Attachment 8 Draft E-mail

Attachment 8 – Draft E-mail Text

The Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) are preparing for a possible second round of data collection for the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN). Data collection is expected to occur from Early 20XX through December 20XX. We are currently reviewing the survey instrument and would appreciate your comments and suggestions regarding possible revisions. We especially hope to hear from data users (or potential data users) at the state level. The questionnaire used in the first round of data collection, as well as datasets, methodological reports, publications, and presentations using NS-CSHCN data can be found at:

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/slaits/cshcn.htm. Our goal is to identify problematic issues with the original survey instrument. Our intention is not to make wholesale changes in the survey instrument in order to preserve the possibility of conducting trend analyses of items collected in the original 2001 survey.

We would appreciate your comments on the following topics:

1) Do you have any specific suggestions for questions to add or delete? If so, please provide a brief justification for the proposed change.

2) Do you have any specific suggestions for questions to revise? If so, please provide a brief justification for the proposed change.

3) In your experience, what specific questions do not work well or do not make sense? What specific problems did you encounter?

4) In your experience, do any of the questions need to be updated due to program changes? Have new programs been developed in your state that impact current survey domains or specific questions?

5) What sections of the questionnaire do you use frequently?

6) What sections of the questionnaire do you use sparingly or not at all?

7) Are there questions or sections that you would prefer were not changed? Please specify.

8) If you could change only one thing about the survey, what would it be? Why?

9) Have you used NS-CSHCN data to prepare manuscripts, publications, presentations, reports, or policy documents? Which?

You may send your response to XXXX at XXX. When you reply, it would be helpful to us to know your name, title, agency, and level of experience using the dataset and survey instrument (for example, ‘I have not used the dataset’; ‘I have used it sparingly’, ‘I have used it in depth’, etc.). We would like to receive input from all data users regardless of your level of experience.

Thank you in advance for your time and commitment to the NS-CSHCN. Your participation will help ensure that the revised survey instrument appropriately addresses your data needs.

Respondent email addresses and contact information, if provided in an attached signature, will not be released outside NCHS. We are not asking respondents to block their contact information because we may wish to contact respondents to obtain copies of SLAITS-related materials referenced in the reply, discuss their contribution in more detail, or to clarify suggestions or comments. The content of respondent emails will be aggregated and presented generically. Mail sent to the slaits@cdc.gov address is distributed only to the five (5) employees that comprise the SLAITS team. This represents an ‘opt-in’ opportunity for website visitors to offer cogent constructive feedback. This is completely voluntary and no one is under any obligation to respond.