NPSAS 2012 Cog Testing 2011 Revision Memo

Memorandum United States Department of Education

Institute of Education Sciences

National Center for Education Statistics

DATE: August 26, 2011

TO: Shelly Martinez, OMB

FROM: Tracy Hunt-White, NCES

THROUGH: Kashka Kubzdela, NCES

SUBJECT: NPSAS:12 Full Scale Cognitive Testing 2011 Clearance Revision (OMB# 1850-0803 v.55)

The following material is an amendment to the OMB package submitted on July 14, 2011 and cleared August 3, 2011 (OMB# 1850-0803 v.53) for the conduct of cognitive interviews to pretest the full-scale student interview for the 2011-12 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12) under the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) agreement, OMB #1850-0803. Since the initial submission, changes were made to the student interview as the result of recommendations made by the NPSAS:12 technical review panel and a request from ED’s Office of the Under Secretary. This memorandum summarizes those changes. The student interview, revised as indicated in this memorandum, will be used in the cognitive testing planned for August-September 2011. Questions for cognitive testing will be limited to the new and revised items, although participants will be asked to provide comments on other items in the interview should they find them confusing or otherwise problematic.

Appendix 1 provides an overview of the interview items revised for cognitive testing and the nature of the revision, and Appendix 2 provides details about the original wording of the item and the type of revision implemented. Appendix 1 also provides page numbers indicating where, in Appendix 2, the item-level detail may be found. Within Appendix 2, items that are new or are to be revised are highlighted in yellow while items to be deleted are highlighted in green.

Appendix 1. Summary of TRP-Recommended Revisions to the NPSAS:12 Interview

Section	Page	Form Name	Construct	Revision
Enrollment	4	N12EXPBA	Bachelor's degree completion for associate's degree respondents	Replaced field test set of 4 questions (N12FINISH, N12DEGELSE, N12NXTDEG, N12TRNLIKEB) with single item
Education Experiences	5	N12APIBCOLL	AP/IB/College credit in high school	Replaced field test set of 7 questions (N12AP1, N12AP2, N12AP3A, N12AP3B, N12IB1, N12IB2) with single item
Education Experiences	7	N12SRVUSE	Services used at NPSAS school	Reduced response options
Education Experiences	8	N12SRVIMPT	Importance of services used	Eliminated frequency variable for each service used
Education Experiences	11	N12EDBENEFTS	Non-monetary benefits of education	Replaced 2 field test questions (N12LIFECHNG, N12CHNGWAYS) with single item
Financial Aid	13	N12REFUND1	NPSAS issued tuition refund	Added question per request from the Office of the Under Secretary
Financial Aid	13	N12REFUND2	Refund cashed or deposited	Added question per request from the Office of the Under Secretary
Financial Aid	14	N12UNMETNEED	Unmet need	Replaced 2 field test questions (N12DCLN2K, N12LN2KNO)
Financial Aid	14	N12NEEDAMTUG/GR	Unmet need: amount	Replaced 2 field test questions (N12DCLN2K, N12LN2KNO)
Financial Aid	15	N12DSCTMTCH	Discount rate: matching method	Replaced 2 field test questions (N12DISCOUNTA/NI12DISCOUNTB) with single more matching question to test against titration discount rate option
Income and Expenses	16	N12PARHELP	Parent financial help for college	Added question to distinguish parent help from other family
Income and Expenses	16	N12PARAMT	Parent financial help for college: amount	Added question to distinguish parent help from other family
Income and Expenses	17	N12PARAMT2	Parent financial help for college: amount over 2K	Added question to distinguish parent help from other family
Income and Expenses	17	N12BANK1	Checking/savings account	Added question per request from the Office of the Under Secretary
Income and Expenses	17	N12BANK2	Checking/savings account name	Added question per request from the Office of the Under Secretary
Income and Expenses	18	N12DSCT250-N12DSCT500	Discount rate: titration method	Added titration method in cognitive interviews to compare against discount rate matching method (N12DISCMTCH)
Background	19	N12GUARDED	Parents' highest level of education	Revised question wording and consolidated and revised response options for parent relationship to more closely match FAFSA
Background	21	N12SIBCL	Sibling in college first	Item asked in NPSAS:04; we want to add back to NPSAS:12
Background	21	N12MILIT	Military status	Revised question to include National Guard