
Survey
methodology
The 2000 Iowa Child and
Family Household Health Survey was a
telephone interview conducted with a
stratified random sample of 3200 families
with children in Iowa. The interview
included approximately 125 questions,
depending on the number of questions
relevant to the family being interviewed.
The survey instrument was developed
by the research team after evaluating
many existing survey instruments such
as the National Survey of American Families
(NSAF) and the National Health Interview
Survey (NHIS).[1,2] The screening instrument
developed by the Foundation for Accountability
(FACCT) was used to identify CSHCN.[3]
Calls to identify families
with children in Iowa were begun using
a random list of phone numbers provided
by a private vendor. To allow for regional
comparisons, 400 interviews were completed
in each of eight regions of the state.
All regions consisted of multiple counties
except for Polk and Scott counties,
which were each considered their own
region. The design of this study yielded
a representative sample of families
with children in Iowa.
The survey process began
with a screening question to determine
if the residence was home to a family
with children. If so, the adult most
knowledgeable about the health and health
care of a randomly selected child under
age 18 in the household was asked to
complete the interview.
The dispositions of calls
made to complete the 3200 interviews
were as follows:
|
Table 1.
Participation Rate for 2000 Iowa
Child and Family Household Health
Survey
|
| Number completing
the interview |
3241
|
| Number of refusals
or unable to complete interview |
1349
|
| Participation Rate |
71%
|
To make statewide estimates
by age categories, the survey results
were weighted and post-stratified using
the county-level 2000 US Census data.4
The telephone interviews were conducted
between May and October 2000 by the
Center for Social and Behavioral Research
at the University of Northern Iowa.
The University of Northern Iowa Human
Subjects review board approved the protocol
regarding the telephone interview portion
of this study.
In any telephone-based
survey, there is a possibility that
results may be biased because those
without telephones are not interviewed,
and they may have different health conditions
and health care needs than those with
telephones. In Iowa, it is estimated
that three percent of households do
not have telephones.5
1
http://newfederalism.urban.org/nsaf/
2 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm
3 http://www.facct.org/
4 http://factfinder.census.gov/home/en/sf1.html
5 Anonymous, 200 "Telephone
Information by State." Survey Sampling,
Inc., One Post Road, Fairfield, CT 06430