Attachment A_2021 RHFS Protocol_OMB - Revised 10202020

Cognitive Interviewing Guide: Draft Content for 2021 RHFS

Interviewer notes are in red.

Introduction:

• Explain purpose of meeting: to obtain feedback on reporting to the RHFS, to understand the process of answering questions, and to evaluate how new questions work or don’t work.

• Some questions we ask may seem odd and/or obvious, but we don’t want to assume we know what you are thinking.

• Explain that we are not testing the respondent – we only want to evaluate the questionnaire.

• Structure of meeting: Understand your business and your role in it, then review the questionnaire and ask you questions as you complete it.

• Ask respondent to sign the consent form.

Research Questions to Address:

• Are respondents able to answer the questions as intended?

• Are there any items that cause the respondents problems?

  • What can be done to fix those problems?

Before the Questionnaire:

• IF property management company, what is your role in the company? What kind of responsibilities do you have?

• Are you one of the owners of the rental property or of the business that owns the rental property?

• Have you completed other surveys from the Census Bureau or other agencies? If so, which ones?

• What was your role in the process for responding to this questionnaire? (Gather data? Enter data? Consult with data providers? Etc.)

Thanks for providing some background information. Now let’s look at the survey questions.

Direct participant to look at draft content.

Item 1

• How would you answer this question?

Item DP_1

• How would you answer this question?

• Are there any answer categories we are missing?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• What do you think about the definition provided?

• IF Other, please tell us more about your rental property.

  • Can you imagine a scenario where someone would select ‘Other’? Please describe.

Item DP_4

• How would you answer this question?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• When answering this question, what were you including in your answer? The number of buildings for the entire property or for a sampled address?

  • IF ANSWER DIFFERENT THAN RECORDS: It looks like when you last reported for this survey, you responded X number of buildings, were you including the entire property at that time? Or just the units for the sampled address?

Item DP_7

• How would you answer this question?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• When answering this question, what were you including in your answer? The number of units for the entire property or for a sampled address?

  • IF ANSWER DIFFERENT THAN RECORDS: It looks like when you last reported for this survey, you responded X number of units, were you including the entire property at that time? Or just the units for the sampled address?

Item DP_8

• How would you answer this question?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• In your own words, what is a nursing home?

  • Do you have any other terms for this?

  • What do you think about the definition provided? Is it missing anything?

• In your own terms, what is an assisted living facility?

  • Do you have any other terms for this?

  • What do you think about the definition provided? Is it missing anything?

• In your own words, what is a senior independent living community?

  • Do you have any other terms for this?

  • What do you think about the definition provided? Is it missing anything?

Item DP_9 (if participant answered yes to DP_8)

• How would you answer this question?

• Can you tell me more about how you came up with this figure?

• Would you need to look in records to answer this question?

• Would you need to consult anyone else in order to answer this question?

Item 17

• How would you answer this question?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• How easy or difficult would it be to obtain the costs associated with capital improvements?

• In your own words, what does “capital improvements” mean to you?

• Do you think that there are any examples of “capital improvements” missing from the list?

• Would you prefer to give a cost for each capital improvement or a total cost for capital improvements?

• How easy or difficult was it to exclude any amount spent on maintenance and repairs that was already reported?

Item 17a

• How would you answer this question?

• How did you come up with this/these numbers?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• In your own words, what does “capital reserves” mean to you?

• Is “capital reserves” a term that you or your business use?

• Would a definition of “capital reserves balance” be helpful to include?

• How do you feel about providing this figure?

Item 19a

• How would you answer this question?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• Are you familiar with the term Section 8? HAP?

• How comfortable or uncomfortable might it be for people to answer this question?

  • If participant expresses a lack of comfort in answer this question, how do you suggest that we could improve the likeliness of people answering this question?

Item 19b

• How would you answer this question?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• IF participant answers 1 or more units, what kind of subsidies were you thinking of when answering this question?

• How comfortable or uncomfortable might it be for people to answer this question?

  • If participant expresses a lack of comfort in answer this question, how do you suggest that we could improve the likeliness of people answering this question?

Item 37

• How would you answer this question?

• Would you need to reach out to other people or departments to answer this question?

  • IF YES: What departments/positions would you reach out to?

• Is this something you would have in your records?

• How comfortable or uncomfortable might it be for people to answer this question?

  • If participant expresses a lack of comfort in answer this question, how do you suggest that we could improve the likeliness of people answering this question?

WRAP UP

• Do you have any other comments of suggestions about anything we have discussed today?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!

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