**U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development**

**Office Community Planning and Development**

**\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_**

## Special Attention of: Notice CPD-05-06

CPD Division Directors Issued: July 26, 2005

Entitlement CDBG Grantees

State CDBG Grantees Expires: July 26, 2006

**\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_**

Cross References

**\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_**

**SUBJECT:** US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Suggested Survey

> Methodology to Determine the Percentage of Low- and Moderate-Income
> (LMI) Persons in the Service Area of a Community Development Block
> Grant-Funded Activity.

This Notice describes suggested procedures for conducting a survey to
ascertain whether or not a Community Development Block Grant
(CDBG)-funded activity designed to benefit an area generally qualifies
as primarily benefiting LMI persons. HUD urges field staff to review
this Notice to improve their understanding of regulatory requirements
and basic techniques that may be used in conducting incomes surveys.
HUD's regulatory requirements for conducting a survey to determine the
percentage of LMI persons in the service area of a CDBG-funded activity
are located at 24 CFR 570.208(a)(1)(vi) for the Entitlement program and
at 24 CFR 570.483(b)(1)(i) for the State program. CDBG grantees are
urged to use these suggested procedures or other comparable methods when
they conduct surveys to ascertain that at least 51 percent of the
residents of the service area of a CDBG-funded activity are LMI persons.

**\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_**

**Distribution: W-3-1**

**\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_**

**Previous editions are obsolete Form HUD-21-B (3/80)**

**Table of Contents**

**Page**

## I. Introduction........................................................................................ 5

Confidentiality.................................................................................5

Lifespan of a
Survey........................................................................\...5

## II. Definition of Terminologies..................................................................\...6

CDBG
Terminology........................................................................\...
6

Terms Used in Survey
Research.............................................................7

## III. Service Area...................................................................................... 7

Entitlement
Program..........................................................................
8

State
Program..................................................................................10

Performing LMI
Qualification............................................................\...11

**IV. A Summary of Steps in Conducting LMI
Surveys.......................................12**

**V. Suggested Procedures for Conducting a Survey to**

**Determine the Percentage of LMI Persons in the**

**Service Area of a CDBG-Funded
Activity................................................... 14**

Step 1: Selecting the Survey
Type................................................. 14

> Mail (or Self-Administered)
> Questionnaires..........................\... 14

Advantages of Mail Questionnaires.............................. 14

Disadvantages of Mail Questionnaires...........................15

Face-to-Face (Door-to-Door) Interviews.................................
15

Advantages of Face-to-Face Interviews......................... 16

Disadvantages of Face-to-Face Interviews......................16

Telephone
Interviews....................................................... 16

Advantages of Telephone Interviews............................16

Disadvantages of Telephone Interviews.........................17

Step 2: Developing a
Questionnaire.............................................\...19

Sample
Questions........................................................... 20

Making
Contact.............................................................. 21

Step 3: Selecting the
Sample........................................................ 21

Defining the
Population.................................................... 22

How Big a
Sample.......................................................... 22

Unreachables and Other Nonresponses..............................\... 24

Drawing
Samples.........................................................\... 25

Step 4: Conducting the
Survey..................................................... 26

Publicity......................................................................
26

Interviewers..................................................................
26

Contact and
Follow-up...................................................\... 27

The
Interview................................................................
27

Editing
........................................................................28

Step 5: Determining the
Results................................................... 29

Tabulation..................................................................\...29

Analysis......................................................................
30

Step 6: Document Your
Results................................................... 32

## List of Tables

## Table A -- Summary Comparison of the Three Survey Methods..............................\... 18

Table B -- Illustration of Income
Cards.............................................................. 19

Table C -- Sample Sizes at 95% Confidence
Level................................................ 23

Table D -- Low- and Moderate-Income
Worksheet................................................29

Table E -- Comparing the Distribution of Family Size

by Family
Income........................................................................\...30

## Appendix A -- Using Random Numbers Table.................................................. 32

Example 1: Drawing a Sample of 5 of
10........................................................... 33

Example 2: Drawing a Sample of 5 of
100......................................................... 33

Example 3: Drawing a Sample of 5 of
30...........................................................33

Example 4: Drawing a Sample of 5 of
300.........................................................33

## Appendix B -- Random Numbers..................................................................34

## Bibliography...........................................................................................35

####### I. Introduction

This guide is prepared to assist CDBG grantees to develop surveys for
the purpose of determining whether the service area of a proposed
activity meets the LMI Area Benefit national objectives criteria. It
provides Entitlement, State and local CDBG staff who have no substantial
survey research background with the basic survey research techniques to
make a determination of the income status of residents of the service
area of a CDBG-funded activity. The methods discussed in this guide are
basic techniques for conducting a survey that will yield acceptable
levels of accuracy.

The procedures described in this guide are comprehensive approaches to
conducting the least costly surveys possible and attempts are made to
render them as simple as possible. The procedures are purposely designed
to be used for the determination of income levels in the service area of
a CDBG-funded activity; therefore, computations of parameters such as
standard deviation, variance, standard error, standardized scores, etc.
that are routinely undertaken in marketing research and other opinion
surveys, are not applicable herein. If an Entitlement grantee chooses
another survey method, it is required to demonstrate that the survey
method meets standards of statistical reliability that are comparable to
decennial census data (24 CFR 570.208(a)(1)(vi)). Prior to conducting a
survey, Entitlement grantees are required to have their survey
instruments and methodology reviewed and approved by their local HUD
Community Planning and Development (CPD) Office. The State CDBG
regulations at 24 CFR 570.483(b)(1)(i) requires that the survey be
methodologically sound.

## Confidentiality

If you choose to conduct a survey, you must emphasize to respondents
that their answers will be kept confidential. People are more likely to
provide honest answers if their answers are to remain anonymous. You
should do your very best to maintain this confidentiality. It is
recommended that the respondent's name, address, and telephone number
appear only on the cover sheet of the questionnaire. After the survey is
completed, the cover sheet may be numbered and separated from the actual
interview sheet. If the cover sheets and the questionnaires are both
numbered, they can be matched if necessary. It is suggested that the
grantee make reasonable efforts to protect the privacy of those surveyed
and follow applicable State and local laws regarding privacy and
obligations of confidentiality.

## Lifespan of a Survey

There is no firm answer as to how long an income survey for the purpose
of determining the percentage of LMI persons in the service area is good
for. Perhaps there might be instances in which an income survey could
continue to be used until the next decennial census, but the grantee
would have to be sure that there have been no significant demographic,
economic and non-economic changes in the area during that time. Such
changes may include factory openings or closings, layoffs by a major
employer in the service area, or the occurrence of major disasters (such
as tornados hurricanes, earthquakes, etc.). Grantees may also want to
conduct income surveys for defined service areas when they develop new
Consolidated Plans. Note that even if a survey is current, it cannot be
used for a different activity in a different service area; however, it
might be usable for another activity in the same service area.

####### II. Definition of Terminologies

Some of the terms defined in this section are governed by CDBG
regulatory requirements. CDBG regulatory definitions of *income*,
*family* and *household* are located at 24 CFR 570.3 for the Entitlement
program. States may choose to adopt the definitions applicable to the
Entitlement program or provide their own definitions under 24 CFR
570.481(a) provided that they are explicit, reasonable, and not plainly
inconsistent with the Housing and Community Development (HCD) Act of
1974. The definitions below are located at 24 CFR 570.3 and are
applicable only to the Entitlement program.

######### CDBG Terminology

1.  Family means all persons living in the same household who are
    related by birth, marriage or adoption.

2.  Household means all persons who occupy a housing unit. The occupants
    may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more
    families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated
    persons who share living arrangements.

3.  Income - Entitlement grantees may select any one of the following
    three definitions of income:

    i.  Annual income as defined at 24 CFR 5.609 (except that if the
        CDBG assistance being provided is homeowner rehabilitation under
        24 CFR 570.202, the value of the homeowner's primary residence
        may be excluded from any calculation of net family assets);

    ii. Annual income as reported under the Census long-form for the
        most recent available decennial Census; or

    iii. Adjusted gross income as defined for the purpose of reporting
         under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040 for individual
         Federal annual income tax purposes.

4.  Low-Income person means a member of a family that has an income
    equal to or less than the Section 8 very low-income limit
    established by HUD. Unrelated individuals shall be considered as
    one-person families for this purpose. (The Section 8 very low-income
    limit is income that does not exceed 50 percent of the median income
    for the area, as adjusted by HUD.)

5.  Moderate-Income person means a member of a family that has an income
    equal to or less than the Section 8 low-income limit and greater
    than the Section 8 very low-income limit, established by HUD.
    Unrelated individuals shall be considered as one-person families for
    this purpose.

## Terms Used in Survey Research

1.  Unit of analysis refers to what is being measured and for the
    purpose of this guidance, the unit of analysis is family income.
    Whether one is counting households or families, what actually
    matters is the total family income, not the income of any one
    individual.

2.  Respondent refers to the person who is responding to the
    questionnaire or interview.

3.  Rate of response is expressed as a percent; it refers to the number
    of households participating in a survey divided by the number of
    households in the sample.

4.  Population refers to the group whose characteristics you seek to
    estimate.

5.  Parameter is the summary description of a given variable in a
    population.

6.  Sample refers to a portion of the population under study. Samples
    are used to draw inferences about the population.

7.  Sampling is the process of selecting a sample from the population.

8.  Simple random sampling is a type of probability selection process in
    which the units composing a population are assigned numbers and a
    set of random numbers is then generated, and the units having those
    numbers are selected to make up the sample.

9.  Representativeness refers to the quality of a sample having the same
    distribution of characteristics as the population from which it is
    selected.

####### III. Service Area

This is the area to be served by the CDBG-funded activity. One of the
crucial aspects of qualifying an activity as principally benefiting LMI
persons on an area basis is the proper identification of the service
area. The service area must be defined first before deciding which data
to use to determine the percentage of LMI persons and not vice versa.
The principal responsibility for determining the area served by the
activity rests with each CDBG grantee.

## Entitlement Program

Once it has been determined that the benefits of the activity will be
available to all residents of a particular service area, the activity
may meet the LMI Area Benefit national objective if the boundaries of
the area served by the activity are clearly defined and at least 51
percent of the residents are LMI persons. In some communities, the
planning department or the agency administering a particular facility or
service, for their own purposes, establishes service areas for such
things as libraries, parks, playgrounds, etc. Entitlement grantees may
use such service areas if the CDBG-funded activity is located in the
same service area. If not, it will be necessary for the service area to
be defined before CDBG assistance may be provided if the activity is to
qualify under the LMI area benefit criteria. Factors to be considered in
defining the service area include:

1.  Nature of the activity: In determining the boundaries of the area
    served by a facility, you must consider whether the facility is
    adequately equipped to meet the needs of the residents. For example,
    a park that is expected to serve an entire neighborhood cannot be
    too small or have so little equipment (number of swings, slides,
    etc.) that it would only be able to serve a handful of persons at a
    time. Conversely, a park that contains three ball fields or a ball
    field with grandstands that can accommodate hundreds of spectators
    cannot reasonably be said to be designed to serve a single
    neighborhood. The same comparison would apply to the case of
    assisting a small two-lane street in a residential neighborhood
    versus that of assisting an arterial four-lane street that may pass
    through the neighborhood but is clearly used primarily by persons
    commuting.

2.  Location of the activity: Where an activity is located may affect
    its capacity to serve particular areas, especially when the location
    of a comparable activity is considered. For example, a library
    cannot reasonably benefit an area that does not include the area in
    which it is located. When a facility is located near the boundary of
    a particular neighborhood, its service area would be expected to
    include portions of the adjacent neighborhoods as well as the one in
    which it is located. The grantee may even carry out activities that
    are outside its jurisdiction if this is done in accordance with 24
    CFR 570.309.

3.  Accessibility issues: If a geographic barrier such as a river or an
    interstate highway separates persons residing in an area in a way
    that precludes them from taking advantage of a facility that is
    otherwise nearby, that area should not be included in the service
    area. Language barriers might also constitute an accessibility issue
    in some circumstances.

The use of more current income data collected by conducting a survey
instead of HUD's Low- and Moderate-Income Summary Data (LMISD) derived
from the most recent US decennial census may be accepted for any service
area, including whole block groups or census tracts for which the
percentage of residents that are LMI is 51 percent or greater. However,
where such data indicates a percentage lower than 51 percent, the area
could only qualify under the *exception rule* provision or *upper
quartile criterion*. Section 105(c)(2)(B) of the HCD Act provides an
*exception* to the general rule at section 105(c)(2)(A) for determining
whether CDBG-assisted area benefit activities principally benefit LMI
persons. The general rule requires that area benefit activities serve
areas where the concentration of LMI persons is at least 51 percent. The
*exception rule* provision located at 24 CFR 570.208(a)(1)(ii), allows
certain grantees to undertake the same types of activities in areas
where the proportion of LMI persons in the area is within the highest
quartile of all areas in the grantee\'s jurisdiction in terms of the
degree of concentration of LMI persons. The *exception rule* provision
allows these grantees to undertake the same types of activities in areas
where the proportion of LMI persons in the area is within the highest
quartile of all areas in the grantee\'s jurisdiction in terms of the
degree of concentration of LMI persons. Based on 24 CFR
570.208(a)(1)(ii), HUD uses census block groups as the common
denominator for determining the minimum percentage of LMI persons
required for area benefit activities in communities qualified to use the
*exception rule*.

Block group data cannot be relied on to exclusively determine the
percent of LMI persons currently residing in the service area of an area
benefit activity when the service area boundaries do not reasonably
coincide with census areas. Where fragments of one or more block groups
form part of the service area of an activity, the following approach may
be used to determine the income characteristics of each fragment:

1.  Assume that the percentage of LMI persons in the respective block
    group(s) also applies to the fragments therein, unless there is good
    reason to believe that the residents of the fragments have higher
    incomes than the balance of the block group; or

2.  Either: (a) determine the likely income levels in the fragments
    through analysis of HUD's Low and Moderate-Income Summary Data
    (LMISD) at the block face level; or (b) conduct an income survey
    throughout the fragment(s) to determine the current income levels;
    or

3.  Combine the data arrived at for the fragment(s) with the values
    already determined through the use of the LMISD for any block
    group(s) that are completely subsumed within the service area of the
    activity.

As discussed above, the statute and the regulations recognize that some
entitlement communities have few, if any, areas within their
jurisdiction that have 51% or more LMI residents. Exception grantees
qualify for this exception when less than one-quarter of the populated
block groups in its jurisdiction contain at least 51 percent LMI
persons. Grantees who decide to conduct an income survey must do so in
all block groups in its jurisdiction so that a new assessment can be
made of the upper quartile percentage resulting from the more current
data obtained from the survey. The standards for accepting an area
benefiting less than 51 percent LMI persons should be unambiguous---that
is, there should be clear evidence that the percentage of LMI persons in
a block group shown by the more current data is less than 51 percent and
falls within the upper quartile of all block groups based on that same
data source. The *upper quartile criterion* does not apply to the State
CDBG program.

## State Program

HUD will generally accept the determination of the service area by the
state and its grant recipients unless the nature of the activity or its
location raises serious doubt about the area claimed by the state and
its grant recipients. The area to be served by a CDBG funded activity
need not be coterminous with census tracts or other officially
recognized boundaries; it is critical that the service area be the
entire area served by the activity (see 24CFR 570.483(b)(1)(i)). The
service area boundaries of State CDBG-funded activities may or may not
coincide with census or other geographic boundaries, especially in
smaller communities and rural areas where block groups or census tracts
with low population densities cover large areas. One census tract may
cover an entire city or there may be only two or three census tracts in
an entire county. Scenarios which states and state grant recipients
commonly face include the following:

1.  The service area comprises only a small portion of the unit of
    general local government, or of a census tract. In such situations,
    information on the unit of government or the census tract is not
    useful because the residents of the service area make up only a
    small fraction of the total, and their characteristics may not
    mirror those of the larger area. A survey of the residents of the
    service area may be the most appropriate way to determine whether
    the service area qualifies under the LMI criterion. Examples of
    activities in which this may be encountered include: extending water
    lines to serve rural settlements in a county; construction of a
    neighborhood tot lot serving one subdivision in a city where the
    entire city is one census tract.

2.  The service area includes all or part of several units of general
    local government and may contain both incorporated and
    unincorporated areas. Data from HUD may be usable for a portion of
    the service area; therefore, the State and its grant recipients may
    need supplementary survey data for the other portions of the service
    area. It may be necessary to survey a large area to determine the
    percentage of service area residents who are LMI. Examples of
    activities include: (1) construction of a rural water system which
    serves more than one incorporated city plus portions of the
    surrounding unincorporated area of two counties in which the cities
    are located; (2) construction of a new fire station in a city where
    the municipal fire department provides, through contract, fire
    protection service for two adjoining townships (one of which is in a
    different county).

For the State CDBG program, the service area may be a sparsely populated
rural area. For such an area, a census of the entire population may be
undertaken; however, the following conditions are applicable:

-   The grantee must show how the percentage of LMI persons was
    calculated. The percentage of LMI persons must be calculated from
    the entire population of the service area, and not from the
    proportion of participants who responded to the survey. If for
    example, a town in rural America with a population of 640 conducts a
    census of the entire population to determine the percentage of LMI
    persons, and gets an 80 percent response rate. Fifty-one percent of
    640 is 326, and 80 percent of 640 is 512. Of the 512 respondents,
    326 of them should be LMI persons. It is inaccurate to use 51
    percent of 512 which is 261.

-   It is possible that some families in the service area may vehemently
    refuse to participate in the census, or cannot be reached (after
    several attempts) for several reasons (for example, families on
    lengthy vacations). In such cases, it is suggested that the total
    number of persons in the families that participated in the census be
    used in calculating the percentage of LMI persons. However, the
    number of refusals or absentees must be relatively small (for
    example, two or three families out of, say, 50) so as to have a
    negligible effect on the validity of the results of the census.
    Regardless of the type of method used, compare the percentage of LMI
    persons obtained from the survey or census with the percentage of
    LMI persons provided in the most recent LMISD and give an
    explanation if the two percentages differ widely.

## Performing LMI Qualification

Once the boundaries of the service area of the CDBG-funded activity have
been defined, the next step is to determine the required percentage of
residents that are LMI persons. To determine the percentage of LMI
persons in the service area, grant recipients may utilize HUD's LMISD.
HUD's LMISD is based on the most recent US decennial census data, which
may not reflect current income levels in the service area and/or the
census tract/block boundaries may not coincide sufficiently with the
service area. This leads to the option of conducting a survey to
determine the percentage of LMI persons in the service area.

For the Entitlement program, the CDBG Regulations at 24 CFR
570.208(a)(1)(vi) require that the results of the survey meet standards
of statistical reliability comparable to that of the decennial census
for areas of similar size to determine the percentage of LMI persons in
the service area of a CDBG-funded activity. A statistically reliable
survey entails the following:

1.  The grantee must clearly state the survey method used: mail
    questionnaire, face-to-face or telephone interviews, etc. (Each
    method has advantages and disadvantages.)

2.  Participants for the survey must be selected through a random
    sampling process, and replacements for nonrespondents must also be
    selected through the same random sampling process.

For the State program, CDBG regulations at 24 CFR 570.483(b)(1)(i)
require that grantees conduct surveys that are methodologically sound to
determine the percentage of LMI persons in the service area of a
CDBG-funded activity.

Temporary residents (for example, residents of seasonal cabins) may not
participate in an income survey if their benefit of a service or an
activity is incidental. For example, the use of a library or senior
center by temporary residents would be considered an incidental benefit.
Temporary residents may participate in income surveys for CDBG-funded
activities such as installation of sewer lines and sewage treatment
plants, etc.

####### IV. A Summary of Steps in Conducting LMI Surveys

When HUD's LMISD data are not used in documenting LMI benefit on an area
basis, CDBG grantees must comply with the standards for conducting
surveys located at 24CFR 570.208(a)(1)(vi) for the Entitlement program
and 24 CFR 570.483(b)(1)(i) for the State CDBG program. Experienced
researchers employ survey methods that are easy to complete, generate
consistent and accurate data, and produce results that answer specific
questions. Anybody who has not conducted a survey can still do so by
following a systematic approach. This guide describes procedures that
may be used to determine whether the requisite percentage of the
residents of a service area (51% or the exception percentage, as
applicable) of a CDBG-funded activity are LMI persons. This guide does
not restrict the CDBG grantee to any one type of survey methodology. The
steps in conducting surveys are as follows:

## Step 1: Select the Type of Survey

Decide which survey method to use (telephone, door-to-door, or mail
questionnaire) and base your decision on available staff, size of the
sample you need, and the means you have available for identifying
samples for the survey. The bibliography at the end of this Notice
contains a list of books on how to conduct other types of surveys.

## Step 2: Develop the Questionnaire

If you choose to conduct a mail questionnaire, use standard 12-point
print and do not congest too many questions on one sheet of paper.
Generally, follow these guidelines:

-   The questions in the questionnaire should be short, simple and
    efficient. Keep the

language as simple as possible. Avoid bias. Do not encourage particular
answers.

Include other questions, if you like, but make sure that the survey does
not take too long.

-   Use the correct income limits (correct amount, correct year, and
    correct service area) for the survey instrument. (Contact your local
    HUD CPD Office when in doubt.).

-   Avoid loaded questions---i.e., questions with no correct answers.
    Loaded questions increase respondent burden.

## Step 3: Select the Sample

Define your service area: What are the boundaries of the service area?
What is the size of the population for which you are calculating the
percentage of persons who are LMI?

Identify the Sample: Select a procedure for identifying the sample in
the service area and identify a procedure for randomly selecting the
sample. Obtain a *complete* list of residents, addresses, and telephone
numbers in the service area.

Determine the sample size: Determine the sample size needed in order to
achieve an acceptable level of accuracy.

Randomly select the sample: Make sure you add families to replace
refusals and that the entire service area is covered---that is, be
certain that you have not excluded certain areas or groups of people.
Commercial (retail and industrial) sites, vacant lots and abandoned and
vacant homes should be excluded from the sample because they do not have
any effect on the outcome of the survey. Use an acceptable random
selection method and decide the number of attempts and replacement
procedures to be used. Ascertain that the selection of subjects to be
included in the sample and replacement procedures are structured to
avoid bias; for example, daytime or weekday attempts may skew response
rates in favor of unemployed, retired, or single income families.

## Step 4: Conduct the Survey

If you choose to conduct an interview survey, select and train your
interviewers. One of the most important aspects of any interview survey
is the training of the interviewers. The quality of the results of the
survey depends on how well the survey is conducted. Even in small
studies involving a single researcher-interviewer, it is important to
organize in detail the interviewing process before beginning the formal
process. Make sure the interviewers are very comfortable with the
questions. The training process includes the following major topics:

-   Describing the entire survey

-   Identifying the sponsor of the survey

-   Providing the interviewer with a working knowledge of survey
    research

-   Explaining the survey sampling logic and process

-   Explaining interview bias

-   'Walking through' the interview process

-   Explaining respondent selection process

-   Explaining scheduling and supervision

-   Explaining follow-up for non-response

Make contact with the residents of the service area and consider writing
or telephoning to let people know in advance that you are coming. Or
just knock on doors, if this is the procedure you select. Try again (and
again) to establish contact and reschedule another interview if initial
contact has not resulted in an interview. Replace families you have
written off as "unreachable."

## Step 5: Analyze the Results

Complete the LMI Worksheet correctly. Record your calculated percentage
of LMI persons.

**Step 6: Document and Save Your Results**

-   Save the completed questionnaires---preferably in a form that does
    not reveal the identity of the respondents. Use code numbers to
    conceal the identity of respondents

-   Save the list of respondents---preferably in a form that does not
    identify their responses

-   Save the description of the service area, the list of your sampling
    procedures (original sample, interview sheets or completed
    questionnaires, tabulations and a list or memo describing how other
    survey elements were handled, including replacements and replacement
    methods). Save your data.

**V. Suggested Procedures for Conducting a Survey to Determine The**

**Percentage of LMI Persons in the Service Area of a CDBG-Funded
Activity**

**Step 1: Selecting the Survey Type**

The most commonly used surveys for this application are: (a) mail survey
(or self-administered questionnaire), (b) face-to-face (or door-to-door)
interviews, and (c) telephone interviews (see Table A). For telephone
and door-to-door surveys, it might be useful for the survey team to
notify people by mail in advance, to let them know that they will be
contacted for a survey. This can overcome resistance due to
'telemarketing fatigue.'

**(a) Mail (or Self-Administered) Questionnaires**

This is a basic method for collecting data through the mail: a
questionnaire is a set of questions sent by mail accompanied by a letter
of explanation and self-addressed stamped envelope for returning the
questionnaire. The respondent is expected to complete the questionnaire,
put it in the envelope and return it. A common reason for not returning
a questionnaire is that some people may feel it's too burdensome. To
overcome this problem, researchers often send a self-mailing
questionnaire that can be folded in a certain way so that the return
address appears on the outside. In this manner, the respondent does not
risk losing the envelope.

**Advantages of Mail Questionnaires**

-   Covers large geographic area

-   Provides an opportunity for honest answers to very personal
    questions

-   No travel required

-   Enables researcher to target a particular segment of the population

-   Allows respondents to complete the questionnaire at their
    convenience

## Disadvantages of Mail Questionnaires

-   May have possible coverage errors; for example, address lists might
    be inaccurate or out of date (duplicate address, incomplete or wrong
    addresses)

-   Not appropriate for requesting detailed written responses

-   May have a low return rate if too lengthy, poorly worded, or seems
    too personal

-   May not have anyone available to assist the respondent with
    questions, especially if the questions are in English but the
    respondent's primary language is not English. Provisions must be
    made to provide non-English-speaking residents with a questionnaire
    in their own language, as appropriate

-   Easiest for people to disregard, postpone, misplace or forget about
    it

-   Needs to allow longer time to collect responses

-   Costly---must pay for return postage to get a decent response rate;
    also you have paid for postage even for those that aren't returned

-   It's all or nothing---people will either do it all or not at all;
    with phone or in-person surveys, one might at least get some answers

-   Lack of control over who fills out the questionnaire (for example, a
    child)

HUD does not recommend mail surveys unless at least one follow-up letter
or telephone call is made to obtain an adequate response rate. Combining
a mail survey with a follow-up letter or telephone call may improve the
rate of response. For example, if in a door-to-door survey you find that
someone is not at home, you can leave a note for the head of the family
(or responsible adult) to telephone the interviewer. You can also use
the phone to schedule a time when to conduct an interview or mail a
letter to residents of the service area and let them know in advance
when an interviewer will call or visit.

**(b) Face-to-Face (Door-to-Door) Interviews**

This is a data collection technique in which one person (an interviewer)
asks questions of another (the respondent) in a face-to-face encounter.
It involves more work since the interviewer must go and knock on doors
in order to obtain interviews. However, in small areas this type of
survey may be the easiest because one can define the service area by its
geographic boundaries and develop procedures for sampling within those
boundaries so that a list of families living in the area is not
required. Interviewers have to be well trained to ensure that procedures
are consistently followed and that responses are not influenced by
facial expressions.

**Advantages of Face-to-Face Interviews**

-   Is a very reliable method of data-collection

-   Researcher has full range and depth of information

-   Interview may be scheduled to suit respondent's daily agenda

-   Respondent has the option to ask for clarifications

-   Target population may be easily located and defined

-   People may be willing to talk longer, face-to-face, particularly
    with in-home interviews that have been arranged in advance

**Disadvantages of Face-to-Face Interviews**

-   Responses may be less candid and less thoughtful

-   Interviewer's presence and characteristics may bias responses

-   Interviewer is required to go to the respondent's location

-   Respondents who prefer anonymity may be influenced negatively

-   May reach a smaller sample

-   Lengthy responses must be sorted and coded

-   Can take too much time

-   Costs more per interview than other survey methods; particularly
    true of in-home interviews in rural areas where travel time is a
    major factor

-   May not be able to gain access to the house (e.g., locked gates,
    guard dogs, "no trespassing signs," etc.)

-   Translators may be needed when dealing with non-English speakers

**(c) Telephone Interviews**

A telephone interview is a data collection technique in which one person
(an interviewer) asks questions of another (the respondent) via
telephone. Telephone numbers of potential participants must be selected
randomly. The interviewer must ensure that the respondent is someone
competent and knowledgeable enough to answer questions about the family
income status. In a telephone survey, you must devise a method for
contacting those families without telephones or those with unlisted
numbers. Hence it may be preferable to conduct door-to-door interviews
in small service areas, especially in rural areas.

## Advantages of Telephone Interviews

-   Relatively easy to conduct

-   Saves money and time

-   Appearance and demeanor of interviewer do not influence the
    respondent

-   Respondents may be more honest in giving socially disapproved or
    sensitive answers due to greater anonymity for respondent

-   Interviewer may use an alias rather than his/her real name for
    privacy or to conceal ethnicity if relevant to the study

-   Allows interviewer to ask follow up questions

-   No fear for personal safety

## Disadvantages of Telephone Interviews

-   Respondents may be hostile to interviews because of experience with
    previous telemarketing sales calls disguised as surveys

-   Respondents may terminate the interview abruptly

-   The interviewer may have problems reaching potential respondents by
    telephone because of the prevalence of answering machines that
    screen telephone calls

-   May not be able to reach households with unlisted numbers, no
    telephone at all, or families that use only cell phones

-   Some people often do not like the intrusion of a telephone call to
    their homes

-   Difficulty of reaching people due to reasons such as conflicting
    schedules

-   It may be easier to be less candid to someone on the phone than in
    person

-   Difficult to get accurate answers from non-English speakers

###### Table A -- Summary Comparison of the Three Survey Methods

+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| **Dimension of          | **Mailed      | **Fa       | **Telephone  |
| Comparison**            | Qu            | ce-to-Face | Interviews** |
|                         | estionnaire** | In         |              |
|                         |               | terviews** |              |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Cost                    | Moderate      | High       | Low          |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Data Quality:           | Low           | High       | Moderate to  |
|                         |               |            | High         |
| Response rate           | Low           | High       |              |
|                         |               |            | High         |
| Respondent motivation   | None          | Moderate   |              |
|                         |               |            | Low          |
| Interview bias          |               |            |              |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Sample quality          | Low           | High       | Moderate     |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Interview length        | Short         | Very Long  | Long         |
|                         |               | (but       |              |
|                         |               | depends on |              |
|                         |               | size of    |              |
|                         |               | service    |              |
|                         |               | area)      |              |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Ability to probe and    | None          | High       | High         |
| clarify                 |               |            |              |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Speed                   | Low           | Low        | High         |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Interviewer supervision | None          | Low        | High         |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Anonymity               | High          | Low        | Low          |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Ability to use computer | May be        | Possible   | High         |
| assistance during       | possible but  |            |              |
| process                 | too expensive |            |              |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Dependence on           | High          | None       | None         |
| respondent's reading    |               |            |              |
| and writing abilities   |               |            |              |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+
| Control of context and  | High          | High       | High         |
| question order          |               |            |              |
+-------------------------+---------------+------------+--------------+

**Step 2: Developing a Questionnaire**

Constructing a questionnaire is a skill, which requires decisions
concerning the content, wording, format, and placement of
questions---all of which have important consequences on the results of
what you intend to measure. There are basically four areas involved in
constructing a questionnaire:

-   Determine the question content, scope, and purpose

-   Choose the response format to be used in collecting information from
    the respondent

-   Word the questions so as to get at the issue of interest

-   Determine how best (i.e., the order) to place the question(s) of
    interest among other questions in the questionnaire

It is important that all respondents be asked the same questions, in the
same order, and their responses recorded exactly, without additions or
deletions. To ensure this, the questions must be written properly and
the exact response of each respondent recorded as it is presented.

It is recommended that interviewers carry two cards for each family. One
card will contain figures for each low- and moderate-income level and
its corresponding family size (see Table B). If racial data are to be
collected, the other card will contain the following racial categories:
White, Black/African American, Asian, American Indian/Alaskan Native,
and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaskan
Native & White, Asian & White, Black/African American & White, American
Indian/ Alaskan Native & Black/African American, Other Multi-racial; and
the following ethnic categories: Hispanic, Latino, or not Hispanic or
Latino.

###### TABLE B - Illustration of Income Cards

+---------------------+------------------------+-----------------------+
| **Card Number**     | **Number of Persons in | **Low/Mod Income      |
|                     | Family**               | Level**               |
+---------------------+------------------------+-----------------------+
| 1                   | 1                      | \$19,800              |
|                     |                        |                       |
| 2                   | 2                      | \$22, 650             |
|                     |                        |                       |
| 3                   | 3                      | \$25,450              |
|                     |                        |                       |
| 4                   | 4                      | \$28,300              |
|                     |                        |                       |
| 5                   | 5                      | \$30,050              |
|                     |                        |                       |
| 6                   | 6                      | \$31,850              |
|                     |                        |                       |
| 7                   | 7                      | \$33,600              |
|                     |                        |                       |
| 8                   | 8                      | \$35,400              |
|                     |                        |                       |
| 9+                  | 9+                     | \$37,200+             |
+---------------------+------------------------+-----------------------+

Information about the racial and ethnic composition of the service area
may be obtained directly from Census data. However, HUD does not object
to collecting information about racial and ethnic composition of the
service area from the survey. CDBG regulations at 24 CFR 570.506(g)(2)
for the Entitlement program and 24 CFR 570.491 for the State program
require submission of data on the racial, ethnic and gender
characteristics of persons who are applicants for, participants in or
beneficiaries of their CDBG programs. This information must be reported
for each activity and should indicate the number persons benefiting by
race, ethnicity, and gender.

**Sample Questions**

**[Question 1]{.underline}**

How many families currently reside at this address?
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ (If more than one family, each
family must complete a separate questionnaire).

**[Question 2]{.underline}**

How many persons are there in your family including yourself?
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ (If you are single with no
dependents, write 1).

If more than one family resides at the address, complete the following:

Family #1: family size (i.e., number of persons in family)
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Family #2: family size (i.e., number of persons in family)
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

Family #3: family size (i.e., number of persons in family)
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

**[Question 3]{.underline}**

Is the current, combined income of all family members residing at this
address (including any related, dependent persons over 65 or working
dependent children over 18) above or below the figure quoted on this
card? \_\_\_ Yes, \_\_\_ No (Present the card showing family sizes and
income levels from Table A).

**[Question 4]{.underline}**

*Please, check the ethnic group to which you belong:*

Hispanic or Latino\_\_\_\_\_, Not Hispanic or Latino\_\_\_\_\_

*Please, check the racial group to which you belong:*

White \_\_\_\_\_, Black/African American \_\_\_\_\_, Asian \_\_\_\_\_,
American Indian/Alaskan Native \_\_\_\_\_, and Native Hawaiian/Other
Pacific Islander \_\_\_\_\_, American Indian/Alaskan Native & White
\_\_\_\_\_, Asian & White \_\_\_\_\_, Black/African American & White
\_\_\_\_\_, American Indian/ Alaskan Native & Black/African American
\_\_\_\_\_, Other Multi-racial\_\_\_\_\_.

(Present the card showing various categories).

**Making Contact**

Initially, the interviewer should make contact with the head of the
family or someone who is qualified to speak for the family and has
knowledge about the family income. After making contact, the interviewer
should introduce him/herself, state the purpose of the survey and
solicit the participation of the respondent. If the interview is being
conducted face-to-face, the interviewer should find the card for the
family size of the respondent, hand it to the respondent, and then ask
the questions and record the answers. If the interview is being
conducted by telephone, a card cannot be used; therefore, the
interviewer should make reference to the income level that is the
threshold for a family of the size of that of the respondent. For
example, if there are three persons in the respondent's family you might
ask, "is the current combined income for your family during the past
twelve months, less than or more than \$25,450?"

While the necessary questions are brief and simple, there are some
additional factors to take into account when designing the
questionnaire. First, the questions used in the survey cannot be
"loaded" or biased. For example, the interviewer may not imply that the
neighborhood will benefit or receive Federal funding if respondents say
that they have low incomes. The questions must be designed to determine
truthfully and accurately whether respondents are LMI persons. It is
permissible to state that the reason for the survey is to gather
information essential to support an application for funding under the
CDBG program or to undertake a CDBG-funded activity in the area.

Second, bear in mind that questions about income are rather personal.
Some people may be suspicious or reluctant to answer questions about
their incomes---especially if they do not see the reason for the
question. A good way to handle this problem is usually to put questions
about income at the end of a somewhat longer questionnaire on other
community development matters. In this instance, a local agency can use
this questionnaire to gather some information on what the neighborhood
sees as important needs or to gather feedback on a proposed policy or
project. At the end of such a questionnaire, it is usually possible to
ask questions on income more discretely. If this option is chosen,
however, the interviewer should be cautioned that a lengthy
questionnaire might cause respondents to lose interest before completing
the survey. The ideal length here would probably be less than ten
minutes, although certainly you could develop an even longer or shorter
questionnaire as necessary.

**Step 3: Selecting the sample**

The selection of a sample of families to interview involves a series of
steps. You must begin by defining the population whose characteristics
you are trying to estimate. Then you must determine how many families in
that group must be sampled in order to estimate the overall
characteristics accurately. Next you must make some allowances for
families who, for whatever reason, you will not be able to interview.
And finally you must actually select the families from which you will
try to obtain interviews. This section discusses each of these steps.

**Defining the Population**

If you are trying to determine the proportion of families in a
neighborhood with low- and moderate-incomes, that neighborhood is the
population. However, instead of a neighborhood, the population may be a
town, it may be as large as a county, or it may be defined by some other
boundary. But before you can obtain a sample, you must clearly define
what area you want the sample to represent. Let us assume here that the
population is a neighborhood that contains about 400 families. You will
sample from the 400 families and make estimates about the income levels
of all of the persons in the sample.

Once you have defined your population, you next need a method of
identifying the families in that area so that you can interview them.
Ideally, for a given neighborhood, you would have a list of every family
living in the neighborhood and perhaps his or her telephone number. Then
you would devise a procedure to randomly select the families you want to
interview. In reality, you probably will not have a list of all of the
families in the neighborhood, so you will have to improvise. One way
would be to go to the neighborhood and randomly select which homes to go
to for an interview---the advantage of this method is that the houses
are there, so you can go right to them instead of using a list. After
collecting information on the various families, you can then make some
estimates about the number of people in the neighborhood and their
incomes.

City indexes (if available and up-to-date) usually provide the best
source of household information suitable for sampling. Telephone books
may be adequate, but keep in mind that you will miss people without
telephones or with unlisted numbers. Also, telephone directories usually
will have far more people listed than those who are in the service area,
so you will need to eliminate those outside of your service area. Tax
rolls are a source of identifying addresses in an area; however, they
identify only property owners whereas you are interested in residents.
Also, tax rolls generally identify building addresses, whereas in the
case of apartment buildings you are interested in the individual
apartments. You can use tax rolls to identify addresses to go to, in
order to get an interview, but you cannot use them as the basis of a
mail or telephone survey (unless you have access to a telephone
directory that identifies telephone numbers by property address).

**How Big a Sample?**

After you have defined your population and selected a method for
identifying individual families in the service area, you must next
determine how many families to survey---that is, the sample size. A
sample is representative of the population from which it is selected if
its aggregate characteristics closely approximate those same aggregate
characteristics in the population. The larger the sample, the more
likely it is that its aggregate characteristics truly reflect those of
the population. However, sample size is not dependent on the size of the
population, for large populations. This means that a random sample of
500 people is equally useful in examining the characteristics of a state
of 6,000,000 as it would a city of 100,000 or 50,000. For this reason,
the size of the population is irrelevant when it is large or unknown;
however, it becomes relevant when dealing with sparsely populated areas.

Sample Size Calculator (SSC) is a website
(*http://surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm*) developed by Creative Research
Systems to enable survey researchers to calculate sample sizes from
various population sizes. To use the SSC you need both the confidence
interval and the confidence level. The confidence interval is the range
of values within which a population parameter is estimated to lie.
Confidence interval is sometimes referred to as margin of error (+ or
--).

###### Table C -- Sample Sizes at 95% Confidence Level

  ------------------ -------------------------- --------------------------
  **Total Number of  **Sample Size: Number of   
  Families in the    Families**                 
  Service Area**                                

                     **95% Confidence Level**   

                     **Confidence Interval =    **Confidence Interval =
                     4**                        5**

  50                 46 -- 50 (may conduct a    43 -- 50 (may conduct a
                     census)                    census)

  60                 51 -- 59                   47 -- 57

  80                 67 -- 75                   61 -- 71

  110                89 -- 97                   81 -- 91

  150                116 -- 124                 103 -- 113

  210                152 -- 160                 131 -- 141

  290                192 -- 200                 160 -- 170

  400                236 -- 244                 191 -- 201

  700                319 -- 327                 243 -- 253

  1200               396 -- 404                 286 -- 296

  1800               446 -- 454                 312 -- 322

  2500               480 -- 488                 328 - 338
  ------------------ -------------------------- --------------------------

For example, if a survey shows that 55 percent of a randomly selected
sample has the parameter under investigation and the confidence interval
is 5, what that means is that the actual percentage of the population
which has that parameter may lie within the interval 50 to 60.
Confidence intervals are applicable only in surveys where the sample is
randomly selected from the relevant population.

The confidence level is the estimated probability that a population
parameter lies within a given confidence interval. The confidence level
tells you how sure you can be. It is expressed as a percentage and
represents how often the true percentage of the population with the
parameter being examined lies within the confidence interval. The 95%
confidence level means you can be 95% certain; the 99% confidence level
means you can be 99% certain. Most researchers use the 95% confidence
level because the 99% level leaves very little margin for error.

The numbers in the column titled "Total Number of Families in the
Service Area" in Table C, are hypothetical numbers. If the total number
of families in your service area does not match any of the numbers in
Table C, select a confidence level and a confidence interval, and use
the SSC to calculate the number of families in your sample.

As seen in Table C, at the same confidence level, sample size decreases
as confidence interval increases. For example, when the total number of
families in the service area is 80, the range for the number of families
is 67 -- 75, at a confidence interval of 4 compared to a range of 61 --
71, for a confidence interval of 5. This has serious implications on the
representativeness of the sample. A small sample size may decrease the
extent to which the sample is representative of the population. For any
given population, the sample size will be larger at a confidence
interval of 4 than at a confidence interval of 5.

**Unreachables and Other Nonresponses**

The standard requirements for conducting surveys include not only the
notion that systematic, representative sampling methods be used, but
also that high response rates be obtained and statistical weighting
procedures be imposed to maximize representativeness. No matter what you
do, some families will not be home during the time you are interviewing,
some probably will refuse to be interviewed, some will terminate the
interview before you finish, and some will complete the interview but
fail to provide an answer to the key question on income level. If you
choose to get responses from replacements, they must be selected through
a random sampling process. The decision to get responses from
replacements may become inevitable if the proportion of non-responses is
high enough to affect the validity of the results of the survey.
Non-response rates greater than 20 percent may affect the validity of
the survey; for example, a non-response rate can become a serious
problem when a census is conducted instead of a survey (as may the case
in sparsely populated areas). If the non-response rate is too high,
there is the risk of not having enough LMI respondents to make the
required percent of the total population of the service area.

**Drawing Samples**

In sampling, you are looking at a portion of everyone in a group and
making inference about the whole group from the portion you are
observing. For those inferences to be most accurate, everyone who is in
the group should have an equal chance of being included in the sample.
For example, if you are sampling from a list, using a random numbers
table will provide you with a random sample---see instruction at
Appendix A and numbers at the Table in Appendix B. In using a
random-numbers table, you take a list of your population and draw from
it according to the table. If, for example, the first three random
numbers were 087, 384, and 102, then you would go through your
population list and target the 87^th^, 384^th^, and 102^nd^ families for
an interview.

If your sample size is less than 384, you should skip '384' and go to
the next number in the Table. Continue until you have achieved the
desired sample size. If you encounter unreachables, you should replace
them with the next family in the list, in the order they were selected.
For example, if you draw a list of 300 families in an effort to obtain
250 interviews, the first family you write off as *unreachable* should
be replaced with the 251^st^ family.

If you do not have a list of all the families in a service area you are
trying to measure, but you know the geographic boundaries of the area,
you might randomly select a point at which to start and proceed
systematically from there. In the hypothetical 400-family neighborhood,
in trying for 250 interviews, you would need to interview every 1.6^th^
family (400 divided by 250) in order to cover the entire neighborhood.
In whole numbers, this works out to about 2 of every 3 families.
Therefore, you could start at one end of the neighborhood and proceed
systematically through the entire neighborhood trying two doors and then
skipping one. A family that is skipped may be used as replacement for
any family selected but for which an interview is not possible. If the
sample size allows for systematic selection of one out of every six
families for interview, begin by randomly selecting any number from one
to six; use that family as the starting point for the interview and from
there select the every sixth family for interviewing. If the sixth
family is unreachable, you could use the third family within the count
as replacement.

You will achieve more accuracy if you are not too quick to write off a
family as unreachable. You are more likely to achieve randomness if you
obtain interviews from the families you selected first. Thus, if you are
doing a door-to-door survey, you probably should make two or more passes
through the area (preferably at different times) to try to catch a
family at home. Frequently they will be busy, but may say that they can
do the interview later---you should make an appointment and return. Only
after at least two tries or an outright refusal should a sampled family
be replaced. With a telephone survey, at least three or four calls
should be made before replacing a family.

**Step 4: Conducting the survey**

To carry out the survey, you have to reproduce a sufficient number of
questionnaires, recruit and train interviewers, schedule the
interviewing, and develop procedures for editing, tabulating, and
analyzing the results.

**Publicity**

To promote citizen participation it may be worthwhile to arrange advance
notice. A notice in a local newspaper or announcements at churches or
civic organizations can let people know that you will be conducting a
survey to determine the income levels of the area. Moreover, if you let
people know in advance how, why, and when you will be contacting them,
usually they may be more likely to cooperate.

As with all aspects of the survey and questionnaire, any publicity must
be worded so that it does not bias the results. For example, it is
better to say that the community is applying for a CDBG grant and that,
as part of the application, the community has to provide current
estimates of the incomes of the residents of the service area. It is not
appropriate to say that, in order for the community to receive the
desired funding, a survey must be conducted to show that most of the
residents of the service area have low and moderate incomes.

**Interviewers**

It may not be necessary to hire professional interviewers. Volunteers
from local community groups and civic organizations serve well. Also,
schools or colleges doing courses on civics, public policy, or survey
research may be persuaded to assist in the effort as a means of
providing students with practical experience.

It is best if interviewers are chosen that make the respondents feel
comfortable. For this reason, survey research companies often employ
mature women as their interviewers. When interviewers are of the same
race and social class as the respondent, the survey usually generates a
better response rate and more accurate results. It is important that the
interviewer commands the attention of the respondent, reads the
questions as they are written, and writes down the responses as given.

It is important that interviewers have all of the materials they need to
complete the interview. Usually, you will want to assemble an
interviewer kit that can be easily carried and includes all of the
important materials such as:

-   A 'professional-looking' 3-ring notebook (this may even have the
    logo of the organization conducting the survey)

-   Map of the service area

-   Sufficient copies of the survey instrument

-   Official identification (preferably a picture ID)

-   A cover letter from the sponsor of the survey

-   A phone number the respondent can call to verify the interviewer's
    authenticity.

**Contact and follow-up**

Interviewers should plan to contact respondents at a time when they are
most likely to get a high rate of response. Telephone interviews are
usually conducted early in the evening when most people are home.
Door-to-door interviews also may be conducted early in the evening
(especially before dark) or on weekends. You should try again, at a
different time to reach anyone in the initial sample who is missed by
the initial effort.

In general, you should know the best times residents of your community
can be reached---avoid selecting interview times, which risk yielding
biased results. For example, interviewing only during the day, from
Monday to Friday, will probably miss families where both the husband and
wife work. Since these families may have higher incomes than families
with only one employed member, your timing may lead to the biased result
of finding a high proportion of low-and moderate-income households.

Of course, in making contact with a member of the family, the
interviewer first has to determine that the person being interviewed is
of sufficient knowledge and competence to answer the questions being
asked. The interviewer thus should ask to speak to the head of the
family. If it is absolutely necessary to obtain an interview at the
sample residence, the interviewer may conduct an interview with other
resident adults or children of at least high school age only after
determining that they are mature and competent enough to provide
accurate information.

As part of your questionnaire, you should develop an introduction to the
actual interview. This should be a standard introduction in which the
interviewers introduce themselves, identify the purpose of the survey,
and request the participation of the respondents. Usually, it is also a
good idea to note the expected duration of the interview---in this case,
to let respondents know that the burden to them will be minimal.

Interviewers also should follow the set procedures for replacing
"unreachables" (discussed in step 3). If they must write off an
interview, they should not say, "well, I was refused an interview here,
so I'll go over there where I think I can get an interview." This
replacement procedure is not random and thus will affect the validity of
your survey results.

**The Interview**

Every interview includes some common components. There is the
introduction where the interviewer is invited into the home and
establishes a rapport that facilitates the process of asking questions.
The first thing the interviewer must do is gain entry and several
factors can enhance this. Probably the most important factor is your
initial appearance. The interviewer needs to dress professionally and in
a manner that will be comfortable to the respondent. The way the
interviewer appears initially to the respondent sends simple
messages---that you are trustworthy, honest, and non-threatening.

You are standing at the doorstep and someone has opened the door, even
if only halfway. You need to smile and be brief. State why you are there
and suggest what you would like the respondent to do. Don't
ask---suggest what you want. For example, instead of saying "May I come
in to do an interview?" you might try a more imperative approach like
"I'd like to take a few minutes of your time to interview you for a very
important study."

Without waiting for the respondent to ask questions, introduce yourself.
You should have this part of the process memorized so you can deliver
the essential information in 20-30 seconds at most. State your name and
the name of the organization you represent. Show your identification
badge and the letter that introduces you. If you have a three-ring
binder or clipboard with the logo of your organization or sponsor, you
should have it out and visible. You should assume that the respondent
will be interested in participating in your study---assume that you will
be doing an interview here.

If the respondent indicates that the interview should go ahead
immediately, you need an opening sentence that describes the study. Keep
it short and simple, no big words, and no details. Use the questionnaire
carefully but informally. Interviewers should read the questions exactly
as they are written. If the respondent does not understand the question
or gives an unresponsive answer, it usually is best for the interviewer
to just repeat the question. Do not attempt to guide the respondent to
give particular responses. Questions should be read in the order in
which they are written. The respondents' answers should be recorded
neatly, accurately, and immediately as they are provided. At the end of
the interview, and before proceeding to the next interview, the
interviewer should always do a quick edit of the questionnaire to be
sure that they have completed every answer correctly. This simple check
helps to avoid the frustrating mistake of having taken the time and
expense of conducting the interview, but without getting the information
sought.

If you elect to include other questions and if you place the questions
on income at the end, it is possible that a willing respondent will end
the interview before you get to the critical question. If it appears to
the interviewer that the respondent is about to terminate the interview,
it is recommended that you immediately try to get an answer to the
critical income question(s).

**Editing**

Interviewers should turn their completed surveys over to the person who
will tabulate and analyze the data. That person should review each
survey to ensure that it is complete and that each question is answered
only once and in a way that is clear and unambiguous. Questions or
errors that are found should be referred to the interviewer for
clarification. It also may be desirable to call the respondent, if
necessary, to clarify incomplete or ambiguous responses. If a question
or an error cannot be resolved, a replacement should be added and the
new respondent contacted. Note that editing is an ongoing process
because even after you have started to tabulate or analyze the data, you
may come across errors that need correction.

**Step 5: Determining the Results**

After you have your data collected and edited, you need to add up the
numbers to see what you have learned. Actually, it is useful to think of
this in two parts: (1) tabulating the responses from the questionnaires
and calculating an estimated proportion of low-and moderate-income
persons; and (2) determining how accurate that estimate is. The first
part can be taken care of by completing the sample LMI Worksheet.

**Tabulation**

Computer programs such as Excel, Access, Minitab, SAS, and SPSS are easy
to use for tabulating data. The computer also makes it relatively easy
to check for accuracy and consistency in the data. However, you can
perform the calculations by hand or with a calculator. Also, you can
process the data by putting it on a code sheet, by entering it on a
manual spreadsheet, or just by flipping through the completed surveys.
Regardless of how you process and tabulate the data, when you are
finished you should be able to complete the Low-and Moderate-Income
Worksheet.

### Table D - Low- and Moderate-Income Worksheet

1\. Enter the Estimated total number of families in the

service area 1. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

2\. Enter the total number of families interviewed 2.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

3\. Enter the total number of persons in the families

interviewed 3. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

4\. Enter the total number of persons in the families

interviewed who are low- and moderate-income

persons 4. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

5\. Divide Line 4 by Line 3 5. \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

6\. Multiply Line 5 by 100. This is the percentage of

LMI persons in the service area 6.
\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

**Analysis**

If you have done everything correct, including random selection of the
required number of families, and your estimate shows that less than 51
percent of the residents of the service area have low- and
moderate-incomes, you cannot undertake LMI area benefit activities in
that area. However, this may not be the case if it is an "upper quartile
exception community." Therefore, this section and the remainder of these
instructions are not applicable to exception grantees.

If the entry at Line 6 is at least 51 percent, you can perform
additional analyses to determine the extent to which your estimate of
the low- and moderate-income residents is correct. First, compare the
average size of low- and moderate-income families with non-LMI families.
The closer these figures are to each other, the more confident you can
be in your estimate. Thus, if you estimate that 53 percent of the
residents have low- and moderate-incomes and you find in your sample
that both low- and moderate-income families and above low- and
moderate-income-families have an average of 3.4 people, you can be
pretty sure that your results are reliable.

###### Table E -- Comparing the Distribution of Family Size by Family Income

+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| **Number of    | **Families |            | **Families |            |
| Persons**      | With       |            | Above      |            |
|                | Low-Mod    |            | Low-Mod    |            |
| **in Family**  | Incomes**  |            | Incomes**  |            |
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
|                | **Number** | *          | **Number** | *          |
|                |            | *Percent** |            | *Percent** |
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| One            |            |            |            |            |
|                |            |            |            |            |
| Two            |            |            |            |            |
|                |            |            |            |            |
| Three          |            |            |            |            |
|                |            |            |            |            |
| Four           |            |            |            |            |
|                |            |            |            |            |
| Five           |            |            |            |            |
|                |            |            |            |            |
| Six            |            |            |            |            |
|                |            |            |            |            |
| Seven          |            |            |            |            |
|                |            |            |            |            |
| Eight          |            |            |            |            |
|                |            |            |            |            |
| Nine or more   |            |            |            |            |
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
| Total          |            | 100%       |            | 100%       |
+----------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+

A second simple calculation is to arrange your data into a table such as
that shown in Table E. This table enables you to compare the
distribution of family sizes of families of low- and moderate-incomes
with those that are above low- and moderate-incomes. In completing Table
E, you would count the number of low- and moderate-income families in
your survey that have just one person and enter the figure under
"number" across from "one." You would proceed to enter the number of
low- and moderate-income families with two persons, with three persons,
and so forth through the "nine or more" category. Adding up all the
entries in this column, you enter the sum across from "total" which will
be the total number of low- and moderate-income families from which you
obtained interviews. Then considering families that are above low- and
moderate-income levels, you follow the same procedures to complete the
"number" column for them. For each income group, divide the number of
one person families by the total number of families in that income group
and multiply it by 100, to yield the percent of that group that are in
one-person families. Fill in the "percent" columns, using this
procedure. Each of the percent columns should total to 100 or so
allowing for rounding errors.

Upon completion of Table E, compare the percentages of LMI respondents
with the percentages of the above LMI respondents for each family size.
The more similar the two distributions are, the greater the degree of
confidence you can have in your estimate of the proportion of persons
with low- and moderate-incomes. For example, if among your low and
moderate-income group, 10 percent have one person, 40 percent have two
persons, and 50 percent have three persons, and among your above low-
and moderate-income group 12 percent have one person, 41 percent have
two persons, and 47 percent have three persons, you would have a great
deal of confidence in your estimate.

Compare your survey results to the most recent LMISD (available on HUD's
website) for the census geography that most closely matches the service
area. If there is a big difference (e.g., LMISD = 29%, survey = 55%),
then there may be other known factors to explain the difference. For
example, there may have been a major economic downturn in the service
area since the last census or the service area may be only a small part
of a large census tract. Also, compare the block-group level data to
ascertain that there were no anomalies in one part of town versus
another; review the map of respondents versus block groups to make sure
the responses were not skewed toward one side of town. Carefully analyze
each scenario and make efforts to document the basis for any
discrepancy.

Consider the scenario where you estimate that 51 percent of the
residents have low- and moderate-incomes. You examine the distribution
of the family sizes according to Table D and find that in your sample
100 percent of your low- and moderate-income group has just one person
per family and 100 percent of your 'above low- and moderate-income'
group has nine or more persons (this would be an exceptional
neighborhood).

Third, after completing data collection, non-respondents should be
analyzed to determine that they were reasonably random. For example, you
may want to tabulate the rate of response by street or block in the
service area to see whether there are notable gaps in the coverage of
your survey. You may want to examine the racial or ethnic background of
your respondents (if your survey collected such information) and compare
them with what you supposed the distribution to be. If you do not detect
any major gaps in the coverage of your sample or any anomalies in the
characteristics of your non-respondents, you can be more certain of the
accuracy of your estimates.

**Step 6: Documenting Your Results**

It is important that the results of the survey be documented, since
those who audit or evaluate your program may want to review the
procedures and data used to determine that the service area qualifies
under the CDBG program regulations. You should therefore maintain
careful documentation of the survey. The contents of that documentation
are as follows:

1.  Keep the completed surveys. This will show that you actually did the
    survey and that you asked the proper questions. It is best if each
    survey has a cover sheet containing information that identifies the
    respondent, such as name, address, and telephone number. Then, when
    the survey is complete, the cover sheets can be separated from the
    questionnaires. You can save the questionnaires as documentation of
    your work, but you maintain the privacy of your respondents.

2.  Saving the cover sheets separately provides a record of who was
    contacted. If anyone wanted subsequently to verify that you have not
    made up that data, they could contact some of the respondents noted
    on the cover sheet and ask them whether, in fact, they have been
    contacted on such-and-such a date by such-and-such a person to
    discuss matters related to community development. The privacy of
    their original responses still is protected by this procedure.

3.  Keep a list of the actual families sampled. This might be one list
    with the sampled families checked once if they were sampled, and
    checked twice if they were interviewed. Replacement families should
    be noted too. There should be written documentation about the method
    you used to select families from the list for interviewing. Note
    that this is different from keeping just the cover sheets, since it
    documents not just who was interviewed, but also who was not
    interviewed and how interviewees were selected. If you did a
    door-to-door sample without starting from a universe, you should
    have written down the procedures used to select the sample,
    including instructions to interviewers for replacing sampled
    families who were not interviewed.

4.  Survey data should be retained in accordance with record-keeping
    requirements of the State program at 24 CFR 570.490 and the
    Entitlement program at 24 CFR 570.506. Keep a backup disk of your
    data. If you do your tabulations on spreadsheets, retain the
    spreadsheets. If you just read through the questionnaires and count
    up responses and enter them into a table as you go, keep the tables
    with the raw data counts.

**Appendix A -- Using Random Numbers Table**

This appendix shows four examples of how numbers can be randomly drawn
from a table. Numbers can be drawn vertically, horizontally or
diagonally using any column or combination of columns. Examples 1 -- 4
show how random numbers can be drawn from the table in Appendix B. The
numbers on the first column of the Table in Appendix B denote row
numbers, 1 to 19, they are labels only. (*The numbers used in Examples 1
to 4 are for illustration only*).

**Example 1 -- Drawing a Sample of 5 of 10**

Assume that you have a listing of 10 families and you want to draw a
random sample of 5 families. Find the number "53" in the upper left-hand
corner---column 2, row 1. Start with the first digit of the first five
numbers in column 2 and you will have the following numbers: "5," "6,"
"9," "1," and "3." So from the list of 10 families, the sample of five
would include the fifth, sixth, ninth, first, and third family.

**Example 2 -- Drawing a Sample of 5 of 100**

Start at "31" in the lower left-hand corner of the table (column 2, row
19) and work across the bottom row; the numbers are "31," "6," "46,"
"39," and "27." From the list of 100 families, our sample would include
the 31^st^, 6^th^, 46^th^, 39^th^, and 27^th^ families on the list.

**Example 3 -- Drawing a Sample of 5 of 30**

Start at the upper left-hand corner and begin with the "53" (column 2,
row 1) and work across. The numbers in order are "53," "95," "67," "80,"
"79," "93," "28," "69," and "25." The problem here is that you are
sampling from a population of 30 so any number above 30 must be skipped.
Except for 28 and 25, the rest of the numbers are greater than 30. Keep
skipping until you find a number in your range. Here you would sample
the 28^th^ and 25^th^ family on your list and continue until you find
three more (which would be the 13^th^, 24^th^, and the 21^st^).

**Example 4 -- Drawing a Sample of 5 of 300**

Start again with "53" (column 2, row 1) in the upper left-hand corner.
Disregard the first digit (i.e.,'5') and take the second digit ('3');
combine this with the number in column 3, row 1 ('95'); this will make
it "3 95." Since we need a three-digit number to cover the size of our
service area, we can use these three (or any three columns---each number
is random). Reading from the "3 95," we see "3 95," "2 12," "0 16," and
"0 59." From the list of 300 families, then, you would take the 212^th^,
16^th^, and the 59^th^ families (as well as how many more you need---the
next two would be the 217^th^ and the 60^th^).

<table>
<colgroup>
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 6%" />
<col style="width: 6%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 6%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
<col style="width: 4%" />
</colgroup>
<tbody>
<tr class="odd">
<td colspan="20"><h4 id="appendix-b----random-numbers">Appendix B --
Random Numbers</h4></td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>1</td>
<td>53</td>
<td>95</td>
<td>67</td>
<td>80</td>
<td>79</td>
<td>93</td>
<td>28</td>
<td>69</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>78</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>100</td>
<td>62</td>
<td>62</td>
<td>21</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>54</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>2</td>
<td>62</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>27</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>19</td>
<td>34</td>
<td>84</td>
<td>78</td>
<td>71</td>
<td>45</td>
<td>73</td>
<td>79</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>57</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>58</td>
<td>75</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>3</td>
<td>90</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>47</td>
<td>72</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>70</td>
<td>71</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>67</td>
<td>21</td>
<td>65</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>39</td>
<td>58</td>
<td>81</td>
<td>61</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>70</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>4</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>59</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>76</td>
<td>80</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>82</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>92</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>61</td>
<td>76</td>
<td>83</td>
<td>73</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>84</td>
<td>43</td>
<td>90</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>5</td>
<td>32</td>
<td>17</td>
<td>36</td>
<td>64</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>30</td>
<td>80</td>
<td>95</td>
<td>61</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>65</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>39</td>
<td>88</td>
<td>36</td>
<td>44</td>
<td>42</td>
<td>43</td>
<td>5</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>6</td>
<td>54</td>
<td>71</td>
<td>27</td>
<td>89</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>53</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>91</td>
<td>76</td>
<td>95</td>
<td>98</td>
<td>91</td>
<td>64</td>
<td>65</td>
<td>23</td>
<td>57</td>
<td>16</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>7</td>
<td>10</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>18</td>
<td>77</td>
<td>34</td>
<td>59</td>
<td>28</td>
<td>99</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>70</td>
<td>34</td>
<td>27</td>
<td>78</td>
<td>67</td>
<td>19</td>
<td>97</td>
<td>30</td>
<td>33</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>8</td>
<td>42</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>36</td>
<td>78</td>
<td>58</td>
<td>82</td>
<td>81</td>
<td>49</td>
<td>91</td>
<td>35</td>
<td>53</td>
<td>30</td>
<td>92</td>
<td>57</td>
<td>19</td>
<td>97</td>
<td>40</td>
<td>58</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>9</td>
<td>73</td>
<td>55</td>
<td>87</td>
<td>48</td>
<td>49</td>
<td>97</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>92</td>
<td>27</td>
<td>78</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>55</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>76</td>
<td>99</td>
<td>21</td>
<td>45</td>
<td>72</td>
<td>56</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>10</td>
<td>21</td>
<td>56</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>23</td>
<td>58</td>
<td>57</td>
<td>49</td>
<td>49</td>
<td>70</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>79</td>
<td>95</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>70</td>
<td>38</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>5</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>11</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>60</td>
<td>37</td>
<td>99</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>69</td>
<td>97</td>
<td>18</td>
<td>44</td>
<td>100</td>
<td>18</td>
<td>46</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>90</td>
<td>57</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>82</td>
<td>15</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>12</td>
<td>63</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>41</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>21</td>
<td>38</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>63</td>
<td>38</td>
<td>100</td>
<td>68</td>
<td>69</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>39</td>
<td>19</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>93</td>
<td>97</td>
<td>40</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>13</td>
<td>98</td>
<td>72</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>45</td>
<td>69</td>
<td>50</td>
<td>7</td>
<td>86</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>80</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>96</td>
<td>45</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>95</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>14</td>
<td>87</td>
<td>89</td>
<td>65</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>98</td>
<td>55</td>
<td>86</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>66</td>
<td>43</td>
<td>64</td>
<td>55</td>
<td>80</td>
<td>30</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>99</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>25</td>
<td>71</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>15</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>91</td>
<td>68</td>
<td>44</td>
<td>67</td>
<td>2</td>
<td>71</td>
<td>96</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>73</td>
<td>78</td>
<td>3</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>87</td>
<td>53</td>
<td>9</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>12</td>
<td>21</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>16</td>
<td>75</td>
<td>93</td>
<td>62</td>
<td>49</td>
<td>95</td>
<td>82</td>
<td>30</td>
<td>81</td>
<td>24</td>
<td>4</td>
<td>11</td>
<td>30</td>
<td>71</td>
<td>96</td>
<td>49</td>
<td>47</td>
<td>65</td>
<td>48</td>
<td>28</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>17</td>
<td>76</td>
<td>15</td>
<td>55</td>
<td>38</td>
<td>29</td>
<td>0</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>20</td>
<td>71</td>
<td>42</td>
<td>81</td>
<td>51</td>
<td>44</td>
<td>76</td>
<td>93</td>
<td>42</td>
<td>87</td>
<td>89</td>
<td>38</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td>18</td>
<td>26</td>
<td>76</td>
<td>93</td>
<td>84</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>40</td>
<td>96</td>
<td>69</td>
<td>84</td>
<td>52</td>
<td>89</td>
<td>5</td>
<td>16</td>
<td>43</td>
<td>34</td>
<td>37</td>
<td>64</td>
<td>39</td>
<td>14</td>
</tr>
<tr class="even">
<td>19</td>
<td>31</td>
<td>6</td>
<td>46</td>
<td>39</td>
<td>27</td>
<td>8</td>
<td>67</td>
<td>81</td>
<td>13</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>14</td>
<td>86</td>
<td>38</td>
<td>23</td>
<td>33</td>
<td>22</td>
<td>56</td>
<td>47</td>
<td>60</td>
</tr>
<tr class="odd">
<td></td>
<td colspan="19"><em><strong>Note: Other methods of creating random
numbers include using a random number generator computer program or the
phone book method.</strong></em></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

## Bibliography

**Babbie, Earl R. 1990**. *Survey Research Methods (Sociology)*, 2^nd^
Edition. Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth Publishing Company.

**Floyd, J. and Fowler Jr. 1995.** *Improving Survey Questions: Design
and Evaluation*

*(Applied Social Research Methods).* Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi:
SAGE

Publications.

**Floyd, J. and Fowler Jr. 2001.** *Survey Research Methods (Applied
Social Research*

*Methods)*, 3^rd^ Edition. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: SAGE
Publications.

**Miller, Delbert C. and Salkind, Neil J. 2002.** *Handbook of Research
Design: Social Research*

*Measurement*, 6^th^ Edition. Thousand Oaks, London, New Delhi: SAGE
Publications.

**Nardi, Peter M. 2002.** *Doing Survey Research: A Guide to
Quantitative Research*

*Methods*, 1^st^ Edition. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

**Rea, Louis M. and Richard A. Parker. 1997.** *Designing and Conducting
Survey*

*Research: A Comprehensive Guide*, 2^nd^ Edition, (Jossey Bass Public

Administration Series). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

**Singleton Jr., Royce A.; Straits, Bruce C. and Straits, Margaret
Miller. 1993.** *Approaches to*

*Social Research,* 2^nd^ Edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.