The Census Bureau plans to conduct research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). Cognitive interviews will be conducted to evaluate the translations of American Community Survey Language Assistance Guides (LAG) in two non-English languages: Chinese and Korean.
The research will have several objectives:
to examine how speakers of the target languages understand and respond to the translated questions in the American Community Survey LAG;
to identify and document problems associated with the translations of specific terms and concepts contained in the American Community Survey LAG;
to identify potential alternative translations for the problematic terms and concepts; and
to test newly-identified terminology.
The cognitive interview results will identify possible revisions to the translations of the American Community Survey LAG, and will provide improved translations of the LAGs in the two target languages.
From late January 2010 through the end of June 2011, a contractor with conduct approximately 240-288 cognitive interviews: 120-144 in each Chinese and Korean. The LAGs will be tested in 3 phases with 2 rounds in each phase and 2 teams interviewing in each round. Respondents will only be asked between 8 and 13 questions off of the LAG in each interview and each team will focus on a different set of questions. To ensure adequate feedback from respondents on the translations, we will interview between 10 and 12 respondents per round. After the first round, updates will be made to the tested questions and another 10-12 respondents will then be asked the revised questions, so that each question will be asked of 20-24 respondents. We will be targeting monolingual speakers of the target languages in our recruiting efforts. Respondents will have a variety of educational backgrounds and will vary by the amount of time they have lived in the United States, by age and by gender. This will give us an adequate sample of the target groups who will be using the LAGs to answer the American Community Survey so that their responses to the translations will be sufficient for accurate revisions.
Respondents will be recruited through flyers, newspaper advertisements, and through the contractors’ ties to local ethnic communities in the Greater Washington, DC area and the Chicago, IL area. Interviews will be conducted at the offices of community organizations used to recruit respondents, at local public facilities or locations convenient to interviewees.
Interviews will be conducted using the concurrent think-aloud method. The English versions of the protocols that will be used to conduct the interviews are attached. There are 2 different protocols for each language, each focusing on a different set of questions. The English version of the questionnaire, which is replicated by the LAGs, is also attached.
Interviews will be audio-taped, with participants’ permission, to facilitate analysis of the results. Participants will be informed that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential and will be seen only by employees involved in the research project. Participants will receive $40 for their participation in this research.
We estimate that these interviews will take approximately one hour. Thus, the maximum burden for this research is 288 hours.
The contact person for questions regarding data collection and statistical aspects of the design of this research is listed below:
Barbara Lazirko
American Community Survey Office
U.S. Census Bureau
4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, D.C. 20233
(301) 763-2782
Barbara.a.lazirko@census.gov
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | The Census Bureau plans to conduct research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0 |
| Author | Your User Name |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-02-04 |