[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 154 (Friday, August 13, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44728-44730]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-17349]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[30Day-21-0222]


Agency Forms Undergoing Paperwork Reduction Act Review

    In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has submitted the information 
collection request titled The Collaborating Center for Questionnaire 
Design and Evaluation Research (CCQDER) to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review and approval. CDC previously published a 
``Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations'' notice on May 26, 2021 to obtain comments from the 
public and affected agencies. CDC received no comments related to the 
previous notice. This notice serves to allow an additional 30 days for 
public and affected agency comments.
    CDC will accept all comments for this proposed information 
collection project. The Office of Management and Budget is particularly 
interested in comments that:

[[Page 44729]]

    (a) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    (b) Evaluate the accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (c) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected;
    (d) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including, through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting 
electronic submission of responses; and
    (e) Assess information collection costs.
    To request additional information on the proposed project or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plan and instruments, call 
(404) 639-7570. Comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of 
this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular 
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 30-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function. Direct 
written comments and/or suggestions regarding the items contained in 
this notice to the Attention: CDC Desk Officer, Office of Management 
and Budget, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503 or by fax to (202) 
395-5806. Provide written comments within 30 days of notice 
publication.

Proposed Project

    The Collaborating Center for Questionnaire Design and Evaluation 
Research (CCQDER) (OMB Control No. 0920-0222, Exp. 08/31/2021)--
Revision--National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Section 306 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 
242k), as amended, authorizes that the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services (DHHS), acting through NCHS, shall undertake and support (by 
grant or contract) research, demonstrations, and evaluations respecting 
new or improved methods for obtaining current data to support 
statistical and epidemiological activities for the purpose of improving 
the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of health services in the 
United States.
    The Collaborating Center for Questionnaire Design and Evaluation 
Research (CCQDER) is the focal point within NCHS for questionnaire and 
survey development, pre-testing, and evaluation activities for CDC 
surveys such as: The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), the 
Research and Development Survey (RANDS) (including RANDS COVID), and 
other federally sponsored surveys.
    The CCQDER and other NCHS programs conduct cognitive interviews, 
focus groups, in-depth or ethnographic interviews, usability tests, 
field tests/pilot interviews, and experimental research in laboratory 
and field settings, both for applied questionnaire development and 
evaluation, as well as more basic research on measurement errors and 
survey response.
    Various techniques to evaluate interviewer-administered, self-
administered, telephone, Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing 
(CAPI), Computer Assisted Self-Interviewing (CASI), Audio Computer-
Assisted Self-Interviewing (ACASI), and web-based questionnaires are 
used.
    The most common questionnaire evaluation method is the cognitive 
interview. These evaluations are conducted by the CCQDER. The interview 
structure consists of respondents first answering a draft survey 
question and then providing textual information to reveal the processes 
involved in answering the test question. Specifically, cognitive 
interview respondents are asked to describe how and why they answered 
the question as they did. Through the interviewing process, various 
types of question-response problems that would not normally be 
identified in a traditional survey interview, such as interpretive 
errors and recall accuracy, are uncovered. By conducting a comparative 
analysis of cognitive interviews, it is also possible to determine 
whether particular interpretive patterns occur within particular sub-
groups of the population. Interviews are generally conducted in small 
rounds totaling 40-100 interviews; ideally, the questionnaire is re-
worked between rounds, and revisions are tested iteratively until 
interviews yield relatively few new insights.
    Cognitive interviewing is inexpensive and provides useful data on 
questionnaire performance while minimizing respondent burden. Cognitive 
interviewing offers a detailed depiction of meanings and processes used 
by respondents to answer questions, a process that ultimately produces 
the survey data. As such, the method offers an insight that can 
transform understanding of question validity and response error. 
Documented findings from these studies represent tangible evidence of 
how the question performs. Such documentation also serves CDC data 
users, allowing them to be critical users in their approach and 
application of the data.
    In addition to cognitive interviewing, a number of other 
qualitative and quantitative methods are used to investigate and 
research measurement errors and the survey response process. These 
methods include conducting focus groups, usability tests, in-depth or 
ethnographic interviews, and the administration and analysis of 
questions in both representative and non-representative field tests. 
Focus groups are conducted by the CCQDER. Focus groups are group 
interviews whose primary purpose is to elicit the basic sociocultural 
understandings and terminology that form the basis of questionnaire 
design. Each group typically consists of one moderator and 4-10 
participants, depending on the research question. In-depth or 
ethnographic interviews are one-on-one interviews designed to elicit 
the understandings or terminology that are necessary for question 
design, as well as to gather detailed information that can contribute 
to the analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data. Usability 
tests are typically one-on-one interviews that are used to determine 
how a given survey or information collection tool functions in the 
field, and how the mode and layout of the instrument itself may 
contribute to survey response error and the survey response process.
    In addition to these qualitative methods, NCHS also uses various 
tools to obtain quantitative data, which can be analyzed alone or 
analyzed alongside qualitative data to give a much fuller accounting of 
the survey response process. For instance, phone, internet, mail, and 
in-person follow-up interviews of previous NCHS survey respondents may 
be used to test the validity of survey questions and questionnaires and 
to obtain more detailed information that cannot be gathered on the 
original survey. Additionally, field or pilot tests may be conducted on 
both representative and non-representative samples, including those 
obtained from commercial survey and web panel vendors. Beyond looking 
at traditional measures of survey errors (such as item missing rates, 
non-response, and don't know rates), these pilot tests can be used to 
run

[[Page 44730]]

experimental designs in order to capture how different questions 
function in a field setting. Similar methodology has been adopted by 
other federal agencies, as well as by academic and commercial survey 
organizations.
    In 2021-2024, NCHS/CCQDER staff plan to continue research on 
methods evaluation and general questionnaire design research. We 
envision that over the next three years, NCHS/CCQDER will work 
collaboratively with survey researchers from universities and other 
Federal agencies to define and examine several research areas, 
including, but not limited to: (1) Differences between face-to-face, 
telephone, and virtual/video over internet cognitive interviewing, (2) 
effectiveness of different approaches to cognitive interviewing, such 
as concurrent and retrospective probing, (3) reactions of both survey 
respondents and survey interviewers to the use of Computer-Assisted 
Personal Interviewing (CAPI), Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview 
(ACASI), video over internet/virtual, (4) social, cultural and 
linguistic factors in the question response process, and (5) 
recruitment and respondent participation at varying levels of incentive 
in an effort to establish empirical evidence regarding remuneration and 
coercion. Procedures for each of these studies will be similar to those 
applied in the usual testing of survey questions. For example, 
questionnaires that are of current interest (such as RANDS and NIOSH) 
may be evaluated using several of the techniques described above. In 
addition, different versions of a survey question will be developed, 
and the variants then administered to separate groups of respondents in 
order to study the cognitive processes that account for the differences 
in responses obtained across different versions.
    These studies will be conducted either by CCQDER staff, DHHS staff, 
or NCHS contractors who are trained in cognitive interviewing 
techniques. The results of these studies will be applied to our 
specific questionnaire development activities in order to improve the 
methods that we use to conduct questionnaire testing, and to guide 
questionnaire design in general.
    OMB approval is requested for three years. Participation is 
voluntary. We are requesting 9,455 annualized hours, totaling 28,365 
over three years. This is an increase of 1,672 hours per year or 5,016 
hours over three years. The requested increases are due to an 
anticipated increase in the number and size of projects being 
undertaken.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Table
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Number of    Average burden
          Type of respondent                    Form name            Number of     responses per   per response
                                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Individuals or households.............  Eligibility Screeners...           4,400               1            5/60
Individuals or households.............  Developmental                      8,750               1           55/60
                                         Questionnaires.
Individuals or households.............  Respondent Data                    8,750               1            5/60
                                         Collection Sheet.
Individuals or households.............  Focus Group Documents...             225               1           90/60
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Jeffrey M. Zirger,
Lead, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of Science, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2021-17349 Filed 8-12-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P