Appendix D Screening and Eligibility

Appendix D: Recruitment and eligibility script

Thanks for calling about the research study. This is a study to help us prepare for a national survey of household spending, to see if the questions work well and can be answered easily by respondents. We’ll use your feedback to improve the survey.

We want to test out the questions with people who have children in school in their household. Let’s go through the eligibility questions to check if you’re eligible. Then, if you have more questions about the survey, I can ask the researcher in charge of the study to give you a call.

1. How many children are in your household?

2. Do any of the children in your household attend school?

• Yes

• No

IF YES TO Q2:

3. I’ll ask you about school for each child.

• For the (first/second/…) child, what kind of school are they at?

• Is that a private or public school?

• Is the child currently attending the school in-person, virtually, or some other way?

IF ANY KIND of IN-PERSON SCHOOL for AT LEAST ONE CHILD, then ask:

• For this child, have you paid for any school meals since the first of August?

(Include only paying for meals eaten at school that are not included as part of the cost of tuition)

Child	Type of school (Preschool, High school, Vocational, etc)	Private or Public	Type of attendance (In-person, Virtual, Hybrid, Other)	School Meals
1				Y N
2				Y N
3				Y N

IF PAID FOR SCHOOL MEALS FOR AT LEAST ONE CHILD THEN THE PARTICIPANT IS ELIGIBLE

Ask all ELIGIBLE participants:

4. What is your age?

5. Are you Hispanic, Latino or Spanish?

• Yes

• No

6. What is your race?

Let the participant respond and select all that apply:

• White

• Black or African American

• American Indian or Alaska native

• Asian

• Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

7. Do not ask aloud:

• Male

• Female

Check their responses against the recruiting list. If they meet the criteria for a group that we still need representation from, schedule them. If not, thank them for the information and let them know that we’ll call them back within a day or two after we confirm availability. Aim to schedule participants representing a mix of these characteristics – for example, some private school and some public school.