First Round Cognitive Pretesting on the Proposed Internet Predation Questions for the National Crime Victimization Survey:
Results and Recommendations
Jennifer Beck and Theresa DeMaio
KEY WORDS: Cognitive Interviews, Pretesting, Internet Predation, NCVS
ABSTRACT
The Statistical Research Division (SRD) conducted cognitive pretesting of newly-proposed Internet predation questions for the 2007 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), sponsor of the NCVS, proposed these additional questions to collect data on any contacts of a sexual connotation that children between the ages of 12 and 17 years old might have with people they interact with while online. SRD staff conducted cognitive interviews with 10 children between the ages of 12 and 17 from the Washington DC metropolitan area. We used a paper mock-up of the automated instrument that included the individual respondent screening and employment sections of the full NCVS questionnaire and the proposed Internet predation questions. The results of the cognitive pretesting suggest that these questions are quite problematic for respondents. Respondents had difficulty describing and reporting online contacts and expressed concern about confidentiality. Due to these problems, we recommended a delay in fielding these questions until additional pretesting can be conducted to address these problems. BJS agreed with these recommendations and additional pretesting activities will be scheduled.
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