NHES ASPA 2014 Cog Labs Changes to the Questionnaire

MEMORANDUM

TO: Shelly W. Martinez

FROM: Sarah Carroll

THROUGH: Kashka Kubzdela

RE: Content changes in the NHES feasibility test ASPA questionnaire (1850-0803 v.83)

DATE: July 26, 2013

The new After-School Programs and Activities (ASPA) questionnaire draws primarily from the NHES:2012 Parent and Family Involvement survey for children enrolled in public or private school (PFI-Enrolled) and the NHES:2005 ASPA survey. The NHES:2012 survey forms the basis for Section 1 (Child’s Schooling), Section 6 (Child’s Health), Section 7 (Child’s Background), Section 8 (Child’s Family), and Section 9 (Your Household). The NHES:2005 ASPA survey has been revised to account for the change in mode from telephone to mail and to incorporate feedback from the NHES technical review panel (TRP) meeting held in June 2013. The TRP members also subsequently reviewed and commented on a draft version of the ASPA questionnaire. Content from the NHES:2005 ASPA forms the basis for Section 2 (Choosing After-School Arrangements), Section 3 (Formal After-School Programs), Section 4 (Organized After-School Activities), and Section 5 (Other Arrangements). A summary of questions that have changed from previously approved questionnaires is provided, by questionnaire section, below.

Section 1 – Child’s Schooling

• A question asking if the child is homeschooled instead of going to a public or private school was added. If respondents answer “yes”, they are asked how many hours each week the child attends a public or private school (question 2).

Section 2 - Choosing After-School Arrangements

• Question 15 (Do you feel there are good choices for after-school care, programs or activities where you live) is a revised version of question SM3 from the NHES:2005 ASPA. The previous question only referred to after-school care. The revision expands the focus beyond child care arrangements which was one of the main suggestions from the TRP.

• Question 21 (How important was each of the following reasons when your family was making decisions about where this child spends after-school hours and weekends) is a revised version of the NHES:2005 question SM1. The original question only asked about location, cost, reliability, learning activities, the child spending time with other children his or her age, the time the care provider was available, and the number of children in the care group. This was expanded and revised based on TRP feedback.

• In NHES:2005 ASPA, a series of questions was asked about characteristics of care arrangements (who provided it, where is it located, and what activities take place) TRP members recommended changing the format in which questions about after-school activities were asked. They recommended using a grid format to capture information about different places the child spent time after school, the people the child spent time with, and the activities the child participated in during different days of the week. In particular, they recommended including learning activities in math, science, and reading, as well as physical and creative activities. They also recommended including questions about the use of technology and the relevance to the digital media children use today. Questions 24-27 from the 2014 ASPA survey capture this information.

Section 3 – Formal After-School Programs

• The questions in Section 3 are very similar to the questions in the NHES:2012 ECPP sections on child care and the NHES:2005 ASPA questionnaire.

• Question 30 (reasons for not enrolling in any formal program), question 37 (how frequently a family member talks with an adult at the child’s program), and question 38 (transportation to the program) have been added based on TRP feedback.

Section 4 – Organized After-School Activities

• The questions in Section 4 are also very similar to the questions in the NHES:2012 ECPP sections on child care.

• Question 49 (transportation to the activities) and question 51 (how frequently a family member talks with an adult at the child’s activity) have been added based on TRP feedback.

Section 5 – Other Arrangements

• The questions are modifications of questions asked in the NHES:2005 ASPA survey about hours spent in relative care and self-care.

Section 6 – Child’s Health

• Section 6 is very similar to child health section of NHES:2012, with some revisions to focus the questions on care for health conditions received after-school hours or on weekends to align with the focus of the questionnaire.

• Question 56 (diagnosis of a health condition) was changed from a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question for each condition, to a mark-all-that-apply question per the TRP’s recommendation.

Section 7 - Child’s Background

• This section is the same as the NHES:2012 PFI-Enrolled questionnaire except for one revised question. In NHES:2012, the following question was asked: “For this school year, does this child usually live at this address or another address (for example, because of a joint custody arrangement)?”. In the 2014 questionnaire this was revised to “Does this child split his or her time between two households, for example because of a joint custody arrangement?”.

Section 8 - Child’s Family

• The 2014 ASPA survey differs from the NHES:2012 Parent 1 and Parent 2 background sections in how it asks about marital status. The NHES:2012 included a single marital status question with the following response options: married, in a registered domestic partnership or civil union, living with a partner, separated, divorced, widowed, and never married. The 2014 ASPA questionnaire includes a series of three questions on marital status based on question development work conducted by the Census Bureau. These questions are designed to better capture registered domestic partnerships and civil unions. These are questions 76, 77, 78 and 99, 100, 101.

Section 9 -Your Household

• The household size questions (119 and 120) have been revised slightly from NHES:2012. The revised questions ask respondents to first list the number of different people living in the household with the child (e.g., parents, brothers, sisters, grandmothers,…) and then provide a total number of people living in the household with the child. We noticed in reviewing this item that the letters in question 119 are missing from the questionnaire. These should precede the relationship categories and will be added.

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