Revisions Memo

U NITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

National Center for Education Statistics

February 5, 2018

MEMORANDUM

To: Robert Sivinski, OMB

From: Rachel Hansen, NCES

Through: Kashka Kubzdela, NCES

Re: 2019 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (SCS:19/ NCVS) Spanish Cognitive Interviews (OMB# 1850-0803 v.223) – changes from the approved 2019 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (SCS:19/ NCVS) Cognitive Interviews (OMB# 1850-0803 v.213)

The School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) was co-designed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The SCS collects data on school-related topics, including alcohol and drug availability, fighting, bullying and hate related behaviors, and fear and avoidance behaviors from students age 12 to 18 in U.S. public and private elementary, middle, and high schools. To date, the SCS was conducted in 1989, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017. Over the past four years, the bullying items on the instrument have been continuously reworked to reflect the uniform definition developed by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and to ensure accuracy in the data collected. Research has shown that including a term like “bullying” in the question wording has the potential to influence measurement error. Five rounds of cognitive testing of the SCS instrument, including the bullying items with the term removed, began in December 2017 (OMB# 1850-0803 v.213). This request is to conduct three rounds of Spanish language recruitment and cognitive interviews designed to evaluate new and revised questionnaire items for the SCS. This package presents the Spanish translation of question wording to be tested and describes plans and procedures for conducting the cognitive interviews. Additionally, this request delineates question wording changes and probing changes between rounds 1 and 2. The cognitive interviews will enable the team to identify problems with question wording, translation, and suggest revisions to problematic questions.

The following changes have been made to question wording and probes from those approved in October 2017 (and used in round 1) to those that will be used in the next round conducted in English (OMB# 1850-0803 v.213) and, per this submission, in round 1 conducted in Spanish (changes are reflected in tracked changes – red font; additions are highlighted in yellow):

Q19. The following question refers to the availability of drugs and alcohol at your school.

Is it possible for students at your school to get…

F_ ALCOHOL

a. Alcoholic beverages?

F_MARIJUANA

b. Marijuana, also known as pot or weed?

F_PRESCRIPTION_DRUGS

c. Opioids, such as prescription painkillers, heroin, or fentanyl?

d. Other prescription drugs illegally obtained without a prescription, such as Xanax, Ritalin, or Adderall?

F_OTHER_ILLEGAL

e. Other illegal drugs, such as cocaine, uppers, or crystal meth?

Justification: Per the request from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students and in response the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, we have updated the availability of drugs question to have a separate item on opioids (new Q19c) which required moving “heroin” from the “other illegal drugs” subitem which was replaced with “crystal meth.” We also removed “mary jane” as this is an outdated name for marijuana, and added Xanax to the list of “other prescription drugs” as this is a common drug in which students are familiar.

Probes for Q19 were also updated to reflect the changes shown above:

I asked you this question towards the beginning of the interview. [HAND R THE SINGLE PAGE OF Q19 TO REFERENCE]

All respondents:

1. Please tell me, in your own words, what this question is asking about.

Take a look at item c.

2. What does the term “opioids” mean to you in this question?

3. Have you heard any names of prescriptions painkillers? What names have you heard?

Now let’s look at item d.

4. Prescription drugs are legal but sometimes people get and sell them illegally, like Xanax, Ritalin, and Adderall. Are there other kinds of prescription drugs you know of that some people buy to misuse or get high? Did you include them in your response?

5. Thinking about all of the drugs we just asked about in that question [POINT TO HANDOUT], are there other drugs a student might be able to get at school that we didn’t ask about?

Q 28. You reported that at least one student did things to you more than once this school year. For the next questions, ONLY think about those students who did something more than once during this school year.

Still thinking about [that thing/those things] [another student/other students] did to you during this school year…

G_BULLY_STRONGER

1. [Was that student/ Were any of those students] physically bigger or stronger than you?

G_BULLY_POPULAR

2. [Was that student/ Were any of those students] more popular than you?

G_BULLY_MONEY

3. [Did that student/ Did any of those students] have more money than you?

G_BULLY_INFLUENCE

4. [Did that student/ Did any of those students] have the ability to influence what other students think of you?

G_BULLY_OTHER_POWER

5. [Did that student/ Did any of those students] have more power than you in another way?

G_BULLY_OTHER_POWER_SPECIFY

In what other way [did that student/ did any of those students] have more power than you?

Justification: We added the “Other-specify” question to see if there are any other power imbalances that are common and should be added to the sub-items.

Probes for Q28 were also changed in the following ways:

• We initially had a probe asking for the respondent to expand on Q28e if they answered “yes.” This probe has been removed since we added the “other-specify” to the question.

• The remaining probes were reworded in order to gain a better understanding of who was doing hurtful things to the respondent

  • Which students were you thinking about when answering these question?

  • [IF R MENTIONS MORE THAN ONE STUDENT IN RESPONSE TO PROBE A ABOVE] Did any of those students only do something one time?

  • You said yes to item(s) __ in this question. Who were you thinking of when you said yes to [FIRST “YES” ITEM]? What about for [SECOND “YES” ITEM], who were you thinking of? [REPEAT FOR EACH ITEM R SAID YES TO]

  • [IF NECESSARY] Were you thinking about the same student(s) when answering each of the individual questions a through e? [IF NO AND IF NECESSARY] Can you tell me more about that?

Q29 – Location of Bullying

We added the following answer category/question to the series of options:

29a. Still thinking about the time that [another student/other students] did something to you, where did it occur? Did it occur … Where is the other place where it occurred?

1  In a classroom at school? 2  In a hallway or stairwell at school? 3  In a bathroom or locker room at school? 4  In a gymnasium or weight room at school? 4  In a cafeteria or lunch room at school? 5  Somewhere else inside the school building? –Ask G_BULLY_WHERE_SPECIFY _____________ 6  Outside on school grounds? 7  On the way to or from school such as on a school bus or at a bus stop? 8  Online or by text?

Justification: Prior SCS collections’ data for “somewhere else inside the school building” indicated “gym” as a common location for bullying to occur. Additionally, a respondent in the first round of interviews indicated being bullied in the gym. We felt it would be appropriate to add this subitem to the question.

Q39-42 – Fear & Weapons

We added sections on fear and weapons:

FEAR
I_INTRO_FEAR Intro: Sometimes, even if you can’t avoid a place, you may still be afraid of what might happen there.
I_AFRAID 39a. How often are you afraid that someone will attack or harm you in the school building or on school property? (READ CATEGORIES.)		079 1  Never 2  Almost never 3  Sometimes 4  Most of the time
I_AFRAID_ON_BUS 39b. How often are you afraid that someone will attack or harm you on a school bus or on the way to and from school? (READ CATEGORIES)		080 1  Never 2  Almost never 3  Sometimes 4  Most of the time
I_AFRAID_NONSCHOOL 39c. Besides the times you are in the school building, on school property, on a school bus, or going to or from school, how often are you afraid that someone will attack or harm you? (READ CATEGORIES)		081 1  Never 2  Almost never 3  Sometimes 4  Most of the time
WEAPONS
J_INTRO_WEAPON In the next series of questions we are going to ask you about weapons at your school. None of your responses will be shared with anyone at your school or home.
40. Some people bring guns, knives, or objects that can be used as weapons to school for protection. During this school year, did you ever bring the following to school or onto school grounds? (READ CATEGORIES.) J_WEAPONS_GUN A gun? J_WEAPONS_KNIFE A knife brought as a weapon? J_WEAPONS_OTHER Some other weapon?			Yes No 082 1  2  083 1  2  084 1  2 
	J_GUN_OTHERS 41a. Do you know of any other students who have brought a gun to your school during this school year?		085 1  Yes 2  No - SKIP to J_GET_GUN
	J_SEE_GUN 41b. Have you actually seen another student with a gun at school during this school year?		086 1  Yes 2  No 3  Don’t know
	J_GET_GUN 42. During this school year, could you have gotten a loaded gun without adult permission, either at school or away from school?		113 1  Yes 2  No

The following changes have been made only to probes.

Q9 – School Sponsored Activities

We added the following:

1. Were there any activities that you do at your school that you were not able to find on this list? [IF NECESSARY] What are they?

2. Are there any words or phrases on this list that you don’t recognize? [IF NECESSARY] What are they?

Justification: The list of activities has not been updated in a long time. We want to see if students have other examples we should consider including to this item.

Q22 – Bullying Behaviors

We made the following updates to the probes:

Earlier I asked you these questions: [HAND R THE SINGLE PAGE OF Q22 TO REFERENCE, R WILL REFERENCE THIS THROUGH THE INTERVIEW, SO DON’T TAKE IT BACK]

If any Q22 a – g = yes:

When I asked you if any student from your school had done any of those things that might make you feel bad or are hurtful to you, you said yes to items _______ [SAY WHICH LETTERS R SAID YES TO, DO NOT READ BEHAVIORS. Ex – “you said yes to items b and d”].

1. Can you tell me about what happened? As much as you feel comfortable talking about.

2. [IF R DID NOT SAY YES TO “ONLINE OR BY TEXT” IN Q29] Did anything happen online or by text that you didn’t think of when you were first answering that question? [IF YES] Can you tell me more about that?

If Q22 = no to all:

When I asked you if any student from your school had done any of those things that might make you feel bad or are hurtful to you, you said no to all items.

3. Did any of those things happen to you but you didn’t think they would count for this question? Can you tell me more about why you didn’t include them here?

4. [IF ONLINE STUFF NOT MENTIONED IN PROBE C] Did any students from school do anything that made you feel bad or was hurtful to you online or by text that you didn’t think of when answering the question? [IF YES] Can you tell me more about that?

5. Did other students do any other things not included in this list that made you feel bad or were hurtful to you? Can you tell me more about that?

All respondents: Do you have a brother or sister who goes to the same school as you? [IF YES] Suppose that while you were at school your brother or sister did some of those things that made you feel bad or were hurtful to you. Do you think you would include them in your answer to this question? [GESTURE TO PAPER] Can you tell me more about that?

6. Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend who goes to the same school as you? [IF YES] Suppose that while you were at school your boyfriend or girlfriend did some of those things that made you feel bad or were hurtful to you. Do you think you would include them in your answer to this question? [GESTURE TO PAPER] Can you tell me more about that?

7. What does the term “dating” mean to you?

8. How do students at your school talk about what it means to be dating?

9. Is it easy to know when something goes from talking and flirting to dating? Why/why not?

10. Is there anything missing from this list [GESTURE TO PAPER] that we should add?

Q23 – More than one student

We added the following probes:

1. Now I have another question about the [student/students] who did those things to you.

What was your relationship to [the student/those students] when they did [that thing/those things] to you? Were they…

1. Your brother or sister?

2. Your friend or ex-friend?

3. Your boyfriend or girlfriend at the time?

4. Your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend at the time?

5. Another student from school?

2. Were you unsure of what to answer for your relationship to any of the students you were thinking of? Can you tell me more about that?

Justification: Round 1 results indicated some respondents still not thinking of experiences that may have occurred online or via text. We want to continue probing on this to see if students are thinking of these experiences. Additionally, part of the CDC uniform definition of bullying includes a caveat that experiences involving siblings and dating partners are not to be considered bullying experiences. This caveat has not been included in any bullying items on the SCS and has not been explored through cognitive testing. These probes are designed to investigate whether respondents would include experiences with siblings and dating partners in their responses to Q22.

Q27 – Do hurtful things again

We removed the following probe because it is not useful in improving the question and can be uncomfortable to ask when the students are already discussing their experiences in many other probes:

All respondents:

1. What hurtful things were you thinking of when answering this question?

Q43 – Gangs

We made the following updates to the probes:

All respondents:

I am going to ask you one more survey question, then some follow up questions about a few of the items you answered throughout the survey, and then we’ll wrap up.

Now, we'd like to know about gangs at your school. You may know these as street gangs, fighting gangs, crews, or something else. Gangs may use common names, signs, symbols, or colors. For this survey, we are interested in all gangs, whether or not they are involved in violent or illegal activity.

Are there any gangs at your school? 1  Yes 2  No 3  Don’t Know

1. How did you come up with your answer to that question?

2. Was that question asking the same thing as the question I asked about gangs earlier? Can you tell me more about that?

3. [IF NECESSARY] What does the term “gangs” mean to you in that new question?

Justification: The item above is how the question has always been asked on the SCS. Feedback from interviewers in the field for SCS:17 indicated difficulty asking this question. The wording seems confusing and contradictory as gangs are typically associated with violent or illegal activity, but we state we are interested in gangs regardless of whether they are involved in violent or illegal activity. We removed this text from the item for round 1. We wish to probe on the old version of the question to determine if there are any “nonviolent” gangs which we would want included. This will help us determine whether we should keep the text or remove it from the instrument for SCS:19.

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