SOURCES SOUGHT
B -- Cognitive Testing of ACS Questionnaire Test Items
- Notice Date
- 5/15/2015
- Notice Type
- Sources Sought
- NAICS
- 541690
— Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services
- Contracting Office
- Department of Commerce, U. S. Census Bureau, Suitland, Acquisition Division, Room 3J438, Washington, District of Columbia, 20233
- ZIP Code
- 20233
- Solicitation Number
- DEC-15-096
- Archive Date
- 6/6/2015
- Point of Contact
- Paul W Boesch, , Matthew Gore,
- E-Mail Address
-
paul.w.boesch@census.gov, Matthew.S.Gore@census.gov
(paul.w.boesch@census.gov, Matthew.S.Gore@census.gov)
- Small Business Set-Aside
- N/A
- Description
- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION: The Census Bureau is conducting market research to identify available sources for the proposed services below: DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES: The content for the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) is designed to meet the needs of federal government agencies. Additionally, these data are a rich source of local area information, making the data useful to state and local governments, universities, and private businesses of all sizes. The Census Bureau coordinates the content development and determination process for the ACS, with other agencies and establishes new content determinations for the survey. Approved new content or changes to existing content or questionnaire administration are tested according to the ACS content change process, which provides Census Bureau guidelines for pretesting, field testing, and implementing new content and changes to existing ACS survey. The Census Bureau is preparing to conduct testing to determine if the survey should be altered to include revised questions or changes in the administration of the questions. One step in preparing for potential changes is to pretest these revised questions or questionnaire paths using cognitive testing methods. The results of the pretesting may be used to field test the revisions before including them in the production version of the survey. The ACS continually identifies potential updates to the survey. These will be tested over the life of the contract. Questions and updates may be tested in English and/or Spanish, in the U.S. as well as Puerto Rico, for housing units and for institutional and non-institutional Group Quarters (GQs). Housing unit interviews refer to interviewing someone who lives in a house, apartment, mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall. A group quarters is a place where people live or stay, in a group living arrangement, that is owned or managed by an entity or organization providing housing and/or services for the residents. This is not a typical household-type living arrangement. These services may include custodial or medical care as well as other types of assistance, and residency is commonly restricted to those receiving these services. People living in group quarters are usually not related to each other. The cognitive interviewing shall not be conducted in the person's place of residence but rather in a neutral private space obtained by the Contractor. The ACS uses four modes of data collection-Internet, mail, computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI), and computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). All stateside housing units that receive a mailing package can respond to the survey over the Internet or return a completed questionnaire during the three-month period after the initial mailing. All other housing units and GQs received questionnaire packages and are requested to respond by mail. A CATI interview is conducted with nonrespondents to the mail and internet modes when we have an available telephone number. After a month in the CATI operation, a sample of cases for which there is no response is selected for personal visit follow-up using CAPI methods in the third month of the survey cycle. Scope of Work / Objective • Conduct between one and twelve (12) modules of cognitive interviews; • These modules may be conducted in the contiguous United States or in Puerto Rico; • Each module shall consist of one or more focus topics that shall be asked in a subset of the ACS questions during a cognitive interview that can be reasonably conducted in 60 minutes or less; • Between 10 and 12 respondents shall be interviewed for each module. Pretesting of the questions and questionnaire updates shall take the form of cognitive interviews. Cognitive interviews consist of one-on-one interviews between the respondent and the interviewer using the proposed updates in the context of the ACS, PRCS and GQ surveys. All interviews shall be conducted with adults aged 18 years or over. These interviews provide an important means of finding out directly from respondents about their problems with the questions and the questionnaire and so the interviewer shall conduct respondent debriefings as part of the cognitive interview. The Contractor shall propose specific cognitive interviewing techniques such as think aloud, concurrent, or retrospective probing or vignettes. Focus groups and feasibility studies are not approved pretesting methods for this contract. The Contractor shall conduct between 10 and 12 interviews for each module. For each module, Census will organize the focus topics into a subset of the ACS questions to be asked with Contractor input. The Contractor shall use this information to develop interview materials and test these revisions together. Within a specific module, there may be up to two versions of each focus topic. The alternate version of a particular question may be tested using a show card. Testing items may include, but are not limited to, new questions, updated question wording or questionnaire instructions including skip patterns, question sequence, and check boxes. Each module shall be considered independent of every other module. However, topics may be tested over multiple modules. For example, if a module of cognitive interviews is to be completed in Spanish for a given topic, it may be done concurrently or subsequent to a corresponding English module studying the same topic. HOW TO RESPOND Interested individuals must submit their capabilities statements via electronic submission at paul.w.boesch@census.gov. The submission is limited to ten (10) pages (page size: 8.5x11") or less. Include the company name, address, business size, GSA contract info, and DUNS number, as well as a contact person and their email address and telephone number on the introduction/cover page. No information will be accepted by telephone or mail. Any questions regarding this request may be directed to the provided e-mail address. DISCLAIMER This RFI is issued solely for information and planning purposes and does not constitute a solicitation. In accordance with FAR 15.201 (e), responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract. Respondents are solely responsible for all expenses associated with responding to this RFI. Responses to this RFI will not be returned. Respondents will not be notified of the result of the review.
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