SIPP Pension Module & CPS Email Supplement Pretesting Plan

The Census Bureau 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 of a revised Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) Pension Module and a Current Population Survey (CPS) Email and Internet Mode Supplement. In the present research, the CPS email supplement will be added to the end of the SIPP Pension module.

The redesigned SIPP Pension module aims to improve the collection of pension plan data by adding a question about whether respondents’ pension plans have benefits that increase with additional earnings or years of service.

The CPS Email and Internet Mode Supplement is part of research to develop an Internet version of the survey. Two different versions of questions are being tested to collect email address data from respondents. One version first asks the respondent whether he or she has an email address, and if yes, then asks the respondent for that email address. The other version asks the respondent for his or her email address immediately. The email addresses would be used to send respondents various messages related to the CPS, including online survey links, reminders to complete the CPS, and invitations to provide feedback. The questions are being added to the SIPP Pension Module to simulate the situation in the field, in which these questions will follow the core questionnaire.

In May and June 2013, staff from the Center for Survey Measurement (CSM) will conduct two iterative rounds of testing with a maximum of 15 interviews for each round. Interviews will be with respondents who are older than 15 years of age, are employed, and have a pension plan with their employers. We are also targeting people with more than one job, and both full-time and part-time workers. These respondents will be recruited because we want to test the questionnaire with the types of people who have characteristics applicable to the SIPP Pension module. To the maximum extent possible, within these specific criteria we will attempt to interview respondents of varying ages, genders and educational levels. We will use a multi-pronged strategy to recruit the respondents needed for this study, such as posting ads in free local newspapers and contacting local associations.

The interviews will be conducted in the Washington DC metropolitan area. The interviews will be conducted at the Census Bureau’s cognitive laboratory, offices of community associations, and locations convenient to respondents. The cognitive interviews will be conducted using a paper version of the CAPI instrument. There will be two versions of the CAPI instrument tested to accommodate the two versions of the CPS Email and Internet Mode Supplement. In both versions, the SIPP Pension module will remain the same. Copies of the questionnaires are attached.

Cognitive interviews will be tape-recorded, with the participants' permission, to facilitate a 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 cognitive interview is one hour. Thus, the estimated burden for this research is 30 hours.

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

Rodney L. Terry

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 5K022E

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-5475

Rodney.Terry@census.gov

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