Change Request Memo

National Panel of Tobacco Consumer Studies (OMB Control Number 0910-0815)

February 7, 2018

Overview of the Change Request

The purpose of this memo is to seek concurrence from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for non-substantive changes to (1) revise respondent materials to support planned panel maintenance activities; (2) revise the topical study 1 questionnaire on tobacco brands and purchasing behaviors; and (3) update the estimated burden for panel replenishment and include a reserve sample.

Respondent Material Revisions/Additions

We are requesting approval for minor edits to respondent materials that will be utilized during topical study and panel maintenance activities, and for the addition of a new nonresponse follow-up letter to be used in situations of topical study nonresponse. Changes to the respondent materials include:

• Inserting “fill” text in the incentive/thank you letter to acknowledge panel members’ patience while the first topical study was prepared for release

• Inserting the data collection end date in topical study prompting letters and scripts so panel members will know how much time remains to complete each study

• Creating a topical study nonresponse follow-up letter for use in minimizing nonresponse to topical study requests. The existing letters were designed for use during household screening and recruitment efforts rather than topical study data collection.

Questionnaire Revisions

• Made minor edits or additions to introductory text, transition statements, or respondent instructions for improved readability, navigation, or consistency across panel materials

• Revised wording and/or added items to update current tobacco use status of all panel members

• Removed past tense wording of items on cigarette, cigar, and smokeless tobacco use to focus the questions on current product use only

• Reordered several questions to improve survey flow and/or consistency in the question wording for web and mail mode respondents

• Removed several questions not needed for planned analyses

• Added several new questions to support planned analyses

• Refined programming specifications, including removing programmer check boxes no longer needed and renumbering questions to reflect the addition or removal of questions

• Refined Spanish translations to reflect changes to the English questionnaire

• Updated the survey return address for the mail version of the questionnaire

Sample Size and Yield for Panel Replenishment

Our approved research protocol assumes a 35% yearly panel attrition rate and plans for quarterly sample replenishment and recruitment of up to 1,400 additional panel members each year to combat panel attrition. The current burden estimate for panel replenishment enrollment and baseline surveys covers two years of panel replenishment, or recruitment of up to 2,800 new panel members (1,400 per year). However, the burden estimate for panel replenishment household screening respondents reflects only one year of panel replenishment rather than two years. We are requesting approval to change the estimated number of panel replenishment household screening respondents from 10,285 to 20,570 (10,285 per year) to reflect the two years of panel replenishment referenced in the burden hours for other panel replenishment activities. We are also requesting approval to utilize a reserve sample (estimated at 20%, or about 2,500 housing units) in the event estimated eligibility and/or response rates are lower than expected during panel replenishment. Setting aside a reserve sample is consistent with our approach to the national panel recruitment effort. The average annual burden hours will increase by 668 hours, from 3,766 to 4,434 hours.

Table 1 summarizes the respondent materials revisions and additions. The revisions to topical study 1 are detailed in Table 2. The item-specific revisions are similar across the three core tobacco product modules (cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco) in the questionnaire. Tracked and clean versions of the English- and Spanish-language questionnaires and respondent materials are provided as Attachments 1-4. Table 3 summarizes the changes made to the Supporting Statement.

Track changed documents

Title	Document
Attachment 1- English Questionnaires
Attachment 2 – Spanish Questionnaires
Attachment 3 – Respondent Materials
Attachments 4 – Respondent Materials (Spanish)
Supporting Statement Part A
Supporting Statement Part B
Tables with changes