Attachment D: Round 2 moderated cognitive interview protocols
Hi! Thank you for participating in our research today.
My name is ____ [This is my colleague ____ who will be taking notes for us today]
Explanation of the session’s purpose:
We are going to be working with some draft consent forms for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, a long-running survey that collects information about you and your child’s generation, school, home, and work life.
The purpose of today’s session is to help us improve the consent forms used for the survey, including the consent form parents and guardians read to allow their child to participate, and the form that youth ages 11-17 read when they agree to participate in the survey.
We are not here to evaluate you, we are looking to improve the forms and make the language in them as clear as possible, so there are no wrong answers.
All the information you give us will be kept completely confidential, and will be used to improve the forms.
Outline of the interview session:
The first half we will interview the parent (or guardian) about the consent form for adults.
The second half we will interview your youth about the assent form for youth.
Show consent information on the screen:
We estimate the session will last up to 60 minutes. If you have any comments regarding this estimate or any other aspect of this study, send them to [email protected].
Your participation in this research project is voluntary, and you have the right to stop at any time.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics is conducting this voluntary study under OMB No. 1220-0141, which expires on July 31, 2027. Without this currently approved number, we could not conduct this research. Your responses are also protected by law:
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, its employees, agents, and partner statistical agencies, will use the information you provide for statistical purposes only and will hold the information in confidence to the full extent permitted by law. During this research you may be video recorded or you may be observed. If you do not wish to be recorded, you still may participate in this research. In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (44 U.S.C. 3572) and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will not be disclosed in identifiable form without your informed consent. Per the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, Federal information systems are protected from malicious activities through cybersecurity screening of transmitted data.
In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974 as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a), this study is being conducted by the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), under the authority of 29 U.S.C. 2. Your voluntary participation is important to the success of this study and will enable the BLS to better understand the behavioral and psychological processes of individuals, as they reflect on the accuracy of BLS information collections. The information will only be used by and disclosed to BLS personnel and contractors who need the information for activities related to improving BLS information collection. Information on routine uses can be found in the system of records notice, DOL/BLS – 14, BLS Behavioral Science Research Laboratory Project Files (81 FR 47418).
Do you have any questions before we proceed?
(For parent) Do you agree to you and your child participating?
(For child) Do you agree to participate?
Parental consent form protocol
Next, we would like you to look at a draft of the parental consent form for the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. Imagine that your child(ren) (if needed: ages 11-17) were selected to participate in the survey.
Please read the consent form below silently to yourself.
<Share parental consent form – Attachment A>
This is a list of questions the interviewer may ask, depending on the flow of the interview
Based on the information in the consent form, please answer the following questions:
In your own words, what is the main purpose of the survey?
What questions would you have before consenting to your child’s participation in the survey?
Would you have any concerns about your child participating? If so, what? For what reasons? (if parent has children of different age groups, ask if this would vary based on the 11-14 year old or 15-17 year old, by gender, or by some other characteristic)
Was anything unclear in the form? If so, what?
What are some of the benefits of your child participating in the survey? (either to your child directly, or benefits to others, like researchers)
What would be some of the drawbacks of your child participating in the survey?
What would you and your child receive for participating in the survey?
Who would be able to see your child’s survey responses?
Would your child’s participation in the study be voluntary? (yes/no/don’t know)
Can your child choose to stop the interview at any time? (yes/no/don’t know)
Does your child have to answer every question the interviewer asks? (yes/no/don’t know)
Could you change your mind about allowing your child to participate in the survey once you agreed to it? (yes/no/don’t know)
Does the consent form ask you to complete the survey one time or multiple times?
The survey asked if responses could be linked to data from public records or other government agencies who authorize it.
What does this mean to you, in your own words?
Would you have any concerns about this? If so, what are they?
By linking to data from public records, we mean information from places like public libraries that anyone can access.
Would you agree to have data linked to public records?
By linking to data from other government agencies, we mean linking to information owned and held by the Social Security Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Census Bureau. The data would be accessed by researchers in a heavily restricted environment that protects your confidentiality and privacy.
Would you agree to have data linked to other government agencies?
Now lets walk through the form again together, section-by-section. We’d like to get your input on how to improve these sections by making the language clearer and as concise as possible, while still addressing all the information you’d need to make an informed decision to participate in the study. If you see anything at all that you feel could be improved, please let us know.
As you are reading the form, we would like you to highlight any sentences, words, or phrases as follows:
BLUE: Information that is helpful or important
ORANGE: Information that is confusing or unclear
<Share screen with this section of the form>
Why is my child in this study?
Please re-read silently to yourself.
Now that you see this section again, how could it be improved? What is unclear?
What information is most important?
What else would you want to know that isn’t included?
What questions do you have about this section?
<Share screen with this section of the form>
Why is this study being done?
Please re-read silently to yourself.
Now that you see it again, how could this section be improved?
What information is most important?
What else would you want to know that isn’t included?
What questions do you have about this section?
<Share screen with this section of the form>
What will happen in the study?
Please re-read silently to yourself.
Now that you see it again, how could this section be improved?
Are there questions you have about what will happen that aren’t addressed in this section? If so, what are they?
The form states that some of the questions may be personal or sensitive.
What topics came to mind when you read this?
Would you have concerns about your child answering personal/sensitive questions?
<Share screen with this section of the form>
Will other people find out about my child’s participation?
Please re-read silently to yourself.
In your own words, what is this section saying?
How can I, as a parent or guardian, be involved in the study?
Please re-read silently to yourself.
The following section asks for consent to link to other data. After re-reading this part of the form, in your own words, what is this asking?
Final consent
The bottom of the form asks for consent for your child to participate, your consent, and consent to link to other survey responses.
After reviewing a second time.
The bottom of the form asks for consent for your child to participate, your consent, and consent to link to other survey responses.
Would you allow your child to participate? (yes/no/maybe)
For what reasons?
Do you think your child(ren) would like to participate in the survey? (yes/no/maybe) For what reasons?
Would you agree to participate? (yes/no/maybe)
For what reasons?
Would you agree to link your survey responses to other records? (yes/no/maybe)
For what reasons?
What else would you want to know about linking survey responses?
(If applicable) Would this vary for your children ages 11-14 versus 15-17? Based on gender? Based on some other characteristic(s)?
What other improvements do you suggest for the form?
What other thoughts do you have about how this information could be conveyed to parents and guardians more effectively?
Youth assent form protocol
We would like you to look at a draft of the form that youth like you, ages 11-17, would read before they participate in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. You might see forms like this at school, the doctor’s office, or when participating in surveys or other activities.
Please read the form silently to yourself. Take as much time as you need.
<Share youth assent form – Attachment B>
This is a list of questions the interviewer may ask, depending on the flow of the interview
What did you think of the form?
In your own words, what did the form say?
Did any part of the form stand out to you? If so, which part?
What does the term “assent” mean to you?
Do you have any questions about the form?
Does the form answer all the questions you would have about participating in the survey?
What topics would you be asked about during the survey?
Do you think you would like to be in this study? Why or why not?
The form mentioned some questions may be personal.
What came to mind when you read this sentence?
How did this make you feel about participating in the survey?
Part of the form talks about what you get for participating in the survey. What do you remember about that?
If you agreed to be in the survey and then changed your mind, could you stop being in the study once you started it?
Would it have been OK to stop the study if you had changed your mind about being in it?
Whose decision is it whether or not you are in the study?
Thanks for answering those questions. Let’s walk through the sections of the form again. We’re going to ask some more questions. We will also share the form on the screen again. We’re going to use the highlighter.
As you are reading the form, we would like you to highlight any sentences, words, or phrases as follows:
BLUE: Information that is helpful or important
ORANGE: Information that is confusing or unclear
Why am I in this study?
Re-read section.
Now that you see this section again, what do you think it’s saying?
Is it clear or unclear?
Use highlighter to highlight sentences that are unclear or confusing.
Use highlighter to select important/liked sentences.
Would you change anything?
Why is this study being done?
Re-read section.
Now that you see this section again, what do you think it’s saying?
Is it clear or unclear?
Use highlighter to highlight sentences that are unclear or confusing.
Use highlighter to select important/liked sentences.
Would you change anything?
What will happen in the study?
Re-read section.
Now that you see this section again, what do you think it’s saying?
Is it clear or unclear?
Use highlighter to highlight sentences that are unclear or confusing.
Use highlighter to select important/liked sentences.
Would you change anything?
The next few sections discuss the survey length, payment, and your choice to participate.
Do these sections answer all of your questions about the study?
The last section discusses your privacy.
Re-read section.
What do you think this is saying?
Is it clear or unclear?
Use highlighter to highlight sentences that are unclear or confusing.
Use highlighter to select important/liked sentences.
Do you have additional questions or concerns about your privacy?
The form has a space for your signature at the bottom. What are your thoughts on that?
Would signing the form make you feel more or less willing to participate in the survey? Or would it not matter?
How would you make the form better? What other improvements do you suggest?
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Kaplan, Robin - BLS |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-02-04 |