Non - Response Panel

A few brief questions about the Millennium Cohort Study
of health and well-being of military members past and present

  1. Do you remember completing a questionnaire on military health (called the "Millennium 

Cohort Study") a few years ago?  The survey asked many questions about any health issues 

you experienced in the military and possible effects you may have experienced, and was 
completed by mail or web.
Yes

No

  2. (If yes) Was your general impression of that survey: favorable, unfavorable, or do you 
remember?

Favorable

T

Skip to Question 3

Unfavorable‐‐If unfavorable, please tell us why:

AF

Don't remember

  3. Starting several months ago, we attempted to send emails to you about the new follow‐up

survey for this study.  Do you remember receiving any email requests for completing this

year's survey?

Yes, remember receiving 1 or 2 emails

Yes, remember receiving 3 or more emails

R

 No, do not remember receiving emails

Skip to Question 5

  4. (If yes) Which one of these categories best describes your reaction to these emails:
Read each of them carefully

D

Read one or more carefully, but ignored the rest
Ignored all of them and didn’t read any of them carefully

  5. We also sent a postal letter with a questionnaire to you.  Do you recall receiving that in the 

mail?

Yes, remember receiving letter and questionnaire in the mail
No, do not remember receiving letter and questionnaire in the mail

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  6. Some people seem unsure who the Millennium Cohort Study emails and letters are coming 

from.  We are wondering which of these groups you thought the emails and letter were 
coming from (check best answer).
The Department of Defense
A specific branch of the military
A nongovernmental organization
Somewhere else
Not sure

  7. We are interested in knowing of possible reasons that people may not have responded to
the request to complete this year's survey.  Please indicate if the reasons listed below 
was or was not a reason why you did not respond to the survey.

T

Yes, a reason

a. I thought the survey would be too long

Not a reason

AF

b. I did not think my response would be very useful
c. I was concerned about confidentiality of my answers being
adequately protected
d. I did not think the study was useful

D

R

e. I am no longer in the military
f. I was concerned about the legitimacy of the study and did
not think it was really being done by the DoD
g. I did not realize it was a follow‐up of the same study I had
responded to
h. Please describe any other reasons that you may have decided
not to respond to this year's survey:

  8. Did the messages you received seem like they were requests to respond to a survey that was
considered important to helping future members of the military or did it seem like just
another survey?
Important to helping future members of the military
Just another survey

  9. If you knew it was conducted by the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans
Affairs, would you have been:
More likely to respond
Less likely to respond
It would have made no difference

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10.We first requested that you complete the survey on the Internet because that helps us

complete the survey process more quickly.  If we had sent you a postal mail questionnaire
when we first contacted you, would you have been:
More likely to answer the survey

why:

Less likely to answer the survey

why:

It would have made no difference in whether I responded

  11.We wonder whether sending a small gift (such as a $5 gift card) with the request to answer
the survey would have made you:
More likely to respond
Less likely to respond

AF

It would have made no difference

T

  12.At the present time we are sending small gifts to people after they have completed the
survey such as a hat, a commemorative coin, or a gift card for a store.  Would knowing
about this gift make you:
More likely to respond
Less likely to respond

R

It would have made no difference

  13.Please rate your overall general health:
Excellent

Very good

D

Good
Fair

Poor

  14.Compared to three years ago, do you consider your overall health now to be:
Much better
Somewhat better
About the same
Somewhat worse
Much worse

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15.Thank you for answering these questions.  Your participation is vital to helping the

Department of Defense evaluate the long‐term health of people who serve in the military.
Do you have any additional thoughts, questions, or comments that you would like to share
concerning this study?

AF

T

Thank you very much for helping us out by answering this brief questionnaire.  We
would like you to know that the study is still going on.  If you would like to complete
this year's survey of the Millennium Cohort Study, we would welcome that.  The
Millennium Cohort Study was designed to understand changes that happen to military
members over many years, information that seems critical to providing the best
possible medical services to people during and after their years of military service.  To
complete the survey over the web, just go to www.millenniumcohort.org and enter
your Subject ID found on the front of this questionnaire.  If you would prefer a paper
survey, just check this box and we'll get it in the mail for you.
Yes, please send me the mail questionnaire

D

R

PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT:
You have rights under the Privacy Act. The following statement describes how that Act applies to this study:
Authority: Authority to request this information is granted under Title 5, U.S. Code 136, Department of Defense Regulations, Executive Order
9396, DoD RCS#DD-HA(AR)2106 (expires XX/XX/20XX), and OMB #0720-0029 (expires XX/XX/20XX). Personal identifiers will be used to link
survey data with medical and other military records.
Purpose: Medical research information will be collected in a research project titled "Prospective Studies of U.S. Military Forces: The Millennium
Cohort Study." The project objective is to enhance basic medical knowledge and to improve the treatment and prevention of illnesses that may be
related to military service.
Routine Uses: The information provided in this questionnaire will be maintained in data files at the Deployment Health Research Department at
the Naval Health Research Center and used only for medical research purposes. Use of these data may be granted to other federal and
non-federal medical research agencies as approved by the Naval Health Research Center's Institutional Review Board. However, your
personal identifiers will be protected. By signing the original consent form, you volunteered to disclose your information as identified above. If you
do not agree to this disclosure, your failure will make the research less useful. The "Blanket Routine Uses" that appears at the beginning of the
Department of Defense's compilation of medical databases also applies to this system. Anonymity: All responses will be held in confidence by the
Deployment Health Research Department. Information you provide will be considered only when statistically summarized with the responses of
others. Your personal identifiers (name, etc.) will only be used to link data sets and then the identifiers will be stripped from study data such that
medical researchers cannot identify you individually. Voluntary Disclosure: Completion of the questionnaire is voluntary. Failure to respond to any
of the questions will NOT result in any penalties except possible lack of representation of your views in the final results and outcomes.
PUBLIC BURDEN STATEMENT: The public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 10 minutes per response,
including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and
reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of
information, including suggestions for reducing the burden, to the Department of Defense, Washington Headquarters Services, Executive
Services Directorate, Information Management Division, 4800 Mark Center Drive, East Tower, Suite 02G09, Alexandria, VA 22350-3100
(0720-0029) Respondents should be aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to
comply with a collection of information if it does not display a currently valid OMB control number.

If you would like to contact the Millennium Cohort Study Team, please email us at: [email protected] or
[email protected].  Or call us at toll‐free:  1‐888‐942‐5222 or DSN: 553‐7465.  You can also use this
contact information if you would like to withdraw from participating in this study.

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