Supporting Statement Part B

Supporting Statement B for Pilot Test of the Protocol for Eliciting Patient Narratives from Parents for the Child Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems - 0935-0124

RAND Project Leaders
Ron D. Hays

Marc Elliot

RAND Corporation
1776 Main St.
P.O. Box 2138
Santa Monica, CA 90407-2138

Contract Number: U18HS025920

Submitted: [Insert date]


Prepared for AHRQ
Caren Ginsberg, Project Officer

TABLE OF ContentS

Pilot Test of the Protocol for Eliciting Patient Narratives from Parents for the Child Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems 1

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods 1

B1. Respondent Universe, Sampling and Respondent Selection 1

B2. Data Collection Procedures 1

B3. Methods to Maximize Response 1

B4. Tests of Procedures or Methods 2

B5. Statistical and Data Collection Consultants 2

References 3

SUPPORTING STATEMENT: Pilot Test of the Protocol for Eliciting Patient Narratives from Parents for the Child Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

B1. Respondent Universe, Sampling and Respondent Selection

The respondent universe for this pilot test will be members of the Ipsos (formerly Knowledge Networks) panel of online consumers. Ipsos's Internet panel consists of over 50,000 adult panel members who are recruited by random-digit dialing (RDD) or by using address-based sampling.  Typical panel members receive 3-4 invitations per month to participate in research projects.  

The Ipsos panel is constructed to include those who do not otherwise have Internet access by providing them with free access in return for their participation on the panel and computer equipment, if not otherwise available. AHRQ does not intend to generate nationally or locally representative results or precise estimates of population parameters from this study. The sample used is best understood as a convenience sample, rather than a probability sample. The Ipsos panel is large and variegated enough to produce samples with a reasonable degree of diversity in key demographic characteristics.  Furthermore, no legitimate weights can be constructed from non-probability samples such as the one used here.  Hence, AHRQ will not construe this sample or the results generated from this sample as nationally or locally representative.  Ipsos will randomly select 100 participants from its panel for the current pilot study.

Study participants will be randomly assigned to receiving the Narrative Elicitation Protocol (NEP) by phone versus internet. Half of the participants in each condition will be randomly selected to participate in a follow-up intensive interview.

B2. Data Collection Procedures

Participants will receive the study invitation presented in Attachment A. After randomization to phone or internet mode, those participants in the internet mode condition will complete the Child HCAHPS Survey (Attachment B) and NEP (Attachment C) through a secure online connection from their homes. Those participants in the phone mode condition will complete the Child HCAHPS Survey and NEP via phone. Half of these survey participants, randomly selected, will additionally be asked to participate in an hour-long interview (Attachment D), two to three weeks later, designed to act as the “gold standard” for capturing their experiences in narrative form. Attachment E presents the informed consent language all respondents will receive.

B3. Methods to Maximize Response

The response rate is estimated at about 75% based on results obtained from the past projects conducted by Ipsos. Procedures for maximizing response rates include:

• Field period of 3 to 4 weeks

• Use of the Federal agency or University/College name in the email invitation

• Email reminders

• Telephone reminder calls to non-responders

• Incentive payments equivalent to approximately $25 for those in completing the Child HCAHPS Survey and NEP, and an additional $50 for those also participating in the intensive interviews.

 

B4. Tests of Procedures or Methods

To achieve the goals of the experiment, the following analyses will be performed:

1. Qualitative coding of the narratives and interviews will be based on coding schemes developed in our prior research. The narratives will be coded for presence of key content elements, as well as positive/negative valence.

2. Pearson chi-square tests of independence will be used to test for significant differences in the presence/valence of key content elements across the phone and internet administration conditions.

3. Examination of the presence and valence of key content elements, comparing NEP and intensive interview narratives.

The procedures and methods are based on past experience developing and testing similar procedures (Grob et al., 2016; Schlesinger et al, 2018).

B5. Statistical and Data Collection Consultants

The survey, sampling approach, and data collection procedures were designed by the RAND Corporation under the leadership of:

Ron D Hays, PhD

Senior Policy Researcher

RAND Corporation

1776 Main Street

Santa Monica, CA 90407

Marc Elliot, PhD

Senior Principal Researcher

RAND Corporation

1776 Main Street

Santa Monica, CA 90407

References

Grob, R., Schlesinger, M., Parker, A.M., Shaller, D., Wright, L., Martino, S., Finucane, M., Rybowski, L., & Cerully, J. (2016). Breaking narrative ground: Innovative methods for rigorously eliciting and assessing patient narratives. Health Services Research, 51, 1475-6773.

Schlesinger, M., Grob, R., Shaller, D., Martino, S.C., Parker, A.M., Rybowski, L., Finucane, M.L., & Cerully, J.L. (in press). A rigorous approach to large-scale elicitation and analysis of patient narratives. Medical Care Research and Review.