FSS Public Opinion Monitoring Survey Pretesting Plan

The Census Bureau, in collaboration with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). The objective of this research is to conduct cognitive testing on draft questions for the Federal Statistical System Public Opinion Monitoring Survey (FSS POMS). This survey will be fielded as a joint effort among Federal Statistical Agencies and will attempt to monitor the public’s trust in official statistics.

In October and November of 2011, staff from the Census Bureau, NCHS and IRS will conduct a maximum of 60 cognitive interviews with respondents in the Washington, DC and Atlanta, GA metro areas. In order to test respondents from the general public, both those who are favorable towards and not favorable towards the government, we plan to conduct interviews in neutral locations, for example, non-profit service providers, libraries, and churches. We will recruit a diverse set of respondents, varying on demographics such as age, education, income and race.

The FSS POMS questions will be embedded into an ongoing omnibus survey when they are fielded. For purposes of the testing, we will only test the questions relevant to our study, not the other questions included on the omnibus. The survey will be fielded in a CATI interview, but for testing, it will be conducted in person using a paper script. There are two versions of the questionnaire with slight variations of two sets of questions. The question on awareness of statistics and their corresponding agencies has two versions and the question on awareness of administrative records has two versions (each mentioning different types of records). Every other respondent will get each version of the questionnaire. Attached are drafts of the protocols to be used for testing.

Cognitive interviews will be tape-recorded, with the participants' permission, to facilitate summary of the results. All participants will be informed that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential. Respondents will receive $40 for their participation.

The estimated time for completion of each of the cognitive interviews is an hour. Thus, the estimated burden for this research is 60 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding data collection and study design is:

Jennifer Hunter Childs

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 5K020A

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-4927

jennifer.hunter.childs@census.gov