QDRL Letter

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Center for Health Statistics

3311 Toledo Road

Hyattsville, Maryland 20782

April 26, 2007

Ms. Margo Schwab

Office of Management and Budget

725 17th Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20503

Dear Ms. Schwab:

The staff of the NCHS Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory (QDRL) plans to conduct research to evaluate a Cancer Screening Supplement (sample adult and sample child) for the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) under (OMB No. 0920-0222, exp. 02/28/10). We propose to advertise for volunteer participants starting June 4, and to start testing as soon as possible after that.

Background Information about Cognitive Testing of Questionnaires

The methodological design of this proposed study is consistent with the design of typical cognitive testing research. The purpose of cognitive testing is not to obtain survey data, but rather to obtain information about the processes people use to answer survey questions as well as to identify any potential problems in the questions.

Data collection procedures for cognitive interviewing are quite different from survey interviewing. While survey interviewers strictly adhere to scripted questionnaires, cognitive interviewers use survey questions as starting points to begin a more detailed discussion of questions themselves: how participants interpret key concepts, their ability to recall the requested information, and the appropriateness of response categories. Because the interviews generate narrative responses rather than statistics, results are analyzed using qualitative methodologies. This type of in-depth analysis reveals problems in particular survey questions and, as a result, can help to improve the overall quality of surveys.

Proposed project: Testing and evaluation of NHIS Cancer Screening Supplement

This project will conform to the usual QDRL procedures for cognitive testing of a questionnaire module.

The proposed NHIS Cancer Screening will be asked of sample adults (aged 18 and over) and proxy sample children. The questions to be cognitively tested primarily focus on cancer screening exams, medical tests, and health conditions. For respondents with children (8-17 years of age), questions will be asked about the HPV virus.

We propose to recruit 20 adults (aged 18 years and older), and some women in that age range that have daughters 8-17 years of age through a combination of a newspaper advertisement, flyers, and our database of previously interviewed participants. The newspaper advertisement/flyer will be used to recruit participants who have taken cancer screening exams, medical tests, and have various health conditions relevant to the questionnaire. The newspaper advertisement/flyer is shown in Attachment 1. Within these constraints, we hope to recruit participants with some demographic variety (particularly in terms of gender, education, race/ethnicity, and income).

Interviews will be conducted in the QDRL, or in a private room of a community facility.

With the consent of the participants, the interviews will be recorded on videotape. Participants will be informed of taping procedures (including observation if applicable) in the process of reviewing the consent forms, and the equipment will be turned on once it is clear that the procedures are understood and agreed upon. Then the interviewer will conduct individual cognitive interviews with as many as 20 participants for 60 minutes each. The testing instrument is shown in Attachment 2. At the end of the interviews, participants will be paid and provided with copies of all papers they signed.

We propose paying participants $40, which is our standard payment. In total, for this project, the maximum respondent burden will be 20 hours of interviewing in addition to travel time.

Attachments (2)

cc:

M. Moien

M. Daneshvar

S. Perryman