2012 NCVS Identity Theft Supp. Pretesting 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 2012 National Crime Victimization Survey Identity Theft Supplement, sponsored by the Department of Justice.

Changes to the questionnaire include reorganization of the content to: 1) include a screener that does not separate attempted identity thefts from those that were successfully carried out. Attempted identity thefts will not be separated from actual identity thefts in this version of the questionnaire; 2) add an instruction asking respondents to count a series of related misuses as a single incident, and asking respondents to identify whether they experienced a single or multiple incidents; 3) collect information about the most recent incident in cases where multiple incidents occurred; 4) inquire about financial loss for respondents who experienced multiple incidents;

5) understand respondent’s level of knowledge of the offender; 6) ask information about identity theft incident that occurred prior to the past 12 months; 7) revise questions about respondents’ risk avoidance behavior. A copy of the draft questionnaire with protocol probes is enclosed.

In September and October 2011, staff from the Center for Survey Measurement will conduct approximately 18 cognitive interviews in two rounds. In our recruiting efforts we will be targeting people who were victims of identity theft and attempted identity theft within the past year as well as people who were victims of identity theft prior to the past year. Respondents will be recruited through advertisements in local newspapers and Craigslist.com, through our respondent database, and personal networks. 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).

We will be conducting our cognitive interviews using the concurrent think-aloud method. We will audio-tape the interviews 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 18 hours.

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

Rachel Freidus

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 5K022D

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-6763

rachel.a.freidus@census.gov