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OMB SUPPORTING STATEMENT: Part A

National Youth Risk Behavior Survey Test-Retest Reliability Study

Submitted by:

Division of Adolescent and School Health

National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Department of Health and Human Services

Project Officer:

Sherry Everett Jones, PhD, MPH, JD

School-Based Surveillance Branch

Division of Adolescent and School Health

National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Road MS US8-1

Atlanta, GA 30329-4027

Phone: 404-718-8288

Fax: 404-718-8010

E-mail: [email protected]

Contents

A. JUSTIFICATION 1

A.1 CIRCUMSTANCES MAKING THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION NECESSARY 1

A.2 PURPOSE AND USE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED 3

A.3 USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND
BURDEN REDUCTION 4

A.4 EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION AND USE OF SIMILAR
INFORMATION 4

A.5 IMPACT ON SMALL BUSINESSES OR OTHER SMALL ENTITIES 4

A.6 CONSEQUENCES OF COLLECTING THE INFORMATION LESS FREQUENTLY 4

A.7 SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES RELATING TO THE GUIDELINE OF 5 CFR 1320.5 4

A.8 COMMENTS IN RESPONSE TO THE FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE AND EFFORTS TO CONSULT OUTSIDE THE AGENCY 5

A.9 EXPLANATION OF ANY PAYMENT OR GIFT TO RESPONDENTS 5

A.10 PROTECTION OF THE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION PROVIDED BY RESPONDENTS 5

A.11 INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) AND JUSTIFICATION FOR
SENSITIVE QUESTIONS 6

A.12 ESTIMATES OF ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS AND COSTS 8

A.13 ESTIMATES OF OTHER TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO
RESPONDENTS AND RECORD KEEPERS 10

A.14 ANNUALIZED COSTS TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 10

A.15 EXPLANATION FOR PROGRAM CHANGES OR ADJUSTMENTS 10

A.16 PLANS FOR TABULATION AND PUBLICATION AND PROJECT TIME SCHEDULE 10

A.17 REASON(S) DISPLAY OF OMB EXPIRATION DATE IS INAPPROPRIATE 11

A.18 EXCEPTIONS TO CERTIFICATION FOR PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSIONS 11

List of Exhibits

1. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours 9

2. Estimated Annualized Burden Costs 9

3. Costs to the Federal Government 10

4. Time schedule for the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study 11

List of Attachments

Attachment A – Authorizing Legislation

Attachment B – Federal Register Notice

Attachment C – 2021 National YRBS Questionnaire

Attachment D – Advance Superintendent Letter

Attachment E – District Recruitment Script

Attachment F – Advance Principal Letter

Attachment G – School Recruitment Script

Attachment H – Data Collection Scripts

Attachment I – IRB Approval Letter

Attachment J – Active Parental Permission Form

Attachment K – Passive Parental Permission Form

Attachment L – Fact Sheet

Attachment M – Permission Form Distribution Script

Attachment N – Permission Form Checklist

• The goal of the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) Test-Retest Reliability Study is to test the reliability of the data collected through the YRBS questionnaire.

• The results of the study will be used to improve the questionnaire for future cycles. For example, questions that show poor reliability will be revised to clarify question wording. This will, in turn, improve the quality of the data collected using the YRBS questionnaire.

• A test-retest study will be implemented in which the questionnaire will be administered to the same respondents at two time points, approximately two weeks apart.

• The respondents for the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study will be from a sample of 2,000 students from 20 regular public secondary schools in the U.S. containing at least one of grades 9 through 12 that will be selected from no more than 20 districts. This sample is expected to yield at least 1,000 participating students who completed both a Time 1 and Time 2 questionnaire.

• Data will be assessed in two ways. First, the extent of the agreement between Time 1 and Time 2 responses will be calculated. Using Time 1 and Time 2 data, reliability will be estimated through Cohen’s kappa. Second, prevalence estimates obtained at Time 1 will be compared to those obtained at Time 2.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is aware that some schools might be operating virtually in the semester leading up to data collection, but CDC assumes that by fall 2021, most schools, if not all schools, will be operating normally. If at that time COVID-19 remains a threat to data collectors, school staff, or students, protocols prescribed by local health and education agencies, or the CDC, will be followed, such as wearing face coverings or social distancing.

• The 2021 YRBS questionnaire includes two questions specific to COVID-19, one question about mental health during the pandemic and another about job loss experienced by adult in the home.

A. JUSTIFICATION

A.1. CIRCUMSTANCES MAKING THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION NECESSARY

This request is for OMB review and approval for the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) Test-Retest Reliability Study to be conducted in 2021. The study would assess the reliability of the data collected using the national YRBS questionnaire, which is used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor the prevalence of health-risk behaviors among youth. The YRBS is administered biennially in the spring semester of the school year to students in grades 9-12. The national school-based survey has been administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 1991 (OMB No. 0920-0493). This reliability study is funded by the Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH), National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP), CDC. The data collection is authorized under Section 241 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C.241) (see Attachment A). This is a new Information Collection Request for a 6 month data collection period.

YRBS

The YRBS was developed by DASH at the CDC, in collaboration with more than 800 representatives from state and local agencies and other federal agencies. It was developed to monitor priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of mortality, morbidity, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. These behaviors fall into six categories:

• Behaviors that result in unintentional injuries and violence,

• Tobacco use,

• Alcohol and other drug use,

• Sexual behaviors that could result in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and unintended pregnancies,

• Unhealthy dietary behaviors, and

• Physical inactivity.

In addition, the YRBS measures the prevalence of obesity and other priority health issues.

The national YRBS is the data source for multiple Healthy People national health objectives, which chart the direction for public health activities for each decade. In Healthy People 2030, the YRBS is the primary data source for 13 objectives in seven focus areas: cancer; educational and community-based programs; injury and violence prevention; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health; mental health and mental disorders; physical activity; and sleep health. The behaviors addressed by these objectives include: sun protection to reduce the risk of skin cancer; daily physical activity; physical fighting; weapon carrying; sexual and dating violence; bullying, suicidal ideation and attempts, and illicit drug use among sexual minority youth; suicide attempts among all youth; meeting federal recommendations for aerobic and muscle-strengthening physical activity; and sleep duration.

YRBS data are used by several Federal agencies, including the CDC. The data also are used by state and local governments, nongovernmental organizations, physicians, teacher training institutions, educational administrators, health educators, teachers, and parents. These agencies, organizations, and individuals use YRBS data to:

• Create awareness of the extent to which youth practice health risk behaviors;

• Develop programs that address health risk behaviors practiced among youth in their jurisdictions and set program goals;

• Focus school health education teacher training and instructional programs;

• Support health-related policies and legislation;

• Seek funding for school health programs; and

• Garner support for future surveys.

Test-Retest Reliability Study Data Collection Overview

Because of the large impact YRBS has on the reporting of health factors affecting adolescents and the evaluation and development of school health policies, the CDC has determined there is a need to assess the reliability of the self-administered student surveys. Previous reliability studies conducted by the CDC in 1992¹ and 1999² have demonstrated that most items have substantial reliability. However, given the substantial updates to YRBS since 1999, a new assessment is merited. Reliability of the YRBS data will be assessed through a test-retest assessment using the 2021 National YRBS Questionnaire (see Attachment C; the 2021 questionnaire is currently under review). For the test-retest study, the questionnaire will be administered to the same respondents at two time points, approximately two weeks apart. Data collection will occur between September and December of 2021 after completion of the school clearance process. For the study, a sample of 2,000 students from 20 regular public secondary schools in the U.S. containing at least one of grades 9 through 12 will be selected in no more than 20 districts. This sample is expected to yield at least 1,000 participating students who completed both a Time 1 and Time 2 questionnaire

A.2 PURPOSE AND USE OF INFORMATION COLLECTED

The primary purpose of this data collection is to obtain data that can be used to establish the reliability of data collected by YRBS. The data will be used by the CDC and analyzed for methodological purposes, rather than substantive purposes. Test-retest reliability will be assessed in two ways. First, the extent of the agreement between Time 1 and Time 2 responses will be calculated. Second, prevalence estimates obtained at Time 1 will be compared to those obtained at Time 2. Together, these analyses will provide information about the quality of each item in the YRBS questionnaire.

The results of the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study will be used to improve the questionnaire for future cycles. For example, questions that show poor reliability will be revised to clarify question wording. This will, in turn improve the quality of the data collected using the YRBS questionnaire.

It is important for the YRBS to produce the highest quality data possible because the data are used and cited so widely. In addition to the uses described in Section A.1, results are disseminated through a variety of channels. The YRBS results are published each cycle by the CDC in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, CDC’s flagship publication. YRBS results also are available through Youth Online, an interactive online query system. YRBS results are regularly made available to the public through a variety of peer-reviewed journals, major media publications, and through the annual conferences of several national organizations.

A.3 USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND BURDEN REDUCTION

The National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study will employ the same data collection procedures currently used in the national implementations of the YRBS to ensure that the data collected for the test-retest study are comparable to data collected during actual YRBS data collection. The national YRBS currently uses paper-and-pencil questionnaire booklets to administer the survey.

A.4 EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION AND USE OF SIMILAR INFORMATION

Implementing a test-retest reliability study is the only current means of collecting the data needed to test the reliability of the YRBS questionnaire items. Although the YRBS is administered biennially by state, territorial, tribal, and large urban school district education and health agencies, a test-retest reliability study requires two controlled administrations of an identical instrument over a short period of time to the same respondents. For this reason, a separate study including two survey administrations is necessary. To reduce the burden on schools, schools that were selected for the 2021 YRBS samples will be excluded from the sample used for the test-retest reliability study.

A.5 IMPACT ON SMALL BUSINESSES OR OTHER SMALL ENTITIES

No small businesses will be involved in this data collection. Many school districts and schools have populations < 50,000 people and, therefore, are considered small entities. These entities are the focus of this study. There will be no significant economic impact on these small entities. The burden on classrooms is minimized by limiting the questions on the questionnaire used for the test-retest reliability study to the same questions used for the YRBS questionnaire implemented in the national study.

A.6 CONSEQUENCES OF COLLECTING THE INFORMATION LESS FREQUENTLY

The planned data collections for the test-retest reliability study will occur only once. The 2021 National YRBS Questionnaire will be administered two times in each participating classroom, two weeks apart. A test-retest reliability study cannot be conducted with fewer than two survey administrations.

A.7 SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES RELATING TO THE GUIDELINE OF 5 CFR 1320.5

The data collection will be implemented in a manner consistent with 5 CFR 1320.5. The only exception is that Time 2 survey responses will be requested in fewer than 30 days. The time between the Time 1 and Time 2 data collections will target a two-week interval. A two-week interval is the standard used in most test-retest reliability studies for two reasons. First, it is unlikely that any changes in practice or other situations will occur during a two-week time period that would impact the responses. Second, a two-week interval is long enough to prevent respondents from simply providing answers that had been memorized from the Time 1 questionnaire.

A.8 COMMENTS IN RESPONSE TO THE FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE AND EFFORTS TO CONSULT OUTSIDE THE AGENCY

The CDC published a Federal Register notice of the proposed data collection on June 2, 2020 (Volume 85, Number 106 pages 33673-33674). (See Attachment B). No comments were received.

No additional efforts have been made to consult with persons outside the agency.

A.9 EXPLANATION OF ANY PAYMENT OR GIFT TO RESPONDENTS

As we are asking each participating school to use classroom time in approximately one class from each of grades 9-12 to administer the survey, at two separate times, we believe it is necessary to offer tokens of appreciation to encourage participation at both the school level and the classroom level. Schools will be offered a $300 token of appreciation for participating in the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study. The data collector will give the principal a check made out to the school upon return to the school for the Time 2 survey administration. Classroom teachers whose classes participate in both Time 1 and Time 2 surveys will be provided a two-stage promised token of appreciation totaling $50. Providing a partial token of appreciation at the completion of the Time 1 survey will help retain classroom teachers’ interest in participating in the Time 2 survey administration.

In the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study, we expect the token of appreciation to accomplish the following goals: increase principal and teacher interest; encourage schools and teachers to prioritize participation in this study over other voluntary activities that do not provide a monetary reward; improve the quality of the data; increase the likelihood of classrooms participating in both the Time 1 and Time 2 survey administrations; and partially compensate principals’ and teachers’ time and effort related to administering the surveys. The CDC has offered similar tokens of appreciation to schools participating in the national YRBS since 2001. For the 2017 and 2019 cycles, these tokens helped maintain school participation rates despite the growing number of competing demands placed on schools.

Students will not be offered tokens of appreciation, but will be able to complete the survey during class time. This limits the burden on the students as they will not be asked to use non-school hours to complete the survey, or to schedule the survey during a free period during the day.

A.10 PROTECTION OF THE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION PROVIDED BY RESPONDENTS

In review of this application, it has been determined that the Privacy Act does not apply to information collected through the YRBS questionnaires. No personally identifiable information (name, date of birth, address, etc.) will be collected with the survey data. Although students will write their names on envelopes containing blank surveys for the purposes of administering the data collection, those envelopes will never contain completed surveys or be linked to a student’s completed survey. Further, the envelopes will be destroyed by the students themselves and not archived with the study materials. No names or other personally identifying information will ever be recorded by data collectors or retained with the data. In cases of active parental consent, consent forms will be collected by teachers and transferred to the data collector to be sent back to the main office for storage separate from all survey response data. Neither the consent form nor the student name on the consent form will ever be linked to the unique identifier being used on the survey. It will never be possible to link survey response data to a name on a consent form. Consent forms will be destroyed upon completion of the study.

The data collection contractor has several security procedures in place to safeguard data. All electronic data will be stored on secured servers and will be accessible only to staff directly involved in the project. Also, all contractor staff involved with the project will be required to sign a form related to safeguarding participant PII, which is a statement of personal commitment to guard the of data.

Provision of the information provided by respondents is voluntary and sampled participants will be assured that there is no penalty if they decide not to respond, either to the information collection as a whole or to any particular question. All respondents will be informed that security will be maintained throughout data collection (to the extent permitted by law), all data will be closely safeguarded and no institutional or individual identifiers will be used in study reports; only aggregated data will be reported.

A.11 INSTITUTIONAL REVIEW BOARD (IRB) AND JUSTIFICATION FOR SENSITIVE QUESTIONS

IRB Approval

This data collection has received IRB approval from the Westat IRB and the CDC recognizes the Westat IRB approval. The current IRB approval letter is in Attachment I.

Sensitive Questions

Justification for sensitive questions

The YRBS assesses priority health-risk behaviors that are related to the major preventable causes of mortality, morbidity, and social problems among both youth and adults in the United States: behaviors that result in unintentional injuries and violence; tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; sexual behaviors that could result in HIV infection, other STIs, and unintended pregnancies; unhealthy dietary behaviors; and physical inactivity. These categories of behaviors frequently are interrelated and are often established during youth and extend into adulthood. Data on priority health-risk behaviors among high school students are needed to identify, justify, and support policies and programs that can effectively address the most important public health problems such as motor vehicle crashes, violence, suicide, unintended pregnancy, HIV infection, other sexually transmitted infections, obesity, heart disease, and cancer. To monitor such behaviors, the CDC must ask youth about their participation in them. The questions were developed in close cooperation with representatives from school systems across the nation and are presented in a straightforward and sensitive manner. No other high quality data source exists to cost-effectively provide this information among nationally representative samples of youth on an ongoing basis.

Explanation to participants

At the beginning of both the Time 1 and Time 2 data collections, students will be provided with a verbal explanation of the purpose of the survey. They will be told that the purpose of the study is to see if the data collected by the YRBS is reliable, and to do that, each student will take the survey two times so we can understand if students are answering questions the same way each time. Students are told that the survey asks some sensitive questions about behaviors such as sexual behaviors, drug use, alcohol and tobacco use, physical activity, nutritional habits, and behaviors that may lead to unintentional injuries or violence. They are told that the results of the study will be used to develop better questionnaires to help measure the percentage of youth who engage in health-related behaviors. That information will be used to create school health programs to help reduce health risk behaviors.

As detailed below in the section on “Student Assent,” students are also told that the surveys are anonymous and that their answers or anything else they write on the booklet will never be shared with their parents, teachers, school administrators, or local authorities. They are also informed that they may skip any questions they do not wish to answer.

Parental permission

The test-retest reliability study will use the consent procedures currently implemented for the National YRBS biennial data collection. These procedures include adhering to state and local (district or school) parental permission requirements for either active or passive parental permission. Teachers of participating classrooms will distribute either the active parental permission form (see Attachment J) or the passive parental permission form (see Attachment K) to students approximately two weeks prior to the Time 1 data collection. Both permission forms will include a study fact sheet on the reverse side (see Attachment L). The permission form explains that the purpose of the test-retest reliability study is to establish the reliability of data collected by the YRBS by understanding if respondents answer questions the same way twice, so that the CDC may develop better questionnaires in the future. The permission form also explains that permission is being given once for both the Time 1 and Time 2 data collections. Parents are informed that the survey will ask about behaviors related to nutrition, physical activity, injuries, violence, and tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use, as well as sexual behaviors that could lead to pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

Teachers in selected classrooms will follow a permission form distribution script (see Attachment M) that asks students to take the permission form home, have their parents complete it (if they do not wish their child to participate under passive parental permission procedures and if they do wish to have their child participate under active parental permission procedures), and return it to the teacher by the scheduled survey date. The teacher will record that permission forms were distributed and track any completed opt-out forms on a data collection checklist (see Attachment N). Local parental permission procedures will be followed in each school in terms of whether the forms request either active or passive parental permission. Because this study will sample students in grades 9-12, it is possible that some participants may be 18 years old and older. In these cases, the study will continue to follow district rules regarding parental permission.

Student assent

Similarly, the study will employ the same procedures used in the National YRBS for student assent in the test-retest reliability study. Written documentation of student assent will not be obtained because some students may perceive the survey is not anonymous if they are required to provide stated assent and sign a consent/assent document. Ensuring anonymity is critical for getting adolescents to respond honestly. Student assent will be verified while introducing the survey immediately prior to its administration using the following procedures. These procedures have been used in all previous versions of the YRBS since its inception in 1991.

To obtain assent from students, the data collector will read a script introducing the survey immediately prior to its administration (see Attachment H). The script will explain the purpose of the study and the type of data collected. Students will be told the following:

• The survey is voluntary;

• Their grade in the class is not affected by whether they complete the survey;

• They can leave any or all questions blank if they are not comfortable answering;

• Answers and anything else they write on the surveys are private and anonymous;

• Results will never be reported by name, class, or school, nor shared with their parents, teachers, school administrators, or local authorities; and

• No action will be taken against them for not completing the questionnaire.

The cover page of the questionnaire (see Attachment C) also states that no names will ever be reported nor will information be used to find out students’ names, that their answers will be kept private, that completing the survey is voluntary, that their grade will not be affected whether they answer the questions, and that they should leave a question blank if they do not want to answer it. Students will be instructed to read this information before taking the survey. If students proceed with the survey, assent is assumed. Teachers will be asked to ensure that nonparticipants are provided with an alternative activity during the survey administration period.

A similar script will be read at the beginning of the Time 2 survey administration. If students decide they do not want to participate in the Time 2 data collection, they will be instructed to do another activity. Data collectors will have a count of the number of students who completed a Time 1 survey but did not complete a Time 2 survey due to refusal or because they were absent at Time 2. In those cases, Time 1 data will not be used.

A.12 ESTIMATES OF ANNUALIZED BURDEN HOURS AND COSTS

A. Exhibit 1 below shows estimated burden hours for both preliminary activities and data collection activities. Preliminary activities include: (a) contacting and seeking research approvals from public school districts with an established research approval process (“special contact districts”), (b) notifying the superintendent of districts with sampled schools about the study, (c) notifying sampled schools of their selection for the survey and coordinating the dates of data collection, and (d) teachers distributing and collecting parental consent forms. The special contact districts are those known to require completion of a research application before they will allow schools under their jurisdiction to participate in a study.

The notification letter to district superintendents is not included in the burden estimates because the superintendents are not asked to take any action upon receiving the letter. Each superintendent will receive a recruitment call which is included in the burden estimates with an estimated time of 30 minutes. Each school principal is estimated to spend 60 minutes coordinating the data collection at their school, and each classroom teacher is estimated to spend 30 minutes distributing and collecting consent forms for each participating classroom.

We are requesting approval to administer the YRBS questionnaire at Time 1 and Time 2. Based on school district experience administering the YRBS questionnaire, students are estimated to spend 45 minutes completing each survey.

Exhibit 1. Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Respondent	Form Name	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Burden (in hours)
Preliminary Activities
District Administrators	District-level recruitment script (Attachment E)	20	1	30/60	10
School Principals	School-level recruitment script (Attachment G)	20	1	30/60	10
Data Collection Activities
Classroom Teachers	Consent form checklist (Attachment N)	80	1	15/60	20
Students	YRBS Questionnaire (Attachment C)	1,000	2	45/60	1,500
Total					1,540

B. Information about estimated costs for the two data collections are summarized in Exhibit 2. There are no direct costs to the respondents themselves or to participating schools and districts. The costs may, however, be calculated in terms of the costs of time spent in coordinating participation in the study and completing the surveys.

Rounded to the nearest dollar, the estimated average hourly earnings of secondary administrators are $47 and classroom teachers are $31.³ The rounded federal minimum wage of $7 is used as the hourly rate for students. Therefore, based on 1,540 total burden hours for the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study preliminary activities and survey data collection activities, the associated total estimated burden time cost to respondents is $12,060.

Exhibit 2. Estimated Annualized Burden Costs

Respondent	Form Name	Number of Respondents	Number of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (in hours)	Hourly Wage Rate	Total Respondent Costs
Preliminary Activities
District Administrators	District-level recruitment script (Attachment E)	20	1	30/60	$47	$470
School Principals	School-level recruitment script (Attachment G)	20	1	30/60	$47	$470
Data Collection Activities
Classroom Teachers	Consent form checklist (Attachment N)	80	1	15/60	$31	$620
Students	YRBS Questionnaire (Attachment C)	1,000	2	45/60	$7	$10,500
Total						$12,060

A.13 ESTIMATES OF OTHER TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS AND RECORD KEEPERS

There will be no respondent capital and maintenance costs.

A.14 ANNUALIZED COSTS TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The survey is funded under Contract No. 200-2017-F-93487 which has a total award amount of $379,603.00. The contract amount for the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study is $203,247.00 over a 34-month period. Thus, the annualized contract cost is approximately $71,734.24. These costs cover the expenses listed in Exhibit 3 below.

Additional costs will be incurred indirectly by the government in personnel costs of CDC staff involved in oversight of the survey and conduct of data analysis. It is estimated that one CDC full-time equivalent employee will be involved for approximately 15% of her time (for federal personnel, 100% time = 2080 hours annually) at a salary of $68.67 per hour. The direct annual costs in CDC staff time, therefore, will be approximately $21,425.04 annually.

The total cost for the study over a 34-month period, including the contract cost and federal government personnel cost is $224,672. The annualized cost to the government for the study will be $79,296.

Exhibit 3. Costs to the Federal Government

Cost Type	Amount
Westat Personnel	$182,974
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Personnel	$21,425
Computing	$1,363
Participant Recruitment and Follow-up	$9,000
Field expenses	$3,381
Travel	$3,480
Other Direct Costs	$1,729
G&A	$1,320
Total Costs	$224,672

A.15 EXPLANATION FOR PROGRAM CHANGES OR ADJUSTMENTS

As this is a new request, there are no program changes or adjustments.

A.16 PLANS FOR TABULATION AND PUBLICATION AND PROJECT TIME SCHEDULE

The National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study’s primary purpose is to obtain data that can be used to establish the reliability of data collected by YRBS. The data will be used by the CDC and analyzed for methodological purposes and not combined with any state, tribal, territorial, or local Profiles data.

The test-retest reliability data will be assessed in two ways. First, the extent of the agreement between Time 1 and Time 2 responses will be calculated. Using Time 1 and Time 2 data, reliability will be estimated through Cohen’s kappa. Cohen’s kappa provides a measure of agreement that corrects for chance agreement. Second, prevalence estimates obtained at Time 1 will be compared to those obtained at Time 2. Together, these analyses will provide information about the quality of each item in the YRBS questionnaire.

The results of the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study will be used to improve the questionnaire for future cycles. For example, questions that show poor reliability will be revised to clarify question wording. This will, in turn improve the quality of the data collected using the YRBS questionnaire.

A manuscript will be developed for submission to a journal such that the study findings are documented and publicly available. The manuscript will describe the following: the study’s sampling strategy and design; the district and school clearance process; how data were collected at Time 1 and Time 2, including the ways in which respondent privacy was protected; all statistical analyses conducted to examine Time 1 and Time 2 data; an aggregate description of the study participants; the findings, including the Time 1 and Time 2 prevalence estimates and the Cohen’s kappa statistics; and conclusions about the study findings.

The following assumes an OMB approval date of March 1, 2021, and represents our proposed schedule of activities for the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study.

Exhibit 4. Time schedule for the National YRBS Test-Retest Reliability Study

Task	Date
District Clearance Process
Obtain District Clearance	1-3 months following OMB approval
Recruit Schools	5-6 months following OMB approval
Schedule Data Collection	5-8 months following OMB approval
Data Collection Time 1	6-9 months following OMB approval
Data Collection Time 2	6-9 months following OMB approval
Data Set, Documentation, & Reporting
Produce data file and documentation	12 months following OMB approval
Analyze data	13 months following OMB approval
Submit to a journal for publication	18 months following OMB approval
Publish results	32 months following OMB approval

A.17 REASON(S) DISPLAY OF OMB EXPIRATION DATE IS INAPPROPRIATE

The OMB expiration date will be displayed on all paper forms.

A.18 EXCEPTIONS TO CERTIFICATION FOR PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSIONS

No exemptions from the certification statement are being sought.

1 Brener, N. D., Collins, J. L., Kann, L., Warren, C. W., & Williams, B. I. (1995). Reliability of the youth risk behavior survey questionnaire. American journal of epidemiology, 141(6), 575-580.

2 Brener, N. D., Kann, L., McManus, T., Kinchen, S. A., Sundberg, E. C., & Ross, J. G. (2002). Reliability of the 1999 youth risk behavior survey questionnaire. Journal of adolescent health, 31(4), 336-342.

3 The time cost to respondents is the hourly earnings of elementary and secondary administrators and school teachers as reported in the May 2018 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment Statistics. The mean hourly wage was computed assuming 2,080 hours per year. Source: BLS Occupational Employment Statistics, https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#25-0000, Occupation codes: Education Administrators, Elementary and Secondary School (11-9032), and Secondary School Teachers (25-2030), accessed on February 17, 2020.