Att A_RRS Protocol Summary 20130912

ATTACHMENT A: Protocol Summary

CDC Message Testing: Radiation Risk Scale

(Focus Group)

Background:

People need to know if a situation involving radiation or radioactive materials is “safe” for them or their family. The radiation protection community continues to struggle addressing this need. To address this need, Dr. Armin Ansari, from CDC’s Radiation Studies Branch has created the Radiation Risk Scale as a communication tool for the public.

Goal:

Explore the effectiveness of the Radiation Risk Scale among the public.

Objectives:

1. Evaluate the extent to which the Radiation Risk Scale effectively communicates radiation risk.

2. Evaluate the extent to which the Radiation Risk Scale is relevant, comprehensible, credible, appealing & motivates desired action.

Target Audience: The target audience for this research is the public.

All participants will:

• Be at least 18 years of age

• Have at least a High School Diploma

• Be comfortable conversing in English

The respondents will provide approximate representation reflective of the community in terms of:

• Gender

• Age

• Education

• Race/ethnicity

It is understood that with the small number of respondents per group, & the relatively small number of respondents per city, it will not be possible to have respondents representing all combinations of characteristics in one group or even across groups for that city.

OMB Approval:

CDC will seek OMB approval through an amendment to its existing broad-based agency approval for message testing [Health Message Testing System (HMTS)]. CDC is encouraged to use questions from a pre-approved question bank in developing data collection instruments. Questions from the pre-approved question bank will focus on the following areas:

• Comprehension

• Initial Impressions

• Believability

• Persuasiveness

• Self-protection motivation/Self efficacy

• Content & Wording

• Appearance

Methodology:

Data will be collected using focus groups with up to 96 total participants recruited by commercial market research firms. Three focus groups will be held in 4 major metropolitan cities (a total of 12 focus groups).

Each focus group will have between 6 & 8 participants & is expected to last about 90 minutes. A professional moderator will guide the discussion of the focus groups. During the beginning of the focus group, the moderator will provide an overview of the study and ground rules for the focus groups and introductions. Next, the moderator will show a video to introduce the Radiation Risk Scale. After the introduction video, the moderator will show another video which will explain a hypothetical high-risk radiation emergency scenario. After the high-risk scenario, participants will be asked questions regarding the message and the radiation scale in the video. Once they have completed their discussion about the high risk scenario, participants will also be shown another video which will explain a hypothetical low-risk radiation emergency scenario. After the low-risk scenario, participants will be asked questions regarding the message and the radiation scale in the video. The focus group will conclude with questions about information sources, such as spokespersons and communication channels.

The focus groups will be audio-recorded & transcripts will be prepared from these recordings. Interested observers may choose to attend focus groups in person or view them with Focus Vision.

Attachment 1b : Burden Hours and Distribution of Respondents

Type of Respondents	Form Name	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondent	Burden per Response (in hr)	Total Burden (in hr)
Public	Eligibility Screener	192	1	15/60	48
	Moderator’s Guide	96	1	90/60	144
TOTAL					192 hrs

Distribution of Respondents

Audience Segment	Type of Respondent	Atlanta, Georgia	Houston, Texas	Phoenix, Arizona	St. Louis, Missouri	Total Number of Groups	Total Participants
Public	Eligibility Screener Only Participant	48	48	48	48	12	192
	Focus Group Participant	3 Groups (8 participants/ group)	3 Groups (8 participants/ group)	3 Groups (8 participants/ group)	3 Groups (8 participants/ group)		96
TOTAL		24 Participants	24 Participants	24 Participants	24 participants	12	192