Appendix A

Respondent Recruitment Materials

PROGRAM FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ASSESSMENT 2012 

(PISA:2012) VALIDATION STUDY 2015 FIELD TEST AND MAIN 

STUDY

OMB # 1850-0900 v.2

December 8, 2014

Table of Contents

Recruitment Contact #1: NCES Invitation Letter......................................................................................................... 1

Recruitment Contact #2: Respondent Reminder......................................................................................................... 2

Recruitment Contact #3: Announcement that Survey is Open ................................................................................... 3

Respondent Follow-up: Data Collection Nonresponse Email/Hardcopy – Credentials sent....................................... 4

Respondent Follow-up: Data Collection Nonresponse Call Script – Telephone Contact after Survey Launch........ 5

Respondent Follow-up: Partial Complete Email.......................................................................................................... 6

Respondent Follow-up: Partial Complete Call Script - Telephone Contact after Survey Launch................................ 7

Respondent Follow-up: Notification of Survey Closing ............................................................................................... 8

Respondent Follow-up: Thank you email .................................................................................................................... 9
1

Recruitment Contact #1: NCES Invitation Letter

Dear <first name> <Last name>,

My name is Dan McGrath and I am the Director of the International Activities Program at the National Center for 

Education Statistics. I am writing to invite you to participate in the PISA Young Adult Follow-Up Study. As we have 

described in previous communications, this is an invitation-only online survey that collects information about your 

education and work experiences and your skills as a young adult. The survey should take 50 minutes on average 

but no more than 2 hours to complete. Once you complete the online survey, $50 will be loaded on the enclosed 

cash card. You may use this cash card anywhere MasterCard is accepted.

We will send you the web address and login information on [Month Day, Year], the day before the survey opens. 

In the meantime, please keep the enclosed cash card safe.

If you have any questions or need help logging in when the survey opens, please call 1-855-604-1519 (toll free),

send an email to YAFollow-up@westat.com, or visit the PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study website at 

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/followup.asp.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, I want to thank you in advance for your cooperation in this 

important research project. 

Sincerely,

Daniel J. McGrath

Director, International Activities Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

Telephone: (202) 502-7426

Email: Daniel.McGrath@ed.gov
2

Recruitment Contact #2: Respondent Reminder

Dear <First name> <Last Name>,

There are only [X] days until the PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study begins! Remember, your participation is critical 

to the success of the study and we are counting on you to complete the survey. [Last week] you should have 

received a letter from Dan McGrath of the National Center for Education Statistics in the U.S. Department of 

Education inviting you to participate in the PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study. Your cash card was included with 

that letter. If you did not receive the invitation letter, or you have lost or misplaced your card, we can issue 

another one for you. Just call us at 1-855-604-1519 (toll free) or email us at YAFollow-up@westat.com and we can 

get a new card to you. Remember, the survey should take 50 minutes on average but no more than 2 hours to 

complete and the card will work after you complete the survey on [Month Day, Year].

Thanks for your participation!

The PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study team
3

Recruitment Contact #3: Announcement that Survey is Open

Dear <First name> <Last Name>,

The PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study is now open! You can access the survey through this link: [http://some link 

here]. Enter your login code to begin. Your login code is:

[Login code here]

You can also access the survey from your unique user account in the PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study website: 

https://www.YAFS.org. Once you are logged into the website, click the link [link name] and you can begin the 

survey.

The survey should take 50 minutes on average but no more than 2 hours to complete. After you have completed 

the survey and you log out, your $50 cash card will be activated and you may use it.

If you have any problems logging in to the survey or if you have other questions, please call us at 1-855-604-1519

(toll free) or email us at YAFollow-up@westat.com and we can help you.

Thanks for your participation!

The PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study team

NCES is authorized to conduct this study under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002, 20 U.S.C., 

§ 9543). Your participation is voluntary and the information you provide may be used only for statistical purposes 

and may not be disclosed or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (ESRA 

2002, 20 U.S.C., § 9573). Individual responses will be combined with those from other participants to produce 

summary statistics and reports. NCES will securely maintain your contact information to locate you should we 

conduct another follow-up survey in the future.
4

Respondent Follow-up: Data Collection Nonresponse Email/Hardcopy – Credentials sent

Dear <first name> <Last name>,

My name is Dan McGrath and I am the Director of the International Activities Program at the National Center for 

Education Statistics. I am writing to you about participating in our PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study.

Our records indicate you have not yet logged into the survey. It looks like we sent you the web address login 

information, and unloaded cash card on [Month Day, Year]. Did you receive this package? If not, please [reply to 

this email] [call us at 1-855-604-1519 (toll free) or send an email to YAFollow-up@westat.com] and we will get 

another one to you immediately.

As we have described in previous communications, this is an invitation-only online survey that collects 

information about your education and work experiences and your skills as a young adult. The survey should take 

50 minutes on average but no more than 2 hours to complete. Once you complete the online survey, $50 will be 

loaded on your cash card. You may use this cash card anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Again, if you did not 

receive this card or have misplaced it, simply reply to this email and we will get it to you immediately.

If you have received your credentials but have not had the time to complete the survey, don’t worry. You have 

until MM/DD/YYYY to complete it. I will send you another reminder when the survey is close to ending so that you 

do not miss this opportunity to participate in this study.

If you have any questions or need help logging in or accessing the internet, please call 1-855-604-1519 (toll free) 

or send an email to YAFollow-up@westat.com.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, I want to thank you in advance for your cooperation in this 

important research project.

Sincerely,

Daniel J. McGrath

Director, International Activities Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

Telephone: (202) 502-7426

Email: Daniel.McGrath@ed.gov

Your participation is voluntary and the information you provide may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be 

disclosed or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (ESRA 2002, 20 U.S.C., § 9573). 

Individual responses will be combined with those from other participants to produce summary statistics and reports. NCES 

will securely maintain your contact information to locate you should we conduct another follow-up survey in the future.
5

Respondent Follow-up: Data Collection Nonresponse Call Script – Telephone Contact 

after Survey Launch

Hello I’m calling to speak with <Contact’s Name>. My name is ___________ and I am calling from the PISA Study 

on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education. You may recall that in the fall of 2012 at your school, you 

participated in the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA. After the test, you provided us with 

your contact information to participate in a follow-up study. A few weeks ago, you should have received an 

[email/letter] inviting you to participate in the PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study and letting you know that you 

could now take the survey.

We are contacting you by phone because the survey is now open and to date you have not yet responded.

Do you have your [email/letter] with the log on information?

If yes:

Great! Please go to the survey website and complete the survey. Your cash card will be loaded with your $50 after 

you have completed the survey.

If No:

OK, I can send an email with the log on information. Is your email [Confirm email]?

If respondent says they could not successfully log on:

[Try to assist respondent if they are at their computer and can log on. If they are not, refer them to the helpdesk 

number and tell them that the helpdesk can walk them through the log on process.]

If respondent says they don’t have a cash card:

That is not a problem. I can make an entry to send you a new one. Is your address information [verify physical 

address information]? We will get a replacement card to you immediately.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation in this important research.
6

Respondent Follow-up: Partial Complete Email

Dear <First name> <Last Name>,

Thank you for participating in the PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study! Your survey is almost complete, just a few 

more questions to go! For your responses to count, you need to complete the entire survey. Please log back in 

and complete the remainder of the survey.

If you have any problems logging back in to the survey or if you have other questions, please call us at 1-855-604-

1519 (toll free) or email us at YAFollow-up@westat.com and we can help you.

Thanks for your participation!

The PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study team
7

Respondent Follow-up: Data Collection Partial Complete Call Script – Telephone Contact 

after Survey Launch

Hello I’m calling to speak with <Contact’s Name>. My name is ___________ and I am calling from the PISA Young 

Adult Follow-up Study on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education. Thank you for responding to the survey. We 

noticed that you did respondent to the whole survey. Your participation is really important to the success of the 

survey. Would you go back and complete the rest of the survey? If you do, we can load your cash card and you 

can get the $50.

If yes:

Great! Please go to the survey website and complete the survey. Your cash card will be loaded with your $50 after 

you have completed the survey.

If No:

[Probe for a reason. Ask respondent if they need help and what they need help with. Assist if possible. If the 

respondent has a technical problem that you cannot help them with, connect them to the helpdesk.]

Note: telephone staff will be trained on how to respond to questions about the survey instrument content and 

which items are appropriate to help with and which are not. Staff will receive a QXQ guide for the background 

items with notes about what the questions are asking and how to help respondents understand an item.

If respondent says they don’t have a cash card:

That is not a problem. I can make an entry to send you a new one. Is your address information [verify physical 

address information]. We will get a replacement card to you immediately.

We thank you in advance for your cooperation in this important research.
8

Respondent Follow-up: Notification of Survey Closing

Dear <first name> <Last name>,

My name is Dan McGrath and I am the Director of the International Activities Program at the National Center for 

Education Statistics. I am writing to you about participating in our PISA Young Adult Follow-up Study.

Our records indicate that you have not yet logged into the survey. This is your last chance to complete the survey 

and receive your $50! The survey will close on MM/DD/YYYY. Your participation in the PISA Young Adult Followup Study is valuable and important to the success of the survey.

It looks like we sent you the web address login information, and unloaded cash card on [Month Day, Year], did you 

receive this package? If not, please [reply to this email] [call us at 1-855-604-1519 (toll free) or send an email to 

YAFollow-up@westat.com] and we will get another one to you immediately.

As we have described in previous communications, this is an invitation-only online survey that collects 

information about your education and work experiences and your skills as a young adult. The survey should take 

50 minutes on average but no more than 2 hours to complete. Once you complete the online survey, $50 will be 

loaded on your cash card. You may use this cash card anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Again, if you did not 

receive this card or have misplaced it, simply reply to this email and we will get it to you immediately.

If you have any questions or need help logging in or accessing the internet, please call 1-855-604-1519 (toll free) 

or send an email to YAFollow-up@westat.com.

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, I want to thank you in advance for your cooperation in this 

important research project.

Sincerely,

Daniel J. McGrath

Director, International Activities Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

Telephone: (202) 502-7426

Email: Daniel.McGrath@ed.gov
9

Respondent Follow-up: Thank you Email for Completing the Survey

Dear <First Name <Last Name>

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, I want to thank you for your participation in the PISA Young Adult 

Follow-up Study. This is the first study of its kind to be conducted in the United States. Through your participation 

in this important research project you provided a unique opportunity for the U.S. to better understand the 

educational and work experiences and the use of computers and the Internet in the daily lives of our nation. Your 

contributions are valued and appreciated.

As a token of appreciation for your contributions to this important research, you will receive $50.00 loaded onto 

the cash card you received. If you did not receive a cash card or have misplaced it, simply respond to this email 

address and request a new one, or call 1-855-604-1519 (toll free).

Again, thank you for your participation and cooperation throughout this study.

Sincerely,

Daniel J. McGrath

Director, International Activities Program

National Center for Education Statistics

Institute of Education Sciences

U.S. Department of Education

Telephone: (202) 502-7426

Email: Daniel.McGrath@ed.gov