FHWAR Advance Letters and Pre-notice Postcard Plan

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of our plans to conduct research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). We will be conducting cognitive interviews to evaluate advance letters and a pre-notice postcard for use in an experiment to test new methodology for the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR), sponsored by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The FHWAR Cell Phone and Debit Card Test will be a split panel test: half of the respondents will receive a debit card as an incentive and the other half will receive a disposable cell phone for use in completing the survey. The following materials, which will be mailed to respondents, will be tested: 1) a pre-notice postcard notifying households that they will receive a package containing a cell phone for use in a national survey; 2) the advance letter that accompanies the cell phone package; 3) the advance letter that that accompanies the debit card; 4) the control advance letter sent to a panel that does not receive the cell phone or debit card. A copy of the letters is enclosed.

The letters to a large extent convey similar messages: 1) what survey they were selected for;

2) how they were selected; and 3) a request to call the telephone center to conduct the survey. We want to test the wording in these letters and postcard to see: 1) if the intent of the letter is clear; and 2) what reaction the participant may have about receiving a cell phone to conduct a national survey.

In the first two weeks of January 2011, staff from the Demographic Surveys Division will conduct a maximum of 16 cognitive interviews using these materials. Eight participants will be shown the pre-notice post card and the cell phone advance letter; the other eight participants will be shown the debit card advance letter. All 16 participants will be given the control letter to read after reviewing the initial materials. A copy of draft protocols for the two sets of letters is enclosed.

We plan to recruit participants:

• with high school diplomas and an average reading ability;

• in two different age ranges: ages 25-40 and ages 41+;

• from diverse ethnic backgrounds;

• a mix of males and females; and

• A mix of high and low income.

Respondents will be recruited from the Center for Survey Measurement’s respondent database and flyers posted at sporting goods stores. Interviews will be conducted at the Census Bureau’s cognitive laboratory, at locations near sporting goods stores, and at locations convenient to respondents.

The cognitive interviews will be conducted mainly using retrospective probing techniques. All interviews will be tape-recorded with the respondents’ permission, to facilitate summarization of results. Respondents will be paid $40 for their participation.

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.

We estimate that the length of each interview session will average 40 minutes. Thus, the maximum estimated burden for this research is 11 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding the data collection for this project is listed below:

Aniekan Okon

Special Surveys Branch

Demographic Surveys Division

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 7H112F

Washington, DC 20233

(301) 763-6192

Aniekan.A.Okon@census.gov