Form 1 Focus Group Protocol

ATTACHMENT II: FOCUS GROUP PROTOCOL

1. INTRODUCTION (10 min.)

• Good evening, and thank you all for taking the time to come out and share your thoughts and opinions. First a couple house-keeping items:

  • Please silence your cell phones

  • We have 90 minutes together.

  • [Snacks/beverages?]

  • Restrooms are [say where]; feel free to take a break anytime during our session

• Now I want to mention a few things about our discussion:

  • As the moderator my job is to listen to you and encourage conversation; I have no stake in the opinions you share, and no judgments. So please speak freely.

  • There are no right or wrong answers; it is your thoughts, opinions and perceptions that matter in here.

  • Your participation is voluntary, and you don’t have to answer any question you don’t want to.

  • That said, you are here because your opinions are very important, and I do hope to hear from everyone at some point this evening.

  • Also, the goal of our conversation is not necessarily to agree with one another or come to a consensus; it’s just to hear from each of you about your personal opinions and experiences. So if you disagree with something that is shared, or agree, or somewhere in-between, I’d really like to get your perspective.

  • Everything you share will be kept among the research team, and you will not be personally identified in any reports we prepare based on our conversation. We also ask that we all respect the privacy of everyone in the room, and that you don’t share what is discussed with others.

  • To help me remember what’s been said, and not miss anything, we will be audio recording and transcribing this session. This will help me focus on the conversation without being distracted by taking notes. Any information that could identify you personally will be removed from the transcripts, and the audio files and transcripts will be destroyed when the report is complete.

• [If applicable] You may have noticed the glass behind me. Some of my team members are here observing me so that we can all learn from the session and coach each other. [Introduce observers to the group].

• I think that’s just about everything in terms of an introduction.

• Any questions?

Okay, let’s get started by introducing ourselves to each other. Please tell us: (1) your first name, (2) how long you have lived in (name the city or town), and (3) a couple of your favorite TV shows. I’ll go first. [Moderator introduce self; then invite others to do the same].

Great, very glad to meet all of you. Let’s start our discussion.

[TURN ON RECORDER]

2. Past Experience with the Decennial Census (5 minutes)

• The topic of our discussion is the 2020 Census.

• Let me start by asking: does anyone here recall the census coming to your household in the past – either a form in the mail, a census-taker at your doorstep or anything like that? [If nothing probe: the last time would have been around March or April of 2010 – anyone remember? How about 2000?]

• [Conduct open probing on the experience:

  • Do you remember – was it a paper form, a census-taker at the door, did someone call in to the census, etc?

  • How did you became of aware of the census form/census taker? [Do you remember the census form sitting around the kitchen table, and interviewer at the door, etc?]

  • Do you recall how it was decided who would complete the census for everyone in the household? Or was there no discussion and someone just did it?

  • [other topics?]

• Ok great. Thanks for sharing that. We’ll get into lots of details and follow up on those experiences later but this gives us a little real experience to get us focused on the discussion.

3. Within-household Negotiation Over Who Fills Out Form (10 minutes)

• So now let’s look to the future. If the census was happening now, and the form was mailed to your household, would you or someone else be the person who would fill this form out?

• How do you think it would get decided – the person who would do the census for the household?

• [If not self] How is that person related to you? And how is that person related to others in the household?

• How would you rate that person’s knowledge of all the other household members?

4. EXERCISE: Filling Out the Census Form/Questionnaire (25 minutes)

NOTE: Depending on the timing of the focus groups, mock up the “Census Day” date on the form to mimic the rough time frame of the real census. For example, if the focus groups are being held in June, 2019, mock up the forms to say “June 1, 2019” instead of “April 1, 2020.”

• Next we’ll do an exercise. I’d like you to pretend that you received the Census 2020 form in the mail and you are the one to fill it out on behalf of your household.

• Please open your folder and take out the form that looks like this [hold up Census 2020 form]. Take about 10 minutes to fill out the form as if you were doing it at home. Please try to make it as realistic as you can, and don’t overthink it too much.

• When you’re finished we’ll talk through how you answered and why, and whether any questions came up for you as you were filling it out.

• And please: DON’T WORRY! There are no right or wrong answers. We just want you to go through the form in a way that is as realistic as possible. If there are any questions that you’re not sure about, please just make a note to yourself on the form itself and we’ll talk about that as a group.

PERSON 1

Q1: Let’s start with Question #1, on the first page, at the bottom left. Everyone see that?

• [Open probing; go around the table and try to draw out each person to contribute. Try to avoid getting in to specific individuals (that will come later) and focus on general concepts]

  • What number did they come up with and why

  • What “rules” or “criteria” did they use to decide if someone should be listed or not

  • Reasons they may have been unsure whether to list someone

Q2: Next, on the right-hand panel on top, is the question about any “additional” people:

• Was anyone “staying here” on [date]?

• [If yes: probe on whether they thought they should list that person on the census; why or why not]

• Did anyone check any of these boxes? Talk about why or why not.

Q5: On the next page are questions about “Person 1”

• Who did you all write down for “Person 1”?

• Why did you choose that person?

• Let’s take a look at the whole question. Just above the space for First/Last Name the question asks “What is Person 1’s name?” Above that is a longer set of instructions starting with “Please provide information…” Did anyone read the part as you were filling it out?

• Let’s talk about that phrase “someone living here who pays the rent or owns this residence”:

  • Can someone tell me in their own words what that means?

  • Is that straightforward for most of you or is there some uncertainty?

  • What if more than one person rents/owns the residence – how would you decide who to write down as “Person 1”?

• The next set of questions (6-10) ask about the sex, age, date of birth, race/ethnicity and citizenship status of Person 1. Did anyone have trouble with any of those questions?

PERSON 2

Q1: At the bottom right of Page 2 is an instruction about Person 2.

• Did anyone notice this?

• Did everyone turn to Page 3?

• Did anyone have doubts about where to list the next person?

• How did you all decide who to list as Person 2?

• What is the relationship between Person 1 and Person 2?

• How knowledgeable is Person 1 about Person 2?

Q2: Next is a question asking whether the person lives/stays somewhere else.

• Did anyone check “no”? [discuss why]

• Anyone check “yes”? [discuss why]

Q3: Asks how Person 2 is related to Person 1

• How did you all decide what to check here?

• What kinds of questions came up for you?

• Any difficulties, doubts or uncertainty?

PERSONS 3 thru End

[Repeat Person 2 series for remaining household members that participants listed on the form].

• Now let’s just talk about who got listed and who did not.

  • Is there anyone you did not list that you think possibly should have been listed? [probe who; why]

  • What about people who may come and go through the household?

  • How about babies and young children of parents who may sometimes stay other places, not just this household?

  • [If anyone mentions young children probe as much as possible on why they did or did not include them; invite group discussion on the situation and solicit other opinions]

• Talk about how closely (or not closely) related you are to other household members.

  • Is everyone related?

  • If so, is it immediate family or more distant relatives?

  • If there are non-relatives, are you friends or is it more of a roomer/boarder situation?

  • Is there a mix of relatives and non-relatives?

• Do you think the names of people you listed on the form in the exercise would be different if someone else in the household was filling out the form? [probe on why]

• What would you do if there were more than 10 people?

5. Census Knowledge (10 minutes)

• Now that we’ve talked about everyone’s actual household situation, let’s talk about your general perceptions about the census.

• How many Census forms do you think will be mailed to each household – one for each house or apartment; one for each family; one for each adult; one for each person, including children?

• Do you think you are supposed to list everyone, regardless of age, on the census form, or only adults? If you have any uncertainty at all please tell me more about that – what is your perception of who to list on the form and why.

• Let’s talk more about children. Do any questions or issues come up for you, such as…

  • Do you wonder if a child needs to be a certain age to be included?

  • What about babies?

  • Any reason to worry about others in household learning that you listed (or did not list) a young child?

  • Do you think you would list a child but another household member would not – or other way around? Why would there be differences of opinion among household members about whether to list a child?

  • If you were uncertain about whether to list a child, what would you do? Would you…

    • check Census website/mateirals?

    • ask someone for advice? If so who? (another household member; relatives; neighbors; friends)

  • What do you think people in your community think about including young children on the Census form?

  • Do you have any reason to hesitate or fear listing young children? If so, why?

  • What would you need to know to feel comfortable including a young child on the form?

6. Vignettes (10 minutes)

• Can you think of any neighbors or friends whose household is particularly complicated in terms of who “lives” there?

• [If necessary] Present respondents with vignettes of known-to-be-problematic household scenarios/compositions and ask how they think the form should be filled out.

7. Messaging (20 minutes)

1. When it comes to getting news about what’s going on around the world, in the country and in your community, where do you turn?

   1. Radio (ethnic?)

   2. TV (ethnic?)

   3. newspapers (ethnic?)

   4. Facebook

   5. Twitter

   6. Instagram

   7. Other social media/specify

2. What about individuals?

   1. Family

   2. Friends

   3. Neighbors

   4. Doctors

   5. Teachers

3. What about institutions?

   1. Schools

   2. Churches

   3. Community centers

   4. Social service agencies

   5. Child care centers

4. Which of those do you trust? Which do you trust the most?

5. For the 2020 Census, there will be many options for how to complete it – including a paper form, internet, census-taker at the door and calling in to a help line. Do you have a preference for how to complete the census:

   1. Online on a PC

   2. Online on a mobile device

   3. Paper

   4. Calling in to Census

   5. Other/specify

6. Do you access the internet from home?

   1. If yes is it on a desktop or on a mobile device (phone, tablet etc.)

      1. If only a phone, is it YOUR phone or the phone of someone else in the household?

      2. Is the person whose phone it is likely to fill out the Census form for the household?

      3. Do you/the person with the phone have data limits that would make you/them reluctant to fill out the Census online?

   2. If no:

      1. Can you get internet access, e.g., at a library, community center, friend/neighbor, internet café, etc.?

      2. Have you ever gone to one of those places to access the internet?

      3. Would you be very likely to go one of those places just to fill out the Census?

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