Attachment B- Questions Removed from Redesigned Veterans Supplement Questionnaire

Attachment B. Questions proposed for removal

Ten questions that were asked in previous fieldings of the Veterans Supplement are proposed for removal. These questions are rarely used by either of the supplement’s sponsors.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) wished to add questions to the Veterans Supplement in order to meet critical data needs. However, recognizing that adding questions would also increase cost and respondent burden, they wished to remove some questions as well. Questions identified for removal are rarely used by either sponsor. In addition, a panel of outside researchers and veterans groups that was convened by VETS and VA to discuss data needs regarding veterans agreed that these questions were of lesser importance.

The questions proposed for removal are as follows:  

• S6 Do you currently receive a monthly check for a service-connected disability from either the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or a branch of the military service?

• S10c Was that the Reserve or National Guard?

• S12aa Was information provided during this workshop useful to (you/NAME) in finding a job or obtaining job-related training after (you/he/she) left the service?

• S12ba Did (you/NAME) find the transition program useful in providing information on topics OTHER THAN employment and job-training, topics such as VA educational, medical or housing benefits?

• S12c Thinking back, what advice or information provided during the transition workshop proved to be most useful to (you/him/her) after leaving military service?

• S12d How might the transition workshop be improved to make it more useful to veterans?

• S12f Why did (you/NAME) choose NOT to attend one of these transition workshops?

• S13c What specific type of training or schooling [(were you)/(was NAME) unable to obtain and still need?

• S16a [Since leaving active duty in the armed forces,] [At any time in the past four years,] [(have you)/(has NAME)] used any other strategies for finding a job or obtaining job-related training, such as networking, checking the Internet, responding to newspaper ads, contacting a private employment service, or seeking employment through a temporary staffing agency?

• S16aa Were any of these strategies useful in identifying employment opportunities, applying for jobs, getting a job, or obtaining the job-related training [(you were)/ (she/he was)] seeking?