OMB Memo

The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). The purpose of this research is to conduct cognitive interviews on questionnaire revisions and additions for the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN). The NSSRN is sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

In early 2018, the NSSRN will be implemented by the Census Bureau for the first time. The NSSRN was last implemented in 2008 by Westat. The Census Bureau’s Demographic Statistical Methods Division (DSMD) Survey Methodology (SM) team was tasked with enhancing the 2008 questionnaire, in preparation for the 2018 implementation. The SM team updated the questionnaire based on an expert review of the 2008 survey content, and incorporated new content at the request of HRSA. The next step is to conduct cognitive interviews with members of the sample population to evaluate the new and revised content. In the cognitive interviews, we will explore the clarity and flow of revised NSSRN questionnaire. The results of the cognitive interviews will influence decisions about final survey content.

In January 2017, staff from the DSMD SM team will conduct fifteen cognitive interviews in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. The interviews will be conducted in public locations convenient to participants, such as local libraries, hospitals and community centers, or at Census Headquarters in Suitland, MD.

The goal of this research is to interview current Registered Nurses and Advance Practice Registered Nurses (i.e. Nurse Practitioners, Clinical Nurse Specialists, Nurse Midwives, and/or Nurse Anesthetists) to explore multiple paths of the questionnaire. If accessible, we will also seek participants who have the certifications/licensures for those positions, but currently work outside of the field.

In the cognitive interviews, participants will be asked to respond to the survey questions on paper. Participants will be asked to think aloud for all or part of the survey response process. We will use retrospective probing to get a full understanding of the participant’s thought processes and interpretations of specific survey questions or concepts. Cognitive interviews will be conducted on a “flow” basis as opposed to in set rounds, to accommodate a short testing period. This arrangement allows for more frequent feedback with changes being made to the paper form (as necessary) in between interviews, as opposed to one set of changes in between two set rounds. A copy of the cognitive interview protocol and the draft NSSRN questionnaire are included in this package.

All interviews will be audio-recorded to facilitate a summary of the results. Participants will be asked to sign consent forms and give permission to be recorded. A copy of the consent form is attached. All participants will be informed that their response is voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential.

We will attempt to recruit participants who represent a variety of nursing positions to the extent possible. We will use a multi-pronged strategy to recruit participants, such as posting flyers in hospitals, contacting local associations, and using personal networks. We anticipate that this particular survey population will be challenging to recruit for testing. Therefore, we are also exploring the possibility of recruiting cognitive interviewing participants from non-sampled cases on the NSSRN sample files (e.g. state nursing records and National Council of State Boards of Nursing files). The use of these files will be critical to locating a diverse set of

participants from local areas (DC, Maryland and Virginia) who represent the population of interest.

For this research, we request an increase in the typical incentive. The Census Bureau typically uses an incentive of $40 per one-hour interview. Because we expect the NSSRN cognitive interviews to last longer than one hour, and this population is highly educated and therefore may be hard to recruit for a research study, we propose offering up to $100 for their participation. There is a precedence for researchers (at the National Center for Health Statistics) giving a $100 incentive for cognitive interviews of medical professionals.

In general, for Census Bureau staff, it requires four screener conversations to recruit one participant. Each screener conversation lasts approximately three minutes. We estimate it will take 3 hours to screen and recruit 15 participants. The estimated time for each cognitive interview is 1.5 hours. For 15 participants, the estimated burden for the interviews is 22.5 hours, bringing the total burden to 25.5 hours.

In order for us to meet our project deadlines for this work, we request OMB approval no later than January 2, 2017.

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

Courtney Reiser
Demographic Statistical Methods Division

U.S. Census Bureau

Room 7H175

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-4142

courtney.n.reiser@census.gov

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