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Questionnaire Construction and Pilot Testing <br />The SSRC is highly experienced at translating the information needs of decision-makers <br />to survey instrumentation. The process of developing a survey instrument for the Phase <br />III study will be greatly accelerated because of this experience and the instrument <br />developed by the SSRC in collaboration with the SA WIB to support the Phase II ROI <br />study. Working with relevant program staff, the SSRC will design a questionnaire to <br />confirm the services and resources used by universal access customers, their preceding <br />employment status, their satisfaction with WORK center services and the employment <br />and wage outcomes associated with their use of the services/resources. A variet}~ of <br />demographic information will also be collected. Our location close to the Santa Ana <br />WORK Center will facilitate meetings during this process and throughout the study, if <br />necessary. <br />It is imperative that the contractor selected to collect these data carefully measure the <br />duration and intensity of service use at the WORK Center. Using this "dose- response" <br />covariate for outcome measures is necessary to adequately explain outcomes. One would <br />not expect the casual user to obtain the same outcomes as someone who visited the <br />WORK Center often and/or used a number of different services and resources. Use of a <br />covariate quantifying the duration and intensity of service utilization will add accuracy <br />and clarity to outcomes assessment. The survey questionnaire will confirm the <br />frequency of service utilization including, but not limited to, WORK shops, computer <br />access to job orders, hard copy postings on the job order board, want ads, provision of <br />computer time for job searches, resume preparation, email access, use of basic business <br />machines, and use of free outgoing mail for resume submission. Pre- and post- wages <br />will be collected by self-report, which can be compared to the base wage data provided <br />by the WORK Center. <br />The SSRC pre-tests survey instruments prior to initiating full-scale data collection. All <br />supervisorial and interviewing staff working on a project are trained using apaper-and- <br />pencil version of the survey. Each question is read aloud and staff are paired to practice <br />the survey instrument on the CATI system. After this hands-on practice, the instrument <br />may be refined to improve comprehensiveness, flow, length and factors that influence <br />respondent cooperation and interest. Surveys are conducted ~~ith approximately 25 to 30 . <br />respondents. Supervisors and SSRC management-level staff then conduct a <br />"debriefing," which allows interviewers to discuss the overall progression of survey item <br />sequencing as well as to comment on specific survey items that may have been unclear to <br />survey respondents. Before the next interviewing shift, SSRC personnel review the pilot <br />test frequencies and share these data with the survey sponsor. If the staff debrief or <br />frequencies review suggests modifications, the instrument is quickly revised and <br />reprogrammed into CATI software before interviewing continues. <br />5 <br />25N-31 <br />