[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 221 (Thursday, November 16, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66784-66785]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-19373]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-07-0222]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes a 
list of information collection requests under review by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these requests, call 
the CDC Reports Clearance Officer at (404) 639-5960 or send an e-mail 
to [email protected]. Send written comments to CDC Desk Officer, Office of 
Management and Budget, Washington, DC or by fax to (202) 395-6974. 
Written comments should be received within 30 days of this notice.

Proposed Project

    Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory (QDRL) 2007-2009, (OMB No. 
0920-0222)--Extension--National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    The Questionnaire Design Research Laboratory (QDRL) conducts 
questionnaire pre-testing and evaluation activities for CDC surveys 
(such as the NCHS National Health Interview Survey, OMB No. 0920-0214) 
and other federally sponsored surveys. The QDRL conducts cognitive 
interviews, focus groups, mini field-pretests, and experimental 
research in laboratory and field settings, both for applied 
questionnaire evaluation and more basic research on response errors in 
surveys.
    In a cognitive interview, a questionnaire design specialist 
interviews a volunteer participant. QDRL participants are usually 
recruited by expressing their personal willingness to participate. They 
read or hear about the study through media advertisements, flyers, and 
word-of-mouth, and either call the laboratory answering machine number 
or contact a person coordinating the recruitment. Thus, participation 
is strictly voluntary and participants are not chosen randomly.
    The most common questionnaire evaluation method is the cognitive 
interview. The interviewer administers the draft survey questions as 
written, but also probes the participant in depth about interpretations 
of questions, recall processes used to answer them, and adequacy of 
response categories to express answers, while noting points of 
confusion and errors in responding. Interviews are generally conducted 
in small rounds of 10-15 interviews; ideally, the questionnaire is re-
worked between rounds and revisions are tested interactively until 
interviews yield relatively few new insights. When possible, cognitive 
interviews are conducted in the survey's intended mode of 
administration. For example, when testing telephone survey 
questionnaires, participants often respond to the questions via a 
telephone in a laboratory room. Under this condition, the participant 
answers without face-to-face interaction. QDRL staff watch for response 
difficulties from an observation room, and then conduct a face-to-face 
debriefing with in-depth probes. Cognitive interviewing provides useful 
data on questionnaire performance at minimal cost and respondent 
burden. Similar methodology has been adopted by other Federal agencies, 
as well as by academic and commercial survey organizations. NCHS is 
requesting 3 years of OMB Clearance for the project. There are no costs 
to respondents other than their time. The total estimated annualized 
burden hours are 600.

[[Page 66785]]



                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                                     Number of
                            Projects                                 Number of      responses/     Average hours
                                                                   participants     participant    per response
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
QDRL Interviews:
    (1) NCHS Surveys............................................             120               1            1.25
    (2) Other questionnaire testing.............................             120               1            1.25
    (3) Research on the effects of alternative questionnaire                 500               1        18/60
     design.....................................................
    (4) General Methodological Research.........................              60               1            1.25
Focus Groups (5 groups of 10)...................................              50               1            1.5
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    Dated: November 9, 2006.
Joan F. Karr,
Acting Reports Clearance Officer, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
 [FR Doc. E6-19373 Filed 11-15-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P