Design Phase of the National Study of Child Care Supply and
Demand—2010 (NSCCSD—2010)
December 17, 2008
This section summarizes the primary features of the sampling and statistical methods used to collect data for and draw methodological conclusions from the NSCCSD Design Phase feasibility test.
In order to achieve the dual goals of this project, the sample includes both the supply and demand sides of early education and (before and) after-school programs that serve parents and their children under the age of 13. For the purposes of the feasibility test, the target population for the demand side is civilian households residing in two selected test sites that have children under age 13. The feasibility test target population for the supply surveys is all services, centers, programs, facilities, and individuals in the two selected test sites that offer early education and (before and) after-school programs.
Household respondents will be selected through random digit dial (RDD) within a selected site area. Telephone numbers will be assigned to replicates prior to release. Households will continue to be dialed until the required 200 eligible respondents have been identified and solicited for survey participation. At that time, all telephone numbers in released replicates will continue to be worked to final resolution, so that a valid response rate may be calculated. An estimated 8,000 telephone numbers will need to be called in order to reach 200 eligible households.
The identification of the provider sample will happen in three ways: 1) from administrative lists, 2) from direct screening for home-based providers in the household screener, and 3) through nomination as a current provider of home-based care to a household interview respondent. These lists will be compared against one another in other to eliminate duplication. The breakdown of provider respondent sample is indicated on the following table.
Stratum |
Method of Frame Construction |
IA: Listed by govt. entities |
Government list |
IB: Head Start |
List from Head Start Bureau |
IC: Pre-K |
CCD/PSS; QED; community-based organizations |
IIA: Family, Friends & Neighbors (informal providers) |
Household supply survey |
IIB: Church-based |
American Church Lists |
IIIA: Listable providers of after-school care |
Telephone contact with public schools, city parks, libraries, United Way, CDBGs, and Statewide Afterschool Networks |
IIIB: Other center-based providers of after-school care |
Center-based programs spawned by demand-survey respondents |
The exact size of the listed provider universe is unknown at this time, however the sample size for each provider group is listed below.
Provider Type (by data collection task) |
Respondent count |
Home-based care providers (household screener) |
40 |
Center-based providers of before/after school care (eligibility screener) |
20 |
Home-based provider from administrative lists |
64 |
Center-based providers from administrative lists |
48 |
Child care provider staff interviews (in-person) |
50 |
2. Design and Procedures for the Information Collection
Screening calls to before/after school programs to determine accuracy of available lists and list-building methods [Sites 1, 2 and 3]
In order to establish a universe of listed before/after school programs, administrative lists will be collected in two sites from a variety of sources. After eliminating duplicates across all lists, each provider will be called to determine sample eligibility.
Testing of survey administration (Sites 2 & 3)
Computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) will be used to conduct the household interview. The data collection period will be eight weeks in order to attain sufficient number of completed cases.
Parent Survey and Home-based Provider Survey Sample
Data collection will begin by contacting the household sample members (demand survey). This is based on a random digit-dial (RDD) screening using listed telephone households among four selected sites within the U.S. It is estimated that 8,000 RDD phone numbers will be required in order to yield 200 eligible parent households. An advanced letter will be mailed to all RDD sample members’ households for which there is an address match. This letter will inform potential respondents about the study and that a representative will be contacting them in the near future regarding their possible participation.
The screening process used when telephone interviews contact the household has two purposes: 1) identify eligible respondents to complete the household interview (demand), and 2) identify potential respondents for the household survey of home-based child care providers who may not appear on administrative lists (supply). Eligibility criteria for these surveys are as follows:
Household survey criteria: Households where a child under age 13 usually lives. Adult most knowledgeable about youngest such child will be sought for interview.
Informal child care provider survey criteria: Someone in the household age 18 or older regularly provides care in a home-based setting to a child age 13 or under who is not in the custody of the caregiver.
Once a household is determined eligible, administration of the appropriate survey will begin. Screener interviews may determine that a household is eligible for one or both of the surveys. If the household is eligible for both surveys, the parent survey will be administered first. Once that is complete, the interviewer will request to speak to the household member who is eligible to complete the home-based provider survey (if that is not the same person as the parent survey respondent). Interviewers can schedule call-backs as necessary in order to complete the survey(s).
In addition to identifying home-based providers through the household screener, additional eligible respondents will be identified from the responses provided within the parent survey itself. Parents will be asked to roster their care providers; project staff will then contact those providers who meet the eligibility criteria for the home-based provider survey. (Identified providers will be compared against lists of providers used for provider sample selection order to eliminate any duplicates.) It is anticipated that half of the home-based provider respondents will be identified through the household screener and half through the child care provider roster provided by parents.
Center-based Providers
In addition to an interviewer-administered method, provider respondents will also be given the option of completing a web-based survey. State-level administrative data on licensed, registered, or otherwise listed providers will be used as a frame for selecting the sample. The sample will be randomly selected from listed providers in the geographic area of interest. A member of each facility (i.e., Director) will serve as a contact person, and ultimately, the respondent for the survey. The facility will receive an advance letter which will be followed by a call from a telephone interviewer.
In addition to the facilities selected from administrative data, some after-school program respondents for the center-based provider survey will be generated from the child care provider roster collected from the household parent survey.
Additional individual parent interviews (Sites 3 and 4)
A convenience sample of five to eight providers with complex, hybrid funding will be identified, ideally from the ten to twelve providers selected for task D below. NORC will work with these organizations to recruit parent respondents. In-person interviews will be conducted with parents either at the provider site or a mutually agreed upon location.
Additional individual provider interviews (Sites 3 and 4)
In preparation for data collection, a convenience sample of ten to twelve providers will be selected to participate across two sites. Up to five staff members at each site will be asked to complete the appropriate provider survey (either center or home-based) in a face-to-face setting. Again, NORC will use experienced and trained interviewers to conduct interviews.
These same providers will be asked to provide financial records to compare against responses reported in the surveys in order to assess questionnaire items that are particularly vulnerable to reporting error or misinterpretation. Providers may either provide copies of or access to their own financial records, or they may consult their records and provide exact responses to the same questionnaire items for which they provided estimates during the interview session. NORC will accommodate either procedure, as preferred by providers.
3. Maximizing Response Rates
The primary purpose of the NSCCSD feasibility test of survey instruments is to assess the functioning of draft instruments and to gather additional methodological data about respondent selection. The key goal of this feasibility test is not to strive to maximize response rates ahead of achieving these stated goals. To assist in gaining cooperation for the survey, advance letters will be mailed to al listed telephone numbers within the selected RDD sample. These letters will inform potential respondents that interviewers will be attempting to contact them as well as included a phone number for potential respondents to call if they would like to verify the validity of the study. Once an eligible respondent has been identified, telephone interviewers are equipped to answer respondents’ questions regarding the study, interview procedures and uses or data, including confidentiality questions.
Incentives will be also used to increase response rates. Ten dollars will be provided to household respondents for each a completed demand-side survey and informal provider survey. If a household is eligible and completes both of these surveys, its members will receive $20. Sampled center-based providers will receive a $20 gift card in advance of completing a survey.
Listed providers will be sent a $20 incentive in advance of their participation, with an additional $20 upon completion of the interview. Center-based after-school programs identified through the household interview will follow the same protocol.
Household interview respondents’ eligibility for incentives will depend on factors contributing to respondent burden. Households will be offered $20 for interview completion if one or more of the following applies: 1. the household contains three or more children under age 13; 2. the screener informant is not eligible to be the household interview respondent, or 3. the household is eligible for provider and household (demand) questionnaires.
Home-based providers identified through household screening or via nomination in the household interview will receive $10 incentives after they have completed the survey. An additional $10 will be available to nominated respondents who contact the project for survey completion. This will be relevant in situations where the household interview respondent declines to provide adequate contact information for the provider and we must ask the household interview respondent to mediate the contacting of the provider.
The purpose of the NSCCSD Design Phase contract is to inform the implementation of the National Study of Child Care Supply and Demand 2010 by providing design options that match research goals and budget constraints. In preparation for the feasibility test six rounds of cognitive testing were conducted as part of the development of three separate survey instruments: parent/household (demand), center-based provider (supply) and home-based provider (supply). Four of these rounds involved testing parent survey instruments and one round tested each the center-based and home-based providers. As per OMB regulations, each round included no more than nine participants. The cognitive testing process provided information about questionnaire structure, clarity of survey items and time estimates for survey completion.
Two rounds of provider interviews were conducted simultaneously for both provider questionnaires. Two versions of the home-based survey was tested: one for providers regularly caring for eight or fewer children and another for providers regularly caring for more than eight children. The following table indicates when the interviews were conducted and the protocol content.
Respondent answers and comments from the cognitive interviews informed the structure and inclusion of survey items in the final versions of the questionnaires.
Dr. Kirk Wolter
NORC
55 East Monroe Street
Chicago, IL 60603
(312) 759-4000
The sample design was conducted by NORC, which will also conduct the data collection for the feasibility test.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Design Phase of the NSCCSD – Feasibility Test |
| Author | datta-atreyee |
| Last Modified By | USER |
| File Modified | 2008-12-19 |
| File Created | 2008-12-19 |