Cover Letter_Generic 2010

Date: December 9, 2010

To: Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Through: Seleda Perryman, Reports Clearance Officer, DHHS

Mikia Currie, Program Analyst, Project Clearance Branch, NIH

Vivian Horovitch-Kelley, OMB Project Clearance Liaison, OMA, NCI

From: Gordon Willis, PhD.

Cognitive Psychologist, Applied Research Program

National Cancer Institute (NCI)/NIH

Subject: Generic Clearance for Questionnaire Cognitive Interviewing and Pre-testing (NCI)

This is a request for OMB to approve the extension of the generic collection titled, “Questionnaire Cognitive Interviewing and Pretesting” for an additional three years of data collection (2011-2014) to be carried out by the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS), National Cancer Institute, NIH. These activities are to be overseen by staff of the Applied Research Program (ARP/DCCPS) and involve the development of health-related survey questionnaires, mainly focusing on cancer risk factors or other cancer-control related issues, using a methodology which has been employed effectively since 1985 by Federal Agencies within DHHS and elsewhere.

Four types of activities will be carried out:

1) Survey questionnaire development and pretesting based on cognitive interviewing methodology. Draft questionnaires are developed and tested through rounds of cognitive interviews in a laboratory or other settings with specifically-recruited volunteer participants. These may be conducted by one-on-one interviews or group interviews (focus groups or triad groups). Results of cognitive interviews are used to make questionnaire design decisions that minimize survey response error.

2) Research on the cognitive aspects of survey methodology. Participants are recruited for individual cognitive interviews for general research in survey methodology, rather than for purposes of testing a particular questionnaire.

3) Research on computer-user interface design for computer-assisted instruments (including Web-based surveys), also known as Usability Testing. Participants help to assess ease of use (e.g. of computerized and Internet-based instruments), comprehension, and quality of on-line help.

4) Pilot Household interviews: Pilot tests (either personal, telephone, or Web-based) are conducted with respondents using professional field interviewers. Sources of response error are identified through observation by methodologists, and through techniques such as the coding of the interviewer-participant interaction (behavior coding).