Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; National Survey of Children's Health
| Published date | 19 November 2019 |
| Citation | 84 FR 63839 |
| Record Number | 2019-24962 |
| Section | Notices |
| Court | Census Bureau,Commerce Department |
Federal Register, Volume 84 Issue 223 (Tuesday, November 19, 2019)
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 223 (Tuesday, November 19, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63839-63842]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24962]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; National Survey
of Children's Health
AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau, Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort
to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public
and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on a
proposed revision of the National Survey of Children's Health, as
required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
DATES: To ensure consideration, written comments must be submitted on
or before January 21, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Carolyn Pickering, Survey
Director, U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 Silver Hill Road, HQ-7H153,
Washington, DC 20233 (or via the internet at [email protected]). You
may also submit comments, identified by Docket Number USBC-2019-0016 to
the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. All
comments received are part of the public record. No comments will be
posted to http://www.regulations.gov for public viewing until after the
comment period has closed. Comments will generally be posted without
change. All Personally Identifiable Information (for example, name and
address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly
accessible. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or
otherwise sensitive or protected information. You may submit
attachments to electronic comments in Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe
PDF file formats.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions
should be directed to Carolyn Pickering, U.S. Census Bureau, ADDP, HQ-
7H153, 4600 Silver Hill Road, Washington, DC 20233-0001 (301-763-3873
or via email at [email protected]).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
Sponsored primarily by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services' Health Resources Services Administration's Maternal and Child
Health Bureau (HRSA MCHB), the National Survey of Children's Health
[[Page 63840]]
(NSCH) is designed to produce data on the physical and emotional health
of children under 18 years of age who live in the United States. The
United States Department of Agriculture and the United States
Department of Health and Human Services' Center for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental
Disabilities sponsor supplemental content on the NSCH. Additionally,
the upcoming cycle of the NSCH would like to feature four individual
state oversamples that include the selection of a pre-determined number
of sample cases above the current production base sample in those
states. The state oversamples would be sponsored by the State of
Colorado, the State of Nebraska, the Oregon Center for Children and
Youth with Special Health Care Needs, and the State of Wisconsin.
The NSCH collects information on factors related to the well-being
of children, including access to health care, in-home medical care,
family interactions, parental health, school and after-school
experiences, and neighborhood characteristics. The goal of the 2020
NSCH is to provide HRSA MCHB, the supplemental sponsoring agencies,
states, and other data users with the necessary data to support the
production of national estimates yearly and state-based estimates with
pooled samples on the health and well-being of children, their
families, and their communities as well as estimates of the prevalence
and impact of children with special health care needs.
Proposed Changes
Below is a list of updates we are requesting for the 2020 NSCH.
These updates will be described in further detail within the full
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Information Collection Request
(ICR) package.
Increased sample size--With additional sponsor funding and
realized cost savings from streamlining the survey operations process,
we are requesting an increase in sample size. The base NSCH sample plus
the proposed state oversamples may reach up to 240,000 addresses for
the 2020 NSCH. The additional burden on any one address is not
increasing as the total estimated time to complete the survey remains
less than 5 minutes for households without children and, on average, 33
minutes for households with children. However, because the total number
of sampled addresses is increasing by approximately 45,000, the total
overall burden to the public is also increasing by approximately 9,271
hours. The increased sample will allow individual states to produce
statistically sound child health estimates in a fewer number of years
than if the sample were to remain the same annually, thereby resulting
in more timely state-level health estimates of children.
Unconditional incentive distribution percentage--We plan
to continue monitoring the effectiveness of the unconditional monetary
incentive, but request an increase to the percent of addresses
receiving a $5 incentive in the initial screener mailing. When
utilized, an unconditional incentive has proven effective each cycle of
the NSCH. Response rates for the unconditional monetary incentive
groups showed a statistically significant difference over the control
group that did not receive an unconditional monetary incentive. A
larger increase in response was noted for the households mailed a $5
compared with the $2 incentive, however both treatment groups have
proven effective at reducing nonresponse bias by encouraging response.
For both the 2018 NSCH and 2019 NSCH, the initial screener incentive
splits were 45% received $2; 45% received $5; and 10% did not receive
an incentive. The proposal for 2020 NSCH is that 30% receive $2; 60%
receive $5; and 10% would not receive an incentive with the initial
mailing. The incentive assignment to each sampled address would still
be random as was done in prior cycles and approved by OMB. Results from
the 2018 NSCH indicate that the increased incentive amount proved
effective at obtaining a higher response in general and particularly so
from underrepresented population groups.\1\ Therefore, the goal of an
increased $5 incentive treatment group is aimed at reducing nonresponse
bias further.
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\1\ U.S. Census Bureau. (2019). 2018 NSCH methodology report.
Retrieved from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/nsch/technical-documentation/methodology/2018-NSCH-Methodology-Report.pdf.
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Redesigned survey contact materials test--Instead of
testing a redesigned envelope alone in the initial mailing (as was done
in 2019), the 2020 NSCH plans to assign a 30% experimental treatment
group to receive a redesigned suite of screener (and topical if
applicable) survey invitation and follow-up mail packages throughout
the entire data collection period. Two rounds of cognitive testing were
approved previously by OMB \2\ and will be used to inform development
of the redesigned contact materials and envelopes. The goal of the
redesign is to provide the sampled addresses with a cohesive set of
items within each survey invitation package. The proposed materials
include key facts pertaining to survey data usage, relatable images for
the target population, and colors that match the associated paper
questionnaires. We plan to evaluate the experimental treatment group
after data closeout to determine the effectiveness of the redesigned
package strategy and inform future decision-making.
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\2\ Generic Clearance Information Collection Request: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewIC?ref_nbr=201606-0607-003&icID=236843.
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Revised questionnaire content--The NSCH questionnaires
with newly proposed and revised content from the sponsors at HRSA MCHB
are currently undergoing two rounds of cognitive testing. This testing
request was submitted under the generic clearance package and approved
by OMB \3\. Based on the results, a final set of proposed modified
content will be included in the full OMB ICR for the 2020 NSCH.
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\3\ Generic Clearance Information Collection Request: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewIC?ref_nbr=201606-0607-003&icID=237067.
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State oversample \4\--In order to inform state-level
decision making around various priorities, some stakeholders have shown
interest in sponsoring an oversample of addresses within their state as
part of the annual NSCH administration. Currently, four states
(Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, and Wisconsin) are moving forward with
this option for the first time as part of the 2020 NSCH. Oversamples
will provide states with more robust data for analysis and planning at
the state level. The oversamples can be classified as either a general
state-wide oversample or sub-state oversample. The state-wide
oversample increases the total number of sampled addresses within a
given state and will be distributed to the geographic areas similarly
to the production base sample. State-level estimates of rare
populations or outcomes could be evaluated from this larger sample, but
sub-state (e.g., county-level) estimates could not. The sub-state
oversample is aimed at producing smaller than state-level (e.g., county
or county-level grouping) estimates in combination with the NSCH base
sample to reach a specific sample size in each targeted group. The
requirements to meet each sub-state oversample are primarily determined
by county for the 2020 NSCH.
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\4\ State Oversampling in the National Survey of Children's
Health: Feasibility, Cost, and Alternative Approaches https://census.gov/content/dam/Census/programs-surveys/nsch/NSCH_State_Oversample_Summary_Document.pdf.
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[[Page 63841]]
Current Design
Besides the proposed changes listed above, the 2020 NSCH will
proceed with the current design outlined in the previous OMB ICR
package. We will continue to make modifications to data collection
strategies based on modeled information about paper or internet
response preference. Results from prior survey cycles will continue to
be used to inform the decisions made regarding future cycles of the
NSCH.
Based on the results from prior survey cycles and available funds,
an unconditional cash incentive will be included with the initial
mailing. Survey research indicates that incentives are a necessary and
cost[hyphen]effective expense for achieving a response rate that
minimizes nonresponse bias.\5\ Our testing to date is consistent with
this research. Evaluation of previous NSCH cycles showed a
statistically significant difference in response rates when respondents
received an incentive compared to those who were part of the control
group that did not receive an incentive. The effect of the incentive
was proportionately larger for household types that were less likely to
respond in previous years, reducing nonresponse bias. There was a
larger increase in response for households mailed a $5 incentive
compared to those mailed a $2 incentive with their initial survey
invite; both treatments proved effective at encouraging response and
reducing nonresponse bias in 2019. As noted in the proposed changes
section, we would like to increase the total number of $5 cash
incentives sent with the initial mailing to 60% and reduce the total
number of $2 cash incentives sent with the initial mailing to 30% and
maintain the control group (receiving no incentive) at 10%. For
respondents who answer a paper screener interview and are mailed their
first paper topical questionnaire, a $5 incentive will be used to
reduce bias and gain cooperation for this critical second stage of
paper questionnaire data collection.
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\5\ Brick JM, Williams D, Montaquila JM. 2011.
``Address[hyphen]Based Sampling for Subpopulation Surveys''. Public
Opinion Quarterly, 75(3): 409-28; Foster EB, Frasier AM, Morrison
HM, O'Connor KS, Blumberg SJ. 2010. ``All Things Incentive:
Exploring the Best Combination of Incentive Conditions''. Paper
presented at the American Association for Public Opinion Research
annual conference, Chicago, IL.
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In addition to the testing of incentives, the 2020 NSCH will
continue to serve as a platform to evaluate different nonresponse
follow-up mailing strategies based on a household's likelihood to
respond using a paper questionnaire. To determine this, we assign a
paper-preference probability to every address using American Community
Survey (ACS) response mode choices, previous NSCH response mode
choices, and small area geographic characteristics. The 30% of
addresses with the highest paper-preference probability are assigned to
the ``High Paper'' group and receive a paper questionnaire in each
mailing, starting with the initial invitation. The other 70% of
addresses are assigned to the ``High Web'' group and receive their
first paper questionnaires in the second nonresponse follow-up screener
invitation.
Since there continues to be a significant potential for cost
savings in web data collection over paper data collection, we are
working to refine and retest an internet response indicator for future
NSCH production cycles based on the results from prior data collection
efforts.
A proven effective contact strategy that will continue to be used
in the 2020 NSCH is the pressure-sealed reminder postcard. The reminder
postcard will be mailed approximately one week after the initial
screener (and topical if applicable) survey invite mailing and the
first nonresponse follow-up. We originally implemented this strategy
because the time gap between mailings during the 2016 NSCH proved too
long, and a significant dip in response flow was observed between
mailings. Over the past few cycles, these pressure-sealed reminder
postcards have helped boost response immediately following their
delivery and reduce the time between other nonresponse follow-up
mailings. The ability to send reminders enclosed with a pressure-seal
system allows us to include login information for the Centurion web
instrument as well as specific information about the survey. This
mailing also includes a paragraph in Spanish that will direct the
respondent to the Spanish web survey or the Telephone Questionnaire
Assistance (TQA) line for assistance.
As in prior administration of the NSCH, the 2020 NSCH will have a
TQA line available to respondents who experience technical problems
with the web instrument, have questions about the survey, or need other
forms of assistance. TQA staff will be able to answer respondent
questions and concerns, while having the ability to collect survey
responses over the phone--if the respondent calls in and would like to
have interviewer assistance in completing the survey. Also, respondents
can submit questions by email. Email Questionnaire Assistance agents
will monitor the email account inbox and respond promptly.
In both internet and paper collection modes, the survey design for
the 2020 NSCH focuses on first collecting information about the
children in the household and basic special health care needs, and then
selecting a child from the household for follow-up to collect
additional detailed topical information. If there is more than one
eligible child in a household, a single child will be selected based on
a sampling algorithm that considers the age and number of children as
well as the presence of children with special health care needs. We
estimate that, from the original 240,000 selected production sample
addresses, our target screener return rate of 39.3% will yield
approximately 94,370 responses to the screener. We then estimate that
54.2% of households from the first phase of the screener will be
eligible to receive a topical questionnaire (households with children),
and 77.4% of these households with children will return the topical
questionnaire, resulting in approximately 39,596 completed topical
interviews. A household could be selected for one of three age-based
topical surveys: 0-to-5-year-old children, 6-to-11-year-old children,
or 12-to-17-year-old children.
Census Bureau staff have developed a plan to select a production
sample of approximately 240,000 households (addresses) from a Master
Address File-based sampling frame, with split panels to test mode of
administration (i.e., high-web and low-web), and improvements to
contact materials and strategies. Based on results of the prior NSCH
incentive experiments, we plan to use small, unconditional cash
incentives with a control group receiving no incentive to monitor the
effectiveness of the incentive expenditures. For respondents who answer
the paper screener and are mailed a paper topical questionnaire, an
additional $5 incentive is expected for that mailing. From prior cycles
of the NSCH, using American Association for Public Opinion Research
definitions of response, we can expect for the 2020 NSCH an overall
screener completion rate to be about 48.6% and an overall topical
completion rate to be about 36.9%.\6\ This is different from the total
[[Page 63842]]
overall response rate, which we expect to be about 42.2%.\7\
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\6\ Screener Completion Rate is the proportion of screener-
eligible households (i.e., occupied residences) that completed a
screener. It is equal to (S+X)/(S+X+R+e(UR+UO)), where S is the
count of completed screeners with children, X is completed screeners
without children, R is screener refusals, and e(UR+UO) is the
estimated count of screener eligible households among nonresponding
addresses.
The Topical Completion Rate is the proportion of topical-
eligible households (i.e., occupied residences with children
present) that completed a topical questionnaire. It is equal to I/
HCt, where I is the count of completed topicals and HCt is the
estimated count of households with children in the sample or
S+R+(S+R)/(S+X+R) * e(UR+UO).
\7\ Total Response Rate is the proportion of screener-eligible
households that completed a screener or topical questionnaire. It is
equal to (X+I+P)/(X+I+P+RS+eUS), where I is the count of completed
topicals, P is the count of sufficient partial completed topicals,
RS is screener refusals, and eUS is the estimated count of screener
eligible households among nonresponding addresses.
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II. Method of Collection
Web Push
The 2020 NSCH plan for the web push data collection design includes
70% of the estimated 240,000 production addresses receiving an initial
invite with instructions on how to complete an English or Spanish-
language screener questionnaire via the web. Households that decide to
complete the web-based survey will be taken through the screener
questionnaire to determine if they are eligible for one of three
topical instruments. Households that list at least one child who is 0
to 17 years old in the screener are directed into a topical
questionnaire immediately after the last screener question. If a
household in the web push treatment group decides to complete the paper
screener, the household may have a chance to receive an additional
topical questionnaire incentive.
Mixed-Mode
The 2020 NSCH plan for the mixed-mode data collection design
includes approximately 30% of the 240,000 production addresses
receiving both an initial invite with a paper screener questionnaire
and instructions on how to complete an English or Spanish language
screener questionnaire via the web. Households that decide to complete
the web-based survey will follow the same screener and topical
selection path as the web push. Households that choose to complete the
paper screener questionnaire rather than completing the survey on the
internet and that have eligible children will be mailed a paper topical
questionnaire upon receipt of their completed paper screener at the
Census Bureau's National Processing Center. If a household in the
mixed-mode group chooses to complete the paper screener instead of
completing the web-based screener via the internet, then the household
may receive an additional topical questionnaire incentive.
Non-Response Follow-Up for the ``High Web'' Group and ``High Paper''
Group
The ``High Web'' group will receive two web survey invitation
letters requesting its participation in the survey prior to receiving
its first paper screener questionnaire in the second follow-up mailing.
The ``High Paper'' group will receive both a web survey invitation
letter along with a mailed paper screener questionnaire with the
initial invitation and each follow-up mailing. Once a household in the
``High Web'' group receives a paper screener questionnaire, it will
then have the option to either complete the web-based survey or
complete the mailed paper screener, similar to the ``High Paper''
group. If the household chooses to complete the mailed paper
questionnaire, then it would be considered part of the mailout/mailback
paper-and-pencil interviewing treatment group. The paper-and-pencil
treatment group receives a paper topical questionnaire, if there is at
least one 0 to 17 year old eligible child reported on the screener.
Nonresponse follow-up for the topical questionnaire will include up to
one pressure-sealed postcard and up to three mailings including the
paper topical questionnaire.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0607-0990.
Form Number(s): NSCH-S1 (English Screener),
NSCH-T1 (English Topical for 0- to 5-year-old children),
NSCH-T2 (English Topical for 6- to 11-year-old children),
NSCH-T3 (English Topical for 12- to 17-year-old children),
NSCH-S-S1 (Spanish Screener),
NSCH-S-T1 (Spanish Topical for 0- to 5-year-old children),
NSCH-S-T2 (Spanish Topical for 6- to 11-year-old children), and
NSCH-S-T3 (Spanish Topical for 12- to 17-year-old children).
Type of Review: Regular submission.
Affected Public: Parents, researchers, policymakers, and family
advocates.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 94,370 for the screener and 39,596
for the topical.
Estimated Time per Response: 5 minutes per screener response and 33
minutes per topical response, which in total is approximately 38
minutes for households with eligible children.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 29,642 hours.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0 (This is not the cost of
respondents' time, but the indirect costs respondents may incur for
such things as purchases of specialized software or hardware needed to
report, or expenditures for accounting or records maintenance services
required specifically by the collection.)
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Section 8(b); 42 U.S.C. 701;
1769d(a)(4)(B); and 42 U.S.C. 241.
IV. Request for Comments
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information;
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.
Sheleen Dumas,
Departmental Lead PRA Officer, Office of the Chief Information Officer,
Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2019-24962 Filed 11-18-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P
