research is 20 hours.
The contact person for questions regarding data collection and study design is:
Michelle Smirnova
Center for Survey Measurement
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| Author | child310 |
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| File Created | 2021-02-02 |