OPA Survey Review

Survey Review Checklist

1. Background

Review Type: Survey Focus Group Personal Interview Phone/CATI Interview Other: _______

Review Division: CRM DPAC DS H&R JAMRS PERSEREC R&R

Reviewer: Kristin Williams; Katherine Ely

Received Date: 7/26/2021

Suspense Date: 8/3/2021

Survey Title/Acronym: Prospective Studies of the U.S. Military Forces and Their Families: The Millennium Cohort Program

Licensing Requirement: RCS (Internal) OMB (Public) Both

Survey Sponsor/Office/Contact Information: Dr, Rudy Rull, Naval Health Research Center

Survey PI/Contact Information: Lauren Bauer, Research Coordinator

Documents Reviewed: Instrument Supporting Statement Communications Other:

2. Instrument

Documents reviewed included: 2023 MilCo Survey, 2023 Family Survey, 2023 MilCo Participant Feedback Survey

2023 MilCo Participant Feedback Survey

Q3. Please consider whether it is necessary to collect email address. This is adding PII to this dataset.

Q3a. Consider revising the options (specifically the second one), recommended revision includes:

• Read each of them carefully

• Read through one or more, but not carefully

• Ignored all of them

Q19-Q20. Add instructional text noting that participant should not include PII in their response.

2023 MilCo Survey

1. Q22 and Q23 (Gender and Sexual Orientation)—As worded, these will acquire Department approval. Please provide current status of approval process.

2. Skip pattern coming off of Q32 is not correct (4 or 5 should be 3 or 4; Skip to Q37 looks like it should be to Q35).

3. Q39. Blue text prior to the item references “please record…medication for all conditions listed” but the item instructions are “Are you taking or did you take medication for this condition?” Recommend revising instructional text to not make it sound like a request to list the names of medications.

4. Q44 may be confusing for respondents…it starts by asking about the past 3 years but then ends with a parenthetical referring to anytime since you joined the military, which could be greater than 3 years ago. One could interpret it as a) in the last three years, b) anytime since you joined the military or c) in the last three years but, if you joined the military less than 3 years ago, only consider the time since you have been in the military. One option would be: In the past 3 years, did any of the unwanted sexual experiences occur during your military service, no matter who did it or where it happened? (If you joined the military less than three years ago, please only think about your time in the military).

5. The skip pattern coming off of Q47 is unclear as there are no response options presented. Assuming that Yes = 1, but recommend updating survey document to be clear.

6. Q83b: Extraneous text at beginning (MIES Item)

7. Q85. Consideration for research team--if someone deliberately took time off from the military prior to looking for paid employment, but now has paid employment, how should they answer? (e.g., if I took off 1 year and then started looking and found a job within two months, would I pick the second option (1 to 4 months) or the fifth option (more than 1 year).

8. There are several areas with sensitive items (e.g., Q88 and 89), consider adding instructional text in these sections highlighting that responses are voluntary and they can skip any items that they choose.

9. Q106. Extraneous text at end (stoic endurance and stoic taciturnity)

10. Q111. Please confirm what skip pattern will be used to only present the Active-Duty items to those living in on-base housing.

11. Skip pattern for “Women’s Section” should be updated, questions start at 113 (labeled as starting at 110)

2013 Family Survey

Scale labeling. Several items in the scale (e.g., Q72), do not have all the scale points labeled. Consider labeling all the points (not just the 1 and 5)

Q142. Phrasing of “our children” feels inconsistent with the use of “Your spouse,” consider rephrasing to be “My spouse” and “our children”

3. Supporting Statement

Documents reviewed included: DoD Supporting Statement Part A 2021_Final

1. This is a multi-cohort panel study of service members and spouses. Surveys are sent every three years. Communication includes a mix of email and postal letters, the survey can be completed on paper or online (except the family survey is online only).

2. 2023 Milco Participant Feedback Survey—Please provide detail on the fielding of this survey. Specifically, please confirm if this is a paper or web survey and how participants are recruited.

4. Communications

Documents reviewed included: MilCo Recruitment Contacts_1a; MilCo Recruitment Contacts2, Family Study Recruitment Contacts

1. MilCo Recruitment Contracts:

   1. The communications provided are for 6 mail/postal communications. Please confirm if total number of contacts is 6 postal or if there are additional email contacts. (the Supporting Statement suggests that that there are initial invitations and reminders over email). If there are any email contacts, please provide.

   2. Please include estimates of the time to complete the survey in the recruitment communication.

2. Family Study Recruitment Contacts:

   1. The communications provided are for 6 mail/postal communications. Please confirm if total number of contacts is 6 postal or if there are additional email contacts (the Supporting Statement suggests that that there are initial invitations and reminders over email). If there are any email contacts, please provide.

   2. Please include estimates of the time to complete the survey in the recruitment communication.

5. Additional Feedback

1. Please provide any relevant fielding information (including communications) for the MilCo Participant Feedback Survey.

2. Note that the gender response options and the sexual orientation questions will require Department approval.

3. Note that incentives for the MilCo and MilCo family will need OGC review.

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