Recruiting Plan, Screener, and Ad Templates

Attachment B: Recruiting Plan, Screener, and Ad Template

Option Year 3 American Community Survey Respondent Burden Testing

Condominium/HOA Fees and Place of Work

Recruitment Plan

Recruitment Overview

For the Option Year 3 (OY3) ACS Respondent Burden Testing, Westat will recruit enough respondents to complete 12 English-language cognitive interviews. Interviews will focus on two survey topics (Condo/HOA Fees and Place of Work) and will be conducted using the self-administered paper mode.

Table 1 presents the respondent characteristics required by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Condominium/HOA Fees and Place of Work. Aside from the respondent characteristics described in Table 1:

• All respondents must be age 18 and older.

• While there are no minimum requirements for multi-person households, we will strive for all respondents to reside in households with at least one other adult who works for pay.

• All respondents must currently work for pay.

• We will strive for most respondents to meet the requirements for both survey topics.

• While there are no requirements for other demographic characteristics, we still strive for a mix of age, sex, and level of education.

Table 1. Respondent Characteristics for OY3 ACS Respondent Burden Testing for Condo/HOA Fees and Place of Work

Topic	Characteristics	Minimum Target
Condo/HOA Fees	Homeowners who are part of a required homeowner’s association	6-8
	Homeowners who are part of a voluntary homeowner’s association	2-4
	Renters in areas with a homeowner’s association fee or condominium fee	2
Place of Work	Employed people who work at home	1-2
	Employed people with atypical workplace locations (e.g. coworking spaces) or unclear or multiple workplace locations (e.g. Uber/Lyft drivers, truck drivers, operators of public transportation, construction or home repair workers, real estate agents, etc.)	3-4
	Employed people in a standard working situation with a fixed location	5-8
	Employed people who work outside of DC city limits	4-5

Interview locations

The interviews will be conducted at Westat’s offices in Rockville, MD or at other convenient locations for respondents in the Washington DC metropolitan area.

Interview Dates

Interviews will take place between approximately January 21, 2019 and February 1, 2019.

Screener

The screener appears in Attachment 1. It captures data on all characteristics of interest to each topic grouping, as shown in Table 1 above. It also asks basic demographic questions such as age, gender, and education level.

Interview Progress Spreadsheet

The Interview Progress Spreadsheet is provided as a separate document. This will be the primary tool by which we will track progress in fulfilling the recruiting criteria. Within this spreadsheet, the master selection grid worksheet records each respondent’s answers to every screener question. This worksheet also tracks respondents’ basic demographic data, along with date and time of interview, and assigned interviewer. During the screening period, we will update this worksheet daily and sometimes hourly.

The Interview Progress Spreadsheet will be used to communicate to the Census Bureau which eligible cases have been selected for scheduling, which have been scheduled, and which have been completed. Westat will provide a frequent update of this document during the screening and interviewing period.

The Interview Progress Spreadsheet will allow tracking of quota fulfillment by showing completed interviews by target characteristic. This worksheet will be updated at the end of each day of interviewing.

Risk Mitigation

The Westat management team will work closely with the recruiters to track daily progress towards meeting the complex recruiting requirements. Recruiters will use the programmed screener, which creates a daily data file of answers to the screener questions. Westat will in turn update the Interview Progress Spreadsheet and provide direction on whom to schedule. All screened respondents will be told that they will be contacted for an interview only if identified as eligible; eligible respondents will be notified within three days that they have been selected for an interview.

Recruiters will use OMB-approved Craigslist ads as a starting point for recruiting. Westat will also exclude those known to have participated in any previous ACS testing conducted by Westat. As needed, we may make use of Westat’s internal recruiting database and advertisements on Westat’s intranet to target the specific characteristics needed (see Attachment 2). Depending on the recruiting need and if appropriate, disparate characteristics may be combined into one ad. All those who respond to any recruiting advertisement, regardless of whether they are in the Westat database or not, will be screened to ensure they have not participated in any research study or focus group in the past 12 months (whether conducted by Westat or any other organization). If needed, we will relax this criteria to the past 6 months.

We will be in frequent communication with the Census Bureau on recruiting progress. Should we be unable to find certain types of respondents, we will implement additional contingency plans, approved by the Census Bureau, such as making slight changes to the recruiting criteria or quotas.

Attachment 1

OY3 ACS Respondent Burden Testing Recruiting Screener

Crosswalk of Screening Items to Topics Tested in ACS Cognitive Interviews

GD = General Demographics

HOA = Condo/HOA Fees

POW = Place of Work

OY3 ACS Respondent Burden Testing

Recruiting Screener

Hello, this is [NAME] from Westat.

INCOMING: Thanks for calling us about participating in one of our studies. I just need to get a little bit of background information to start.

OUTGOING: I’m calling about a study we’re helping the U.S. Census Bureau with. Let me first tell you a little about it. The Census Bureau wants to be sure that questions on one of their surveys make sense to different people across the country. So we are trying to find people who are interested in helping us by giving their reactions to the questions. If you are interested and eligible, we will invite you to an in-person interview, which will take about 60 minutes. At the end of the in-person interview you will receive $40 cash to offset the cost of participation, such as transportation or childcare costs. To make sure you are eligible for the study, I need to ask you a few questions. This will only take about 5 minutes. Is this a good time? IF NO, ASK FOR A BETTER TIME TO CALL BACK.

1. Do you live in a college dormitory, a nursing home, or in any other kind of group housing?

YES

NO

REF

DK

IF YES, REF OR DK, INELIGIBLE. THANK AND END.

GD-2. How many people 18 OR older live in your household including yourself?

___________________

REF

DK

GD-3. How old are you?

________

REF

DK

IF UNDER 18, REF OR DK, INELIGIBLE. THANK AND END

4. When was the last time you participated in a research focus group or interview?

LESS THAN 6 MONTHS AGO

BETWEEN 6 AND 12 MONTHS AGO

12 MONTHS AGO OR MORE

REF

DK

IF LESS THAN 12 MONTHS AGO, REF OR DK, INELIGIBLE. THANK AND END.

IF INCOMING OR RETURNING MESSAGE FROM AN INCOMING CALL, ASK GD-5.

IF OUTGOING OR RETURNING A MESSAGE FROM AN OUTGOING DATABASE CALL, SKIP TO GD-6.

5. How did you hear about the study?

CRAIGSLIST

A FRIEND OR FAMILY MEMBER

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION ____________________________________

SOME OTHER METHOD ___________________________________________

REF

DK

GD-6. What is your gender?

FEMALE

MALE

OTHER

DK

REF

POW-7. Are you currently working for pay full-time, part-time, or are you not working at this time?

FULL-TIME

PART-TIME

NOT WORKING  INELIGIBLE, THANK AND END

REF  INELIGIBLE, THANK AND END

DK  INELIGIBLE, THANK AND END

POW-8. Where do you spend your workday?

________________________________________________________

REF

DK

IF UNCLEAR, ASK: Is that in an office, or at home, or somewhere else?

RECORD RESPONDENT’S ANSWER VERBATIM AND MARK BOXES BELOW IF APPLICABLE.

DO NOT READ CATEGORIES ALOUD.

IN AN OFFICE OR OTHER TRADITIONAL WORKPLACE (RETAIL STORE, CONSTRUCTION SITE, SCHOOL)

IN MULTIPLE LOCATIONS

AT HOME

IN A COWORKING OR SHARED WORKSPACE

POW-9. What is your current occupation? If you have more than one, please tell me about everything.

________________________________________________________

REF

DK

RECORD RESPONDENT’S ANSWER VERBATIM

POW-10. In what city and state is your work located?

________________________________________________________

REF

DK

RECORD RESPONDENT’S ANSWER VERBATIM

HOA-11. Do you own or rent your home?

OWN

RENT  GO TO HOA-15

REF

DK

HOA-12. Does your neighborhood have a homeowner’s association?

YES

NO  GO TO GD-16

REF

DK

HOA-13. Are you required to pay a fee to belong to the homeowner’s association?

YES

NO

REF

DK

HOA-14. Are you a member of a voluntary homeowner’s association, such as a neighborhood watch, community council, or social club?

YES

NO

REF

DK

GO TO GD-16

IF HOA-11=RENT

HOA-15. In addition to your rent, do you pay a condominium or homeowner’s association fee?

YES

NO

REF

DK

Now I just have a few more questions about you.

GD-16. What is the highest grade or level of education you have completed?

LESS THAN HIGH SCHOOL

HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA/GED

SOME COLLEGE (INCLUDES ASSOCIATE’S)

COLLEGE GRADUATE (BA, BS)

GRADUATE/PROFESSIONAL DEGREE (MA, MS, MD, JD, PhD, etc.)

REF

DK

GD-17. Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?

YES

NO

REF

DK

GD-18. What is your race? You may say more than one. (IF NECESSARY, READ CATEGORIES ALOUD)

MARK ALL THAT APPLY.

White,

Black or African American,

American Indian/Alaskan Native,

Asian, or

Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander?

OTHER ______________________

REF

DK

IF MORE THAN ONE PERSON IN HOUSEHOLD (GD-2 > 1), CONTINUE.

OTHERWISE, COLLECT CONTACT INFORMATION.

POW-19. Does anyone who lives with you work for pay?

YES

NO

REF

DK

RECORD RESPONDENT NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATION ON CONTACT INFORMATION SHEET ON THE NEXT PAGE.

Contact Information

STORE THE INFORMATION ON THIS DOCUMENT AS HARD COPY ONLY!

KEEP THIS DOCUMENT IN A LOCKED, SECURE LOCATION!

Project: U.S. Census Bureau

Name ______________________________________________________________________

Address ____________________________________________________________________

City, State, ZIP________________________________________________________________

Phone Number _______________________________________________________________

Email Address________________________________________________________________

READ CLOSING TEXT BELOW TO THANK AND END THE CALL

Thank you for answers to these questions. If you’re eligible to participate in our study, Westat will be back in touch with you within about 3 days.

____________________________________________________________________________________

IF R IS SELECTED FOR AN INTERVIEW, ASK AUDIO RECORDING QUESTION BEFORE SCHEDULING THE DATE AND TIME.

We’d like to audio record the interview. This allows us to carefully review the discussion and draw the proper conclusions. Will that be alright with you?

Yes

No DO NOT SCHEDULE

Date: __________________________

Time: __________________________

Attachment 2

OY3 ACS Respondent Burden Testing

Condominium/HOA Fees and Place of Work

Craigslist Template

INSERT HEADLINE Receive $40 for a 60-minute interview

Westat, a survey company headquartered in Rockville, Maryland is looking for adults 18 years of age or older to give their reactions and opinions about some survey questions in a national household survey. The in-person interview will take about 60 minutes and will be held in Rockville or Washington, D.C. Participants will receive $40 cash to offset the cost of participation.

In the interview, participants will be asked to give their reactions to some survey questions. All information you give us will be treated as confidential. No information about you will be shared with others, and you will not be put on a marketing/mailing list.

If you are interested in participating, please call ###-###-#### and indicate that you are interested in participating in the national household survey interview. Provide your name, phone number, and a good time to reach you.

Someone from Westat will contact you and ask some questions to determine if you are eligible. Please understand that we may not be able to interview everyone who contacts us.

OY3 ACS Respondent Burden Testing

Recruitment advertising headlines by question topic

Condominium/HOA Fees

First and second headlines will be used first. Third and fourth headlines will be used if needed.

Do you belong to a homeowner’s association?

Are you a member of a neighborhood group or association?

Do you rent a home with a homeowner’s association or condo fee?

Do you pay homeowner’s association fees?

Place of Work

First and second headlines will be used first. Third, fourth, and fifth will be used if needed.

Do you work somewhere other than an office?

Do you work at more than one location?

Do you primarily work from home?

Do you primarily work at a coworking space?

Do you work in Maryland or Virginia?