AHS Healthy Homes, Homes Accessibility, & Mortgage Module Plan

The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). We will be conducting cognitive research on the Healthy Homes, Home Accessibility, and Mortgage modules of the American Housing Survey, sponsored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In July and August, staff from the Center for Survey Methods Research (CSMR) will conduct approximately 40 cognitive interviews. Each of these modules targets a different demographic subgroup, although the questions are all contained in a single questionnaire. For the Healthy Homes module we will recruit households with low incomes, upper-middle to high incomes, children under age 18, children with asthma, and smokers. For the Home Accessibility module we will recruit households containing people with disabilities, elderly individuals, and people with long- and short-term disabilities. For the Mortgage module, we will target households who purchased their home in the last 10 years, households who purchased their home 20+ years ago, homeowners who pay their mortgage online and through the mail, and homeowners with various types of mortgages (e.g., fixed rate, adjustable rate, rollover, balloon, and assumable).

Respondents will be recruited through advertisements in local newspapers, Craig’s List, and personal networks. We will also recruit people who are currently in our respondent database. Interviews will be conducted at the Census Bureau’s Response Research Laboratory and at locations convenient to interviewees. The interviews will be conducted in the local metropolitan area (DC, Maryland, Virginia).

The questionnaire and the associated sheets for recording responses are enclosed as well as the research protocol.

We will be conducting our cognitive interviews using the concurrent think-aloud method. We will audio-tape the interviews, with respondent permission, to facilitate analysis of the results. We will inform participants 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 total estimated burden for this research is 40 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding data collection and statistical aspects of the design of this research is listed below:

Terry DeMaio

Center for Survey Methods Research

Statistical Research Division

U.S. Census Bureau

5K319

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-4894

theresa.j.demaio@census.gov