Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0145-0002
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2008-06-04T04:00Z

Supporting Statement for a Request for OMB Review under

the Paperwork Reduction Act

Part A

A1.	Identification of the Information Collection

1(a) Title of the Information Collection

TITLE:  National-Scale Activity Survey

EPA ICR No.: 2293.01

	

OMB Control No.:  2060-NEW

1(b) Short Characterization/Abstract

EPA supports the Air Quality Index (AQI), a program that uses data from
air quality monitors to forecast pollution levels and to notify the
public of health hazards associated with air pollution, primarily ozone
and particulate matter pollution (PM). EPA, and specifically the Office
of Air Quality Planning and Standards, which manages the AQI program, is
interested in assessing the public’s awareness, knowledge and both
stated and actual behavioral response to AQI warnings. To address this
need, OAQPS wishes to conduct the National-Scale Activity Surveys
(N-SAS) to gather information on perceptions, awareness, attitudes, and
stated and actual behaviors in response to AQI warnings. 

EPA is requesting permission from OMB to conduct a survey of 1,600
individuals age 35 or older who meet minimal activity requirements
living in Washington, D.C.; Sacramento (also other cities in San Joaquin
Valley -- San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno), Chicago,
Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, or St. Louis.  The data will be
collected through a web-based survey of members from Knowledge
Network’s web panel.

The N-SAS consists of a series of nine surveys.  A screening survey at
the beginning and a debriefing survey at the end will provide
information on the research participants, their awareness and knowledge
of air pollution and the Air Quality Index (AQI), risk perceptions
regarding health effects, and reported behaviors on high ozone days. 
After the screening survey, research participants will be administered a
set of seven activity diaries administered on both high and low ozone
days to collect information on actual behavior.  

The information obtained from N-SAS will be used by EPA to assess
hypotheses for the N-SAS research participants regarding  

Extent of awareness of and knowledge about the AQI 

The effects of the AQI-based warnings on behavior in eight cities with
significant pollution problems 

The correlation between awareness, knowledge, stated behavior on high
pollution days and data on behavior reported in the activity diaries

Differences in behavior, awareness and knowledge among different
sub-samples of the N-SAS research participants

In addition to assessing the effectiveness of AQI-based ozone warnings,
the data will also be used to supplement the limited data available to
develop exposure profiles for older Americans.  

The goal of N-SAS is to provide insights into awareness, knowledge and
behavior related to the AQI. The N-SAS survey will be conducted using
the Knowledge Networks web panel as the sampling frame and therefore,
any observations or conclusions drawn from the survey are most relevant
to that sampling frame. Although the Knowledge Networks panel is
recruited using an RDD sampling frame, the final panel differs from the
U.S. population along a number of key demographic dimensions and the
unobserved characteristics of individuals who participate in web panels
may differ from the overall U.S. population.  Because of this, there
would be significant uncertainty associated with extrapolation of the
results of this analysis to a broader population beyond the Knowledge
Networks panel members who meet the eligibility criteria for this study.
Therefore, the EPA research team does not intend to generalize the
results of the N-SAS survey beyond the relevant population of the
Knowledge Networks panel.

        A2.	Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

Need/Authority for the Collection

  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 The motivation for the National-Scale Activity
Survey (N-SAS) originated with a desire to assess the impact of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) programs and regulations to
improve air quality on the U.S. population. Both internal and external
reviews recommended increasing the use of indicators that track changes
in the health and well-being of individual citizens to supplement
measures of ambient air quality that EPA has traditionally reported. To
determine whether these information policy tools actually increase
precautionary behaviors, the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee
recommended that EPA “study effects of air quality index [AQI]
advisories on exposure-reduction behaviors and whether behaviors lead to
health benefits” (Air Quality Management Workgroup, 2004).

EPA also needs the information to improve exposure profiles of older
Americans used to assess the impact of regulations.  The data collected
by this survey will be incorporated in EPA’s Consolidated Human
Activity Database (CHAD).

Practical Utility/Users of the Data

Currently, little data exists that can be used to systematically
evaluate whether and how the information in AQI warnings is received,
processed, understood, and used by the public to protect themselves
against the health risks associated with ozone and as a prompt for
emission reduction activities.  The existing studies we have identified
are discussed in Section A4 below.  The longitudinal N-SAS will provide
data that will have a number of direct, practical uses for EPA and for
policy makers at the state and local level.

Assess the effectiveness of AQI-based warning systems

Examine the correlation between awareness, risk perceptions, knowledge,
stated behavior and actual behavior within our sample.

Identify subgroups within the set of N-SAS research participants that
may need more targeted education on air pollution risks.  

Supplement and update the sparse set of activity data on older Americans
currently in CHAD.

Metropolitan areas must report past ambient levels of criteria
pollutants to EPA, but the forecasting data used for the AQI-based
warnings is provided voluntarily.  The data collected by N-SAS will help
policy makers and other researchers better understand how the forecasted
warnings are understood and where adjustments might be made to the
information provided in the warnings.

A3. Use of Improved Technology and Burden Reduction 	

The N-SAS survey data will be collected through a web-based survey. 
Utilization of the World Wide Web has the advantages of allowing
respondents to complete as much of the survey as desired in one sitting
and to continue the survey at another time, minimizing the possibility
of respondent error by electronically skipping questions that are not
applicable to a particular respondent, and creating the least burden to
the respondent.  In addition, respondents will be notified of the survey
by email.  In order to collect activity diary data on both high ozone
days and other days with a sample of 1600, the activity diary surveys
must be administered on specific days when appropriate weather and ozone
conditions are forecast.  Using email survey invitations and a web-based
survey instrument, respondents can easily be notified of surveys on
specific days.  For N-SAS we plan to send an email two days before the
activity diary will be sent and a reminder email after it is sent. 
Finally, we will use the web-based survey structure to minimize recall
bias by limiting the time the respondent has to take the survey to 48
hours after the specified day.

 One alternative method considered was to conduct telephone surveys. 
Given the need to survey individuals based weather and ozone condition
forecasts, the telephone survey method was unsuitable.  According to
companies that conduct telephone surveys, call centers typically do not
have excess staff that can be mobilized with a day or two notice to
phone a couple hundred respondents on a specific day.  In addition,
telephone surveys are conducted when the respondent answers the phone,
rather than at the convenience of the respondent.  The American Time Use
Survey (ATUS) is conducted by phone.  Unlike the N-SAS activity diaries,
the ATUS does not need to be conducted on a specific day.  The ATUS
suffers from potential bias resulting from the difficulty of reaching
people who are active and frequently out of the house by phone.  Use of
a web-based survey will help alleviate this source of bias because
respondents can take the survey when they want to.  Finally, response
rates for telephone surveys are decreasing as new technology (answering
machines, voice mail, caller identification) becomes available, and
non-locate rates in later waves of longitudinal telephone surveys are
increasing, likely due to increased use of cellular phones and frequent
switching of carrier companies.  In sum, because of the disadvantages of
alternate modes of administration and because our research objectives
could not be fully met without a high response rate among selected
respondents, we determined that the study design of collecting data via
Web surveys was the best methodology.  

A4.  Nonduplication

RTI conducted a search of the literature to assess the availability of
data on both awareness and knowledge of the AQI and activities on both
high ozone days and other days.  Relatively few surveys have measured
awareness of the AQI, reported and actual behavior and air pollution
risk perceptions.  The surveys and research activities summarized below
represent the most prominent related literature of which we are aware.

STAR grant survey: Dr. Mansfield (RTI) and colleagues at RTI and UNC
conducted the most similar survey (funded under the STAR grant program,
EPA agreement 8295440). In addition to Dr. Mansfield, the project team
included Dr. George Van Houtven (RTI), Dr. Zachary Pekar (before he left
RTI to work at EPA), Dr. F. Reed Johnson (RTI) and Dr. Douglass
Crawford-Brown (Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of
North Carolina).  The project included a set of activity diaries, a
baseline survey and a debriefing survey to measure awareness of the AQI.
 The sample for the survey included parents of young children, half of
whom suffered from asthma, living in metro areas with high ozone
pollution recruited from the Harris Interactive web panel (an opt-in web
panel).   Publications and presentations from this grant include
(Mansfield et al. 2006, Mansfield 2006, Mansfield et al. 2005)

EPA has included a small set of questions on the Roper Green Gauge
Survey to measure awareness of the AQI.  

RTI International’s 2000 Health and Aging Survey included a set of
questions about the awareness of the AQI as part of a longer survey
administered using Knowledge Network’s web panel (Mansfield and Corey
2003).  

The 2006 BRFSS included a module with four questions about awareness of
the AQI and reported behavior change.  Seven states chose to administer
the module. 

Bresnahan, Dickie, and Gerking (1997) collected activity data through
telephone interviews from a panel of adults in the Los Angeles area who
were contacted between 2 to 5 times over a 12-month period to study the
impact of ambient pollution levels (not AQI-based alerts).

Individual metropolitan areas have conducted surveys on awareness of the
AQI or other air pollution campaigns. 

In addition to these surveys, some research has been done linking air
quality alerts or warnings to aggregate daily changes in attendance at
outdoor events, hospital admissions, health outcomes and driving (for
example, Neidell 2004, Neidell 2005, Neidell 2007).  

Overall, the research and other surveys suggest that some individuals,
but not all, are aware of AQI-based warnings and respond by changing
their behavior.  In a series of studies, Neidell finds evidence
consistent with behavioral response to AQI alerts by children and older
adults. Neidell (2005) examined attendance at a selection of outdoor
events in southern California (Los Angeles Zoo, Griffith Park
Observatory, and the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanical
Gardens).  Neidell found that participation was 3% to 11% lower on days
forecasted to be smog alerts, which was most significant in for children
and older adults. The study used attendance at outdoor facilities as
proxy for the amount of time spent outdoors.  Neidell (2002) combines
individual child asthma-related hospitalization data with ZIP-code-level
population demographics, found a negative, significant relationship
between health advisories (proxies for avoidance behavior) and
hospitalizations.  In similar work, Neidell (2004) found evidence that
for children and older adults, but not adults, smog alerts lead to a
decrease in asthma hospital admissions.  Families of high socioeconomic
status display particularly strong patterns of avoidance behavior. 

Bresnahan, Dickie, and Gerking (1997) used data from a panel of adults
in the Los Angeles area who were contacted between 2 to 5 times over a
12-month period. Their results indicated that the study individuals did
change their behavior in response to poor air quality by reducing time
spent outside on a day-to-day basis, however the study looked at the
impact of ambient pollution levels rather than AQI-based alerts. 

In the RTI Health and Aging Survey (see third bullet above) of over
6,000 respondents, 57% of individuals who were aware of the ozone alert
system and lived in a county that experienced at least one red day over
the previous summer reported reducing their outdoor time on high ozone
days (Mansfield and Corey 2003).  People who were not working at least
part-time, including homemakers, the unemployed, students and retirees
were more likely to report reducing the time they spent outdoors on high
ozone days.  Furthermore, people who reported excellent or good health
were less likely to report reducing outside time on high ozone days
compared to people with fair or poor health.

The STAR grant project (PI Dr. Mansfield, described in the first bullet
above) found that parents with asthmatic children were more likely to
say they checked the air quality forecast more frequently, and the more
severe the asthma the more frequently the parents said they checked the
forecast.   Families with more young children stated that on average
they checked the forecast less frequently, as did white parents.  In the
debriefing survey parents were asked what they do if they hear that high
levels of air pollution are forecast, including (1) whether they have
their child spend less time outdoors or (2) whether they have their
child do less strenuous activities.  Over two-thirds said they spend
less time outdoors and 39 percent said they have their child do less
strenuous activities.  Again, analysis of the data suggests that the
presence of an asthmatic child has a positive and significant effect on
both stated averting behaviors.  In addition, both behaviors were more
likely in areas with a history of air pollution problems and in cities
with higher summer temperatures.  Households with more young children
were significantly less likely to say they stayed indoors on days with
high air pollution. Looking at whether the child spent time outdoors on
any day, children with more severe asthma are less likely to have spent
time outdoors.  Families with more children aged 2 to 12 are more likely
to spend time outdoors.  Finally, children who parents own their house
are more likely to spend time totally outdoors.  

The surveys and research projects described above provide resources for
the design of N-SAS, but none provide a detailed picture of risk
perceptions, reported behavior and AQI awareness along with actual
behavior (as reported in activity diaries) proposed for N-SAS. In
addition, several of the studies are out of date or were collected from
small samples.

A5. Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities

This section is not applicable for our survey, since it will not involve
or be administered to small businesses, governments, or organizations.  

 A6. Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently

N-SAS consists of a total of nine surveys.  All the surveys will be
administered over a three to four month period.  Based on previous
activity diaries and sample size calculations, it is estimated that as
many as seven activity diaries may be needed to obtain the desired level
of precision in the estimates of outdoor time because of day-to-day
variation in activity patterns.  To detect a 15 to 30 minute change in
time outdoors on Code Red and non-Code Red days with 95% confidence
level, we estimate that we need at least two of each type of day per
respondent.   

A7. Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5 

	As described in section A6, respondents will report information more
often than quarterly, with all nine surveys occurring within three or
four months.  Summer is the ozone season, so the data need to be
collected during the season.  There are no other special circumstances
that require the data collection to be conducted in a manner
inconsistent with 5 CRF 1320.5 (d)(2).

A8. Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to
Consult Outside the Agency

Comments

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.), EPA published a notice in the Federal Register on February 28,
2008, announcing that the proposed survey.  A copy of the Federal
Register notice is attached at the end of this document in Appendix A.

No comments were received from the public.

Consultations

The content of the N-SAS surveys was developed through extensive
consultation with content experts from both inside and outside EPA.  The
specific wording of the questions was reviewed by various content and
survey design specialists and pretested to make sure the questions were
understood correctly and the design of the survey was not difficult for
respondents to understand.  Finally, Knowledge Networks reviewed the
survey instruments for length and burden on their panel.  They found
that the length of the surveys was average to shorter than average
compared to typical surveys administered to their panel.  

Consultations with Individuals

Dr. Carol Mansfield at RTI International is assisting EPA in the
planning, design and administration of N-SAS through work assignments
under EPA agreement 8295440.  Dr. Mansfield was the PI on a STAR grant
entitled “Behavioral Reactions to Ozone Alerts:  What Do They Tell Us
About Willingness-to-Pay for Children(s Health?” (see above) that
collected data on outdoor activities and AQI awareness among parents of
young children. She also designed questions about awareness of the AQI
for the 2000 Health and Aging Study conducted jointly by RTI and
Knowledge Networks, which were summarized in a report to EPA (Mansfield
and Corey 2003). Dr. Mansfield and her colleagues at RTI have drawn on
their experience with these and other environmental public health
surveys to provide EPA with guidance on N-SAS.  Dr. Mansfield worked
with experts in risk communication, survey design, survey
administration, sample statistics, non-response analysis, exposure
analysis at RTI for the project.  

Dr. V. Kerry Smith (W. P. Carey Professor of Economics, Arizona State
University) provided consultation in the fall of 2005 during the
planning stage of the survey on the content and administration plan
through EPA Contract Number 68-D-00-265 (to E.H. Pechan and Associates,
Inc.).

Joan Rohlfs (Chief, Air Quality Planning, Department of Environmental
Programs, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments) attended a
focus group in Washington, D.C., to provide consultation on the survey
design and content.

Advisory Panel

An advisory panel consisting of EPA staff and individuals from outside
EPA was created in the fall of 2006 to provide advice on the design of
N-SAS.  In addition to Dr. Mansfield, the group consists of three
representatives from outside EPA.  EPA staff represented OAR/OAQPS,
NERL, NCEA, NCER, and NHEERL.  The following individuals participated in
advisory group meetings 

Team Leaders

Susan Stone

Environmental Health Scientist

EPA/OAQPS

Zachary Pekar, PhD

Environmental Health Scientist

EPA/OAQPS

Carol Mansfield, PhD

Senior Economist

Research Triangle Institute

Team

Bryan Hubbell, PhD

Senior Advisor for Science and Policy Analysis

Health and Environmental Impacts Division

EPA/OAQPS

Janice J, Kim, MD, MPH

Air Toxicology and Epidemiology Branch

Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment

California EPA

Jee Young Kim, ScD

Epidemiologist

EPA/NCEA

Dinah Koehler, ScD

Social Scientist

EPA/NCER

John Langstaff

Environmental Scientist

EPA/OAQPS

Danelle Lobdell, PhD

Epidemiologist

EPA/NHEERL

Thomas McCurdy

Research Physical Scientist; 

Human Exposure Modeling Branch 

EPA/NERL

Randy Mosier

Chief, Air Regulations Development Division

(oversaw episodic surveys of public participation)

Maryland Department of the Environment

Harvey Richmond

National Super Expert 

Human Exposure Analysis and Non-cancer Health Risk Assessment

EPA/OAQPS

Debbie Stackhouse

Leader, Innovative Programs and Outreach Group

EPA/OAQPS

Richard Wayland

Acting Division Director

Air Quality Analysis Division

EPA/OAQPS

Barbara Weller, PhD

Manager, Populations Studies Section

California Air Resources Board



The group met five times to discuss all aspects of the survey including
topics, questions, sample population, geographic coverage of the survey,
and mode of administration.  This group reviewed the survey instrument
and survey administration plan in February 2008 and provided comments
that were incorporated into the final design of N-SAS.  



Focus Groups and Cognitive Interviews

Two focus groups and nine cognitive interviews were conducted to design
and test the N-SAS instrument.  The first focus group was held in
Raleigh, North Carolina, with nine individuals.  The purpose was to
identify basic attitudes and awareness of air quality problems.  The
group was asked to discuss their perceptions of air quality, risk
perceptions and possible strategies for mitigating the impacts of air
pollution.  The questions were organized around health behavior theory
to assess perceptions of the overall magnitude of the health risk and
the individual’s personal risk followed by strategies for reducing the
risk and perceived effectiveness.  In general, the group was not very
worried about air pollution as a health risk to themselves, except for a
mother with an asthmatic child.  They were able to discuss emission
reduction tactics individuals could undertake, but had given very little
thought to reducing their own exposure to pollution.  The results from
this group were used to begin creating the survey instrument.

The second focus group was held in Bethesda, Maryland, with nine
individuals. Unlike the first focus group, which involved a general
discussion of air quality, the purpose of the focus group was to test
reactions to sections of the draft survey instrument including a list of
specific risks that might result from exposure to air quality, emission
reduction activities and exposure reduction activities.  The group was
much more knowledgeable about air pollution than the first group. 
However, they also did not feel that they faced much personal risk from
air pollution and were much more familiar with emission reduction
activities than exposure reduction activities.  The results from this
group were used to refine the list of risks and activities, as well as
design questions to elicit motivations for or barriers to action.

After the focus groups, the survey instrument was developed and reviewed
by RTI and EPA staff including survey methodologists and a specialist in
health behavior and risk communication.  The instrument was tested on
nine individuals using cognitive interviews (five from Raleigh, North
Carolina, and four from Atlanta, Georgia).  The interviews were
conducted by survey methodologists at RTI.  The interviews tested the
wording of the questions and the flow of the instrument.  The feedback
from the first seven interviews was used to revise the instrument prior
to the final two interviews.

Presentations

2008 National Air Quality Conferences, April 6-9, 2008: Presented the
design, sample, and questions for the N-SAS to an audience of EPA staff,
local and regional air quality regulators, and others (contractors,
researchers).  Conference participants provided feedback and several
local air quality staff expressed interest in participating.

EPA’s Workshop on Environmental Behavior and Decision-Making, February
13-14, 2008: Presented on the design, sample, and questions for N-SAS to
academic researchers and EPA staff interested in evaluating voluntary
programs and information-based programs.  Conference participants
provided feedback and suggestions for questions.

Peer Review

The draft survey instrument was peer reviewed by two academic experts,
Dr. Mathew Neidell (Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia
University) and Dr. Debbie Bennett (U. of California, Davis).  The peer
reviewers were asked to provide written comments on the topics included
in the survey, the question wording, the proposed sample (age 35 and
over), and the administration method (Knowledge Networks’ web panel). 
The comments from these reviewers included specific comments on the
questions included and the wording of the questions, as well as
questions about the choice of days for the activity diaries.  The
comments were incorporated into the final design of N-SAS.

Peer Review of Final Report

A final report summarizing the results from the data collection will be
peer reviewed by three outside experts in fields such as economics,
public health, risk communication, or risk/exposure analysis.

Publication plans: EPA intends to publish the results from the survey in
peer-reviewed journals.

A9. Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents 

Upon agreeing to be a Knowledge Networks panel member, Knowledge
Networks respondents are given free hardware, free Web access, free
e-mail accounts for each panel member, and ongoing technical support. 
While these products/services are provided to facilitate the data
collection methodology, respondents are given free usage of the products
for personal use, and these benefits are also used as an incentive for
recruiting potential panel members.  

N-SAS research participants in the study will be offered a small cash
incentive to complete all the activity diaries and the debriefing
survey.  The total amount for completing all nine surveys will be $36. 
The honorarium is intended to recognize the time burden placed on the
participants, encourage their cooperation, and to convey appreciation
for contributing to this important study.  Numerous empirical studies
have shown that honoraria can significantly increase response rates
(e.g., Abreu & Winters, 1999; Shettle & Mooney, 1999).  The decision to
use honoraria for this study is based on findings reported in current
research publications and several projects conducted by Knowledge
Networks and RTI, which found that use of an honorarium increases
response rates among adults.

A10. Confidentiality

	Knowledge Networks maintains the web panel from which the sample will
be recruited.  Appendix B contains a description of Knowledge
Network’s security. Identifying information including names, address,
and other personal information about the panel members will not be
included in the data released to EPA staff or staff from RTI
International, the contractor coordinating the survey and analysis.  The
RTI’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviewed all instruments,
informed consent materials, and procedures to ensure that the rights of
individuals participating in the study are safeguarded.  RTI maintains
restricted access to all data.  All data files on multi-user systems
will be under the control of a database manager, with access limited to
project staff on a “need-to-know” basis only.  Knowledge Networks
has developed a secure transmission and collection protocol, including
the use of system passwords and two separate sets of firewalls to
prevent unauthorized access to the system.  Neither questionnaires nor
survey/screener responses are stored onto the WebTV box installed in
Knowledge Networks respondents’ homes; questionnaires are administered
dynamically over the Internet. Survey and screener responses are written
in real-time directly to Knowledge Networks’ server and are then
stored in a local Oracle database.  The database is protected primarily
through firewall restrictions, password protection, and 128-bit
encryption technology.  Individual identifying information will be
maintained separately from completed screeners and questionnaires and
from computerized data files used for analysis.  Data on ineligibles
will be destroyed.  No respondent identifiers will be contained in
reports, and results will only present data in aggregate.  

A11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

No sensitive questions pertaining to private or personal information,
such as sexual behavior or religious beliefs, will be asked in the
survey.   

A12. Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs

Respondent burden is presented in Table A1.  We anticipate that email
invitations will be sent to approximately 3,266 Knowledge Network panel
members who meet the age and city requirements for N-SAS based on
profile data Knowledge Networks maintains on panel members.  Based on
previous studies, Knowledge Networks estimates that 30% of the emails
will not be opened (or 980 people will not open the survey invitation). 
2,286 panel members are expected to open the email and take the
screener.  

The screening question on activity in the last month used in the
screening survey comes from the BRFSS, and based on the results from the
BRFSS, 30% of adults in the targeted age groups will not qualify for
N-SAS (or 686 people out of 2,286).  We estimate it will take 0.05 hours
(or 3 minutes) to take the screener.  The remaining 1,600 panel members
who qualify for the study will take the screener and the baseline
survey, which we estimate will take 0.25 hours (or 15 minutes)
altogether.  

We estimate that 60% of the 1,600 research participants (or 960 people)
will complete each activity diary.   The activity diaries are estimated
to take 0.25 hours (or 15 minutes) to complete.  The response rate among
the sample taking N-SAS is expected to be lower for the activity diaries
than normal Knowledge Networks surveys because the activity diaries will
only be in the field for approximately 56 hours (8 hours the day the
invitation is sent and 48 hours afterwards).

Finally, we estimate that 70% of the 1,600 research participants will
complete the debriefing survey.  We expect the debriefing survey will
take approximately 0.33 hours (or 20 minutes) to complete.

In total, we expect 1,600 respondents to complete 10,126 surveys total
for a total burden of 2,484 hours (0.26 hours per survey per respondent
or 1.6 hours per respondent for all surveys completed).

Table A1.  Respondent Hour Burden Estimates for the N-SAS Surveys

Survey Component	 	Average time per respondent (hours)	Number of
respondents per survey component	Total person hours per survey component

	 	 

Invitation email

	Panel members who receive an initial email invitation to take the
survey

3266

	Do not open invitation email	Panel members who do not open email

980

	Open email and take screening, do not qualify	Complete screening
survey, but do not qualify for the survey	0.05	686	34

Screening and baseline	Complete screening and baseline surveys 	0.25
1600	400

Activity Diary 1	Complete diary 	0.25	960	240

Activity Diary 2	Complete diary 	0.25	960	240

Activity Diary 3	Complete diary 	0.25	960	240

Activity Diary 4	Complete diary 	0.25	960	240

Activity Diary 5	Complete diary 	0.25	960	240

Activity Diary 6	Complete diary 	0.25	960	240

Activity Diary 7	Complete diary 	0.25	960	240

 Debriefing Survey

 	

Complete debriefing survey	0.33	1120	370

 

 Total Burden (hours)	 	 

2484

Estimating Respondent Cost

Based on an average hourly wage of $27.54 (including employer costs of
all employee benefits) and the burden hours described above, the survey
authors expect that the total respondent cost $68,409 (or $6.76 per
response for 10,126 responses).

A13. Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and
Record Keepers

Estimating Labor Costs

The proposed survey is of individuals in households, so the respondent
burden will not entail any labor costs for employers.  

Estimating Capital and Operations and Maintenance Costs

The proposed survey will not entail any capital or O&M costs.

Capital/Start-up vs. Operating and Maintenance (O&M) Costs

The proposed survey will not entail any capital or O&M costs.

Annualizing Capital Costs

The proposed survey will not entail any capital costs.

A14. ESTIMATING AGENCY BURDEN AND COST

EPA will hire a contractor to administer the N-SAS surveys and to assist
in the analysis, summary, and dissemination of the survey data. In
addition, EPA estimates that, from its own personnel, it will use two
senior scientists for a total of 200 hours to oversee the survey
administration and conduct analysis at a cost of $10,000 (based on an
average annual salary of $100,000). Approximations of the expected costs
to the Agency of these activities are summarized in Table A2.

Table A2.  Estimated Agency Cost

Survey Component

Total Burden

	EPA Agency Labor

	Survey Administration	20 hours	$1,000

	Data Analysis	140 hours	$7,000

	Summary Report	40 hours	$2,000

	Contractor Support

	Survey administration

$265,000

	Survey management

$20,000

	Summary report

$15,000

 	Total

$310,000

A15.  Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments

This neither a renewal nor a modification of an existing ICR; therefore,
this section is not applicable for this ICR.

A16. Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule

	To measure and understand awareness, knowledge and behavior change
related to the AQI, analysis will be guided by the predictions from
health risk behavior theory and from the results from past studies. 
Figure 1 displays the relationship between an individual’s perceptions
and the likelihood that the individual adopts health-promoting behaviors
as modeled in health risk behavior theory.  The likelihood that an
individual changes their behavior depends on the individual’s (1)
perception of the overall magnitude of the risk, (2) perception of their
own vulnerability to the risk, (3) knowledge of risk averting behaviors,
and (4) assessment of the self-efficacy of the averting behaviors (are
the behaviors effective, can the individual actually adopt the
behavior). 

	We hypothesize that an individual’s assessment of the overall
magnitude of the risks posed by air pollution will depend on variables
such as their knowledge of air pollution, demographic characteristics
(including education, age, gender, race, income), attitudes toward the
environment and the level of air pollution in the city where they live.
Their own vulnerability to 

Figure 1. Factors that Influence the Adoption of Health Behaviors

air pollution is hypothesized to be a factor of their health status,
activity patterns, as well as knowledge, demographic characteristics,
attitudes, and surroundings.  

An individual’s knowledge of the actions one might take to reduce
health risks is hypothesized to be a function of knowledge of the AQI or
some other sources of information on air pollution such as their doctor,
health status, and demographic characteristics.  Finally, the
individual’s decision about what, if any, action to take will depend
on whether the individual considers the action effective and whether the
individual has the flexibility in their schedule or budget to carry out
the action.  In addition to the individual’s appraisal of the
action’s effectiveness, demographic characteristics, health status,
employment conditions, commuting options and neighborhood
characteristics are hypothesized to affect the final decision to take
action.  

Modeling behavior change in response to an AQI alert using the data from
the activity diaries also requires data to control for other factors
that affect the amount of time an individual spends outside and the
flexibility of their schedule.  If these factors are associated with
activity patterns, then failure to control for them may bias the
estimated coefficients or test statistics and/or reduce the efficiency
of the estimates (inflate the standard errors). Important factors
include 

neighborhood characteristics 

N-SAS includes urban/suburban/rural distinction

Information on research participant’s Census Block (provided by
Knowledge Networks) provides approximate measures of distance to city
center and major roadways, population density, dominant housing type,
lot size, and amount of open space nearby

employment status and job characteristics

N-SAS includes employment status, number of jobs and hours worked,
physical requirements of the job, and approximate time outdoors at job

health

N-SAS includes general health and specific respiratory and heart
conditions

demographic characteristics such as age, gender, income

N-SAS includes income, household size, language spoken at home

Knowledge Networks’ profile includes age, gender, race, education, and
marital status

household composition and care-giving responsibilities

and climate variables such as temperature, humidity, precipitation,
ozone level and other pollutant levels

Information on weather will be obtained from NOAA weather data and
information on ozone and PM will be obtained from EPA monitoring data

	The choice of variables included in N-SAS reflects the trade-off
between research participant burden and the utility of the information. 
Table A3 lists the questions in the surveys (screening, baseline,
activity diary and debriefing) and the reason the questions were
included.

Table A3. Survey Questions and Reason for Inclusion

Survey Questions	Reason for Inclusion

	From Screener Survey

	Screener Q. 2 (activity level in last month)	Focus sample on
individuals who are active, do not want large number of individuals who
are not active

Screener Q. 3-5	Presence of others in the household affects behavior
patterns, Knowledge Networks profile data can be up to a year old, so
need to ask households for updates

	From Baseline Survey

	Baseline Q. 1 – 12 (Outdoor time and activity yesterday)	To compare
with activity diary data and to compare individuals who complete all or 
most diaries with those who do not

Baseline Q13 (Time in vehicle yesterday)	To compare with activity diary
data and to compare individuals who complete all or  most diaries with
those who do not

Baseline Q14 - 16 (exercise in typical week in summer)	To compare with
activity diary data and to compare individuals who complete all or  most
diaries with those who do not

Baseline Q. 17-26 (chronic health conditions)	Past research has found
differences in AQI awareness and in activity patterns between
individuals with chronic health conditions or generally poor health and
those who are in good health

Baseline Q 27 (type of vehicle)	Assess AQI awareness and behavior change
among those who drive low mileage vehicles (minivans, vans, SUV, pickup)
and those who drive higher mileage vehicles.  

Baseline Q 28 (live in urban, suburban or rural area)	Assess AQI
awareness and behavior change among those who live in urban versus
suburban or rural areas.  Past research has found differences in
activity patterns between urban, suburban and rural areas.

Baseline Q29 (years in city)	Assess AQI awareness for individuals who
have lived in the city for different amounts of time.

Baseline Q. 30-31 (language spoken at home)	Assess AQI awareness for
individuals who do not speak English at home.

Baseline Q. 32-36 (employment status and job characteristics)	AQI
awareness and activity patterns have been found to vary based on
employment status and job characteristics.

Baseline Q. 37-39 (commute)	Activity patterns have been found to vary
based on commuting patterns.

Baseline Q. 40 (ownership of various emission sources)	To assess AQI
awareness and time outdoors for individuals who own recreational
equipment or wood burning stoves and fireplaces and to compare ownership
of these items across respondents who complete all or most of the
diaries and those who do not 

Baseline Q. 41 (housing type)	Activity patterns have been found to vary
based on the built environment in which an individual lives, including
their housing type

Baseline Q. 42 (income)	Provide an update to information on income in
Knowledge Networks’ profile variables.

Baseline Q. 43 (politics)	Assess AQI awareness by self-reported
political orientation and  to compare across respondents who complete
all or most of the diaries and those who do not

Baseline Q. 44 (questions to check for potential for providing socially
acceptable responses)	Questions taken from a measure of the likelihood
that individuals provide “socially acceptable” survey responses,
these have been used in other research and found to be significant
predictors. 

	From Activity Diaries

	Diary Q. 1-14 (time spent on each activity, activity category,
location, exertion level)	Test for changes in behavior, provide activity
data for the Consolidated Human Activity Database (CHAD)

Diary Q 15-17 (more or less time outdoors than usual and reasons)	To
control for reasons unrelated to air quality that the individual spent
more or less time outdoors and to calculate correlation between
perceptions of air quality and actual air quality.

Diary Q. 18-19 (Symptoms and medications)	To control for symptoms and
medication use that can affect time outdoors.

Diary Q. 20 (Windows open)	To better estimate exposure.

	From Debriefing Survey

	Q. 1- 5 (air pollution sources and seasons in city)	To measure
knowledge of local air pollution conditions and perception of air
pollution problem (Health risk behavior model)

Q. 6, 8 (general impact of air pollution on quality of life and  health)
Measure perception of the overall magnitude of the air pollution problem
(Health risk behavior model)

Q 7, 9, 10-12 (impact of air pollution on individual)	Measure perception
of personal vulnerability to air pollution risks

Q. 13-16 (changes in life due to air pollution)	Measure reported
behavior in response to perception of air pollution

Q 17-22 (actions to reduce personal emissions and exposure)	Measure
knowledge of actions an individual can take to reduce emissions and
exposure (Health risk behavior model)

Q. 23-24 (actions individual reports taking and why)	Measure reported
behavior by individual to compare with behavior reported in the diary
and for health risk behavior model

Q. 25-35 (awareness of AQI warning systems, reported use of warning
systems)	Measure awareness and knowledge of AQI warning systems  and
reported use of the warnings

Q. 36-37 (questions about pollution in city)	Measure knowledge of
pollutants in city and AQI forecast

	A number of the questions used in N-SAS have been used in other
surveys, and so the wording of these questions has been tested and
validated.  Appendix A lists the questions have been taken from other
surveys.  In most cases we used the exact wording of the question to
take advantage of the survey instrument testing that has already been
conducted for the other survey, although in some cases we modified the
response categories or wording of the question to fit the mode of
administration and flow of N-SAS instruments.

Analysis of the N-SAS data will consist of several parts.  An initial
report on the surveys will be produced when the data have been
collected.  The analyses for the survey report will consist of
descriptive statistics (frequencies, crosstabs, t-tests, and
Chi-squares) to examine the characteristics of the research
participants, explore the potential for inferential analyses, and test
for potential between-group differences.  After this basic analysis, the
data from the baseline, activity diaries and debriefing surveys will be
used to assess hypotheses about differences in awareness, knowledge and
actual behavior within the N-SAS sample.

	Table A4 lists the primary measures that will be estimated, the basic
data needed for the estimation and the analysis approach.

Table A4. Measures, Data and Analysis for N-SAS

Measure	Data	General Analysis Approach

Accountability

Extent of awareness of the AQI 	Debriefing survey, questions asking name
of AQI warning system, familiarity with systems	Calculate means,
medians, range

Extent of knowledge about air pollution, actions to reduce exposure and
emissions, health impacts	Debriefing survey, questions about air
pollution in their city, actions people can take, health impacts
Calculate means, medians, range

Difference in awareness and knowledge across sub-groups of the research
participants	Baseline data on the characteristics of the research
participants and debriefing questions on awareness and knowledge
Statistically significant differences in means between sub-groups of the
research participants

Behavior change -- Reduction in time outdoors on high ozone days (or
time outdoors during peak ozone hours) 	Activity diaries - total time
outdoors (or outdoors during peak ozone hours) in minutes for each day,
high ozone day indicator variable (versus low), weather, individual and
city variables 	Random effects panel regression, test for significant
negative coefficient on “high ozone day” variable indicating total
time outdoors lower on high ozone days, controlling for other factors

Behavior change – Reduction in exertion level during the day (or
during peak ozone hours)	Activity diaries – exertion level for outdoor
activities, minutes of outdoor time at each exertion level, high ozone
day indicator variable (versus low), weather, individual and city
variables	*Create a continuous variable by converting exertion
categories into average “mets”, use a random effects panel
regression, test for significant negative coefficient on “high ozone
day”

*Create an exertion-weighted time outdoors and estimate model to test
for significant effect of “high ozone day” variable on
exertion-weighted time outdoors

Behavior change – Reduction in time spent driving a personal car on
high ozone days (or during peak ozone hours)	Activity diaries – Total
time driving personal vehicle in minutes, high ozone day indicator
variable, weather, individual and city variables 	Random effects panel
regression, test for significant negative coefficient on “high ozone
day” variable indicating total time in car lower on high ozone days,
controlling for other factors

Differences in behavior change across sub-groups of the research
participants	Activity diaries, baseline and debriefing surveys.	Test the
significance of coefficients in the random effects panel regressions for
differences across sub-groups in behavior.

Exposure Modeling

Provide activity data for the Consolidated Human Activity Database
(CHAD)	Activity diaries – time spent on each activity, activity
category, location, exertion level	Activity data added to data in CHAD
to create exposure profiles

	An estimated collection and reporting schedule for N-SAS is summarized
in Table A5.

Table A5.  Collection Schedule for N-SAS

Activity	

	Duration of Each

 	Activity 

	(in days)	

	Total Elapsed Time Following OMB Approval 

(in days)

Finalize revisions and programming of survey instruments	20	20

Administer screening surveys	15	35

Administer activity diaries	90	125

Administer debriefing survey	20	145

Basic survey report (review, summarize and analyze final data)	90	235

Manuscript to submit to peer reviewed journal (at least one)	180	415

 

17.	Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate

	We do not seek approval to eliminate the expiration date.

18.	Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions 

	There are no exceptions to the certification statement.

	

Appendix A    

	1350 Willow Road Suite 102

Menlo Park, CA 94025

Survey Systems Infrastructure

Network, Data-Center Infrastructure, Data Lifecycle Management &
Security Practices

Effective June 7, 2007

Authored by : Jeremy Launier

Table of Contents  TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055022"  Contacts	  PAGEREF _Toc173055022 \h  13 

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055023"  Network Summary	  PAGEREF _Toc173055023
\h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055024"  WAN	  PAGEREF _Toc173055024 \h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055025"  Co-location Facility	  PAGEREF
_Toc173055025 \h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055026"  Survey Data Information Life-cycle	 
PAGEREF _Toc173055026 \h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055027"  Data Collection	  PAGEREF _Toc173055027
\h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055028"  Data Processing	  PAGEREF _Toc173055028
\h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055029"  Data delivery	  PAGEREF _Toc173055029 \h
 13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055030"  Data Retention	  PAGEREF _Toc173055030
\h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055031"  Security Policy	  PAGEREF _Toc173055031
\h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055032"  Identifiable versus Non-identifiable
Data	  PAGEREF _Toc173055032 \h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055033"  Role-based Security	  PAGEREF
_Toc173055033 \h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055034"  Password Policy	  PAGEREF _Toc173055034
\h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055035"  Security Auditing	  PAGEREF
_Toc173055035 \h  13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055036"  Monitoring	  PAGEREF _Toc173055036 \h 
13  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055037"  Supplemental Diagrams	  PAGEREF
_Toc173055037 \h  Error! Bookmark not defined.  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055038"  Appendix 1a:  WAN Diagram	  PAGEREF
_Toc173055038 \h  Error! Bookmark not defined.  

  HYPERLINK \l "_Toc173055039"  Appendix 1b:  Co-location Facility
Diagram	  PAGEREF _Toc173055039 \h  Error! Bookmark not defined.  

 

Contacts

For questions or comments about this document’s content or to request
changes to the document, contact:

Name	Responsibility	Email	Phone Number

Michel Floyd	Chief Technical Officer	  HYPERLINK
"mailto:mfloyd@knowledgenetworks.com"  mfloyd@knowledgenetworks.com 
(650) 289-2098

Jeremy Launier	Vice President, IT	  HYPERLINK
"mailto:jlaunier@knowledgenetworks.com"  jlaunier@knowledgenetworks.com 
(650) 289-2103

Arpit Joshi	Senior Database Admin	  HYPERLINK
"mailto:ajoshi@knowledgenetworks.com"  ajoshi@knowledgenetworks.com 
(650) 289-2016

Vince Parras	Senior Systems/Network Admin	  HYPERLINK
"mailto:vparras@knowledgenetworks.com"  vparras@knowledgenetworks.com 
(650) 289-2055

Ramesh Kan	Director of CRM Solutions	  HYPERLINK
"mailto:rkan@knowledgenetworks.com"  rkan@knowledgenetworks.com 	(650)
289-2032

Network Summary

WAN 

Knowledge Networks’ Wide Area network (  HYPERLINK
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wide_Area_Network"  WAN ) is setup as a  
HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesh_networks"  fully-meshed 
cloud, which means that any site can directly connect to any other site
without additional routing or single points of failure.  Each office
location is designed to automatically fail over to a secondary Internet
connection if there is any disruption of service with the primary WAN. 
In practice, this has given us close to 100% uptime.    HYPERLINK  \l
"_Appendix_1a:__Knowledge Networks’ W"  See appendix 1a for Knowledge
Networks’ WAN diagram .

Co-location Facility

Most of Knowledge Networks’ critical services, including all of the
servers used for online surveys, are hosted at a physically secured
co-location facility in the San Francisco Bay area.  This facility
incorporates the latest physical security through biometric readers and
mobile cameras to ensure that physical access is restricted to
authorized personnel only.  In addition, this facility maintains N+2
redundant power through diesel power generators and   HYPERLINK
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uninterruptible_Power_Supply"  UPS 
systems.  The LAN at the facility is setup with redundancy wherever
possible.  The edge of our network is protected by fully redundant,
clustered Cisco  HYPERLINK
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firewall_%28networking%29" firewalls . 
These firewalls protect against incoming access from the Internet and
help to ensure that only authorized connections to our web servers are
allowed.  The rest of the LAN is segmented into, secured Virtual LANs ( 
HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLAN"  VLANs   HYPERLINK
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLAN"   ) to separate out the different
tiers of our services.  These VLANs host connections to over 50 servers,
including a completely load-balanced online survey system, a fully
redundant Network Appliance storage system, and a fully redundant IBM
Bladecenter.    HYPERLINK  \l "_Appendix_1b:__Co-location Facility " 
See appendix 1b for Knowledge Networks’ co-location facility diagram .

Survey Data Information Life-cycle

Data Collection  

Survey data is collected by a web-based survey system that we internally
refer to as “Dimensions”.   This application runs on top of a
secured Windows environment that has been hardened through various
network and hosted-based security techniques.  Our panelists take online
surveys by using a web-browser to access a unique, secured web URL that
is both emailed to them and made available through a secured web-portal.
 The URL provides access to click through to a highly-available
load-balanced farm of web servers that hosts the online survey.  This
survey URL can be exposed via either standard http or over SSL and TLS
encrypted https, depending on the client requirements.    KN employs
HTTP as the default; however, SSL is available upon request from the
client.  Throughout the interview process, questionnaire data is copied
to a secured, centralized database for data processing.

Data Processing

Survey data is extracted from Dimensions through a secured, internal
web-portal.  While it is being cleaned up and analyzed, it is typically
stored on secured file servers, local workstations, and email within our
internal network.  In all cases, access to these storage locations is
restricted to authorized access by specific groups and individuals
through role-based security.

Data delivery

While data can be delivered by a variety of different means, our default
method is to send an unencrypted file as an attachment via email.  If
required by the client, we can offer the following alternatives:  in
person delivery, delivery via CD-ROM, FTP download, password protected
zip file, https web portal downloads.

Data Retention

In most cases client data is left in place on our primary storage
systems until we reach physical space limits.  At that time, data is
archived to a secondary storage system with the same security
restrictions in place.  Survey data is also backed up on a nightly basis
to a disk-based backup system.  Nightly backups are maintained for up to
90 days before the data is purged and the space is reused.  This system
is restricted to authorized IT staff.

All the survey data are permanently archived.  On a case by case basis,
we can purge the survey data if a client requests this of us.

Security Policy

Identifiable versus Non-identifiable Data

Identifying and non-identifying data has been separated into two
different databases, using a   HYPERLINK
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Role-Based_Access_Control"  role-based
security  model.  Internal research analyst access is solely restricted
to survey data, with absolutely no access to identifying information,
while our panel management team has access to identifying data but
absolutely no access to survey data.  If needed, survey data can be
further restricted to individual research analysts so that analysts
working on a specific client projects won’t have access to data from
other client projects.

With the need to support various systems effectively, certain senior
members of the IT and engineering team have access to both roles.   

Role-based Security

Our role-based security is designed around the principle of least
privilege.  That is, our data is classified as being accessible to
either members of an identifiable data role or a non-identifiable data
role.

The following groups within the company have access to identifiable
data:

Panel Management Team

Senior Software Engineering team

Senior IT Team

The following groups within the company have access to non-identifiable
data (questionnaire data):

Research Analysts

Client Service team members

Scripting Teams

Statistics

Senior Engineering Team

Senior IT Team

Password Policy

Knowledge Networks’ panel member passwords are designed to be easy to
remember but difficult to guess.  With that in mind, secure access to
our panel member web-portal is determined by someone entering the
appropriate email address and password.  Panel member passwords are
stored in a secured state within our panel management database software.
 

Knowledge Networks’ internal password policies use the following
guidelines:

Strong Passwords with at least three distinct types of special
characters

Passwords with at least 7 characters in length

Password expirations after 90 days

History of over 20 passwords per user account (This means a user needs
to cycle through 20 passwords before they are allowed to reuse an old
one)

Password lockout after  4 failed attempts

Security Auditing

All of our critical servers and network devices are constantly
monitoring for authorized and unauthorized access to data.  This is
recorded in log files and reviewed on a regular basis.  In addition, as
mentioned earlier, we employ the use of host based intrusion detection
systems to check for hacking attempts and or unauthorized changes to our
systems.  If a security breach occurs, that compromises the
confidentiality of our identifiable data, we will notify any client that
require this information disclosure.

We also use a centrally managed anti-virus solution from McAfee Inc., to
proactively manage all of the Windows computers on our network, ranging
from file servers to laptops.  This helps us to ensure that data isn’t
being secretly siphoned off to some unknown source on the Internet.

Monitoring

Our centralized monitoring system,   HYPERLINK
"http://www.ipswitch.com/Products/WhatsUp/"  Ipswitch’s Whatsup ,
checks services every minute. We use   HYPERLINK
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNMP"  SNMP  and http content scans to
monitor all necessary services, systems and applications. We
automatically receive service failure notifications through email and  
HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service"  SMS  on
our cell phones. 

Appendix C: Survey Instruments including Screener/Baseline, Activity
Diary, and Debriefing Survey Instruments

C1. Screener and Baseline Surveys

Screening Questions

Thank you for your interest in this survey. In this survey we will ask
you about issues related to your quality of life.  This survey is being
conducted by Research Triangle Institute, a non-profit research
organization. 

Please first answer some questions about your situation to confirm that
you are eligible to participate in the survey. If you have any problems
or concerns about this survey, please contact Panel Relations at
800-782-7699, and someone will direct your questions to the appropriate
researchers at Research Triangle Institute. 

 “During the past month, did you participate in any physical
activities or exercises such as running, calisthenics, golf, gardening,
or walking for exercise for work or for leisure?”   

Yes

No

How many people live in your household, including yourself?

_______ people

How many children (less than 18 years old) currently live in your
household?

_____children

Are you currently living with a spouse or partner? 

Yes

No

If “no” to Q1, then:  “Thank you for your interest, but you are
not eligible for today’s survey.”

Baseline Survey

The next set of questions asks about your outdoor activities yesterday. 
We know it can be hard to remember, but please try to answer as
accurately as you can.

Thinking about yesterday, did you spend any time outside between the
time you woke up and 12:00 noon? Please only include times when you were
outside for at least 10 minutes continuously. Do not include time spent
in your car or other vehicle.

Yes [skip to Q3]

No[skip to Q5]

Don’t know

[if Don’t know] Okay, let’s start when you woke up; think carefully
about each activity you did after you woke up and before noon. Did you
do anything outside for at least 10 minutes?  

Yes

No [skip to Q5]

How much time did you spend outside?  Please provide your best estimate.

Hours___, minutes_______

Now I want to ask you about your activities when you were outside. 
During this time, did you engage in moderate or vigorous physical
activity? Moderate activities cause only light sweating or a slight to
moderate increase in breathing or heart rate. Some examples are brisk
walking, bicycling for pleasure, golf, or dancing.  Vigorous activities
cause heavy sweating or large increases in breathing or heart rate. 

Yes

No

Now let’s move on.  Did you spend any time outside between 12:00 noon
and 4:00 pm in the afternoon? Again, please only include times when you
were outside for at least 10 minutes continuously and do not include
time spent in your car or other vehicle.

Yes[skip to Q7]

No [skip to Q9]

Don’t know

[if Don’t know] Okay, let’s start at noon; think carefully about
each activity you did after noon and before 4:00 pm. Did you do anything
outside for at least 10 minutes?  

Yes

No [skip to Q9]

How much time did you spend outside? Please provide your best estimate.

Hours___, minutes_______

During this time, did you engage in any moderate or vigorous physical
activity? Remember, Moderate activities cause only light sweating or a
slight to moderate increase in breathing or heart rate. Some examples
are brisk walking, bicycling for pleasure, golf, or dancing.  Vigorous
activities cause heavy sweating or large increases in breathing or heart
rate. 

Yes

No

Now, please think about the end of the day. Did you spend any time
outside after 4:00 pm? Again, please only include times when you were
outside for at least 10 minutes continuously and do not include time
spent in your car or other vehicle.

Yes [skip to Q11]

No [skip to Q13]

Don’t know

[if Don’t know] Okay, let’s start with 4:00 pm; think carefully
about each activity you did after 4:00 pm. Did you do anything outside
for at least 10 minutes?  

Yes

No [skip to Q13]

How much time did you spend outside? Please provide your best estimate.

Hours___, minutes_______

During this time, did you engage in any moderate or vigorous physical
activity? Remember, Moderate activities cause only light sweating or a
slight to moderate increase in breathing or heart rate. Some examples
are brisk walking, bicycling for pleasure, golf, or dancing.  Vigorous
activities cause heavy sweating or large increases in breathing or heart
rate. 

Yes

No

Yesterday, how much time total did you spend driving or riding in a
vehicle? Again, please give us your best estimate.

____ hours and ____ minutes

During a typical week in the summer (June, July or August) do you
exercise or engage in other moderate or vigorous physical activity at
least 2 times a week for your job or for leisure? This could be either
indoors or outdoors.

Yes

No [skip to Q17]

In the summer, does your physical activity usually take place only
indoors, only outdoors, or both indoors and outdoors?

Only indoors [skip to Q17]

Only outdoors

Both indoors and outdoors

Thinking about the times you are outdoors and physically active in the
summer, on average how many minutes of moderate or vigorous physical
activity do you do per day on days when you are active? This could be
activity for work or leisure.

________minutes

These next questions are about your health. Would you say that in
general your health is excellent, very good, good, fair or poor? 

Excellent

Very good 

Good 

Fair 

Poor 

Do you have any allergies to grasses, pollen, or other plants?

Yes

No

Don’t know

Has a doctor ever told you that you have high blood pressure? 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Has a doctor ever told you that you have heart disease? 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Has a doctor ever told you that you have heart failure or congestive
heart failure? 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Has a doctor ever told you that you had a stroke? 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Has a doctor ever told you that you have asthma? 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Do you still have asthma? 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Has a doctor ever told you that you have a lung disease other than
asthma, such as emphysema or COPD? COPD means Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease and is also known as Chronic Lower Respiratory
Disease. Do not include Tuberculosis (TB). 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Do you have any other health conditions that limit the amount of time
you spend outdoors?

yes

no

What type of vehicle do you usually drive? 

Regular fuel car

Hybrid or biofuel car

Minivan 

Full-size Passenger Van 

SUV 

Motorcycle 

Pickup 

Other, __________

I do not drive

How would you describe where you live?

Urban setting

Suburban setting

Rural setting

How many years have you lived in [name of city]?

____Years

Do you speak a language other than English at home? 

Yes

No [skip to Q32]

If yes, what language____________

Are you currently employed?

Yes

No [skip to Q40]

How many jobs do you currently have?

1

2

3

4

More than 4

In an average week how many hours do you work in total for all paid
jobs?

0-10 hours

11-20 hours

21-30 hours

31-40 hours

41-50 hours

51-60 hours

More than 60 hours

If you have more than one job, answer the next five questions for the
job at which you spend the most hours.

When you are at work, which of the following best describes what you do?

Mostly sitting (at a desk or table) or 

Mostly standing

Mostly walking, but not heavy labor

Mostly heavy labor or physically demanding work

When you are at work, which of the following best describes how much
time you spend outdoors?

All or most of my time at work is spent outdoors

About half my time at work is spent outdoors

A quarter or less of my time at work is spent outdoors

I do not spend any time at work outdoors

How did you usually get to work last week? If you usually use more than
one method of transportation during your trip to work, select the one
used for most of the distance. 

Alone in a car, truck, or van

With at least one other adult in a car, truck, or van

Bus, trolley, or streetcar

Subway, elevated train, or railroad

Ferryboat

Motorcycle

Bicycle

Walked

Worked at home [skip to Q40]

Other

How many minutes did it usually take you to get from home to work last
week?

____ minutes

How many miles is your one way trip to work?

____miles

Do you own any of the following?

Wood stove

Wood burning fire place

Natural gas fire place

Motorboat or personal watercraft (PWC)

Motorhome or RV

Snowmobile

Bicycle

Which best describes the building you live in? 

A mobile home

A one-family house detached from any other house

A one-family house attached to one or more other houses

A building with 2 apartments

A building with 3 or more apartments

Boat, RV, van, etc.

Other, ______________

Which of the following income categories best describes your total 2007
household income before taxes?

Less than $10,000		

$10,000 to $14,999

$15,000 to $24,999

$25,000 to $34,999

$35,000 to $49,999

$50,000 to $74,999

$75,000 to $99,999

$100,000 to $149,999

$150,000 to $199,999

$200,000 or more

When it comes to politics do you usually think of yourself as

Extremely liberal

Liberal

Slightly liberal

Moderate or middle of the road

Slightly conservative

Conservative

Extremely conservative

I haven’t thought about this much

Please rate the following statements for yourself

	1 

Not true 	2	3	4	5 

Very True 

  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 It would be hard for me to break any of my bad
habits.

	  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 I always know why I like things.

	

Thank you for completing the survey.  This survey is part of a research
project on daily activities.  You have been selected to participate in
the next step in the research project.  To collect more information
about individuals’ activities, we will be sending you a set of
activity diaries.  An activity diary is a survey that asks you questions
about what you did during the day.  The data from these diaries will be
used to provide a better understanding of how people spend their day.
The data collected from these diaries will be kept confidential – as
always, your name will never be associated with the information from the
surveys you take.  

We will be sending you a total of 7 activity diaries this summer. 
First, we will ask you to fill out diaries for 4 days in a row and then
later in the summer you will fill out diaries for another 3 days in a
row.  To alert you that a diary will be coming, you will receive an
email 2 days before we send the first diary.  We designed the diaries so
that they will be easy to fill out, so the diary surveys shouldn’t
take more than about 10 minutes to complete.

Your participation in this survey is very important for the overall
success of the research project. You are part of a group of 1,600 people
who will be completing activity diaries, and for our sample to be
representative we need everyone to participate.

To thank you for your participation, you will receive a $36 bonus for
completing all the surveys in this project.

C2. Activity Diary

base: all respondents

In this survey, we are asking you to fill out a “diary” of various
activities that you did on INSERT DATE.  It may be hard to remember what
you did and when, but it is important to this research project for you
to give us the most accurate information possible. The information from
your diary and the other people taking these surveys will be used for
studies of activity patterns.  

Please be assured that any information you provide will be kept strictly
confidential.  Your name will not be provided to anyone outside
Knowledge Networks and you answers will never be linked to your name.

Remember that you will earn **** points/dollars for taking this survey
and **** if you fill out all seven days of diary surveys we will send
you.

Let’s begin.

base: respONDENTS WHO ENTERED SURVEY AFTER 48 HOURS OF INVITATION

[if more than 48 hours since INSERT DATE] Unfortunately the deadline for
filling out this diary has passed.  Diaries need to be filled out within
48 hours of when we send you the invitation.  Please keep checking for
additional opportunities to fill out up to 7 diaries in total.  

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS  

Q1:  What time did you wake up on INSERT DATE?

01	12:00 A.M

…

02	6:00 A.M.		

03	6:15 A.M.		

04	6:30 A.M.		

05	6:45 A.M.		

06	7:00 A.M.		

07	7:15 A.M.		

08	7:30 A.M.		

09	7:45 A.M.		

10	8:00 A.M.		

11	8:15 A.M.

…		

59  11:45 P.M.

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

Q2:  When you got woke up on INSERT DATE, where were you?

Indoors at

Home 

Work or school

Other's home

Indoors other [go to Q2.1]     

Outdoors at

Home or near home

Work or school 

Other's home 

A parking lot/garage 

A park or natural area

Outdoors other [go to Q2.1]    

In a vehicle 

A private vehicle (for example, car, truck, taxi)

A public vehicle (for example, bus, train, airplane)

Other vehicle 

Q2.1 [if chose “other”] What other place were you? _________________

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

Q3: Now think about the first thing you did immediately after waking up
at [programmer note: insert response from q3].  Please pick the type of
activity from the following list or tell us what you did by choosing the
“other” category. 

Shower, bathe, personal hygiene

Eat 

Sleep/Nap 

Work (any paid work)

Childcare

Caregiving for an adult

General household activities

General leisure activities 

Shop, run errands

Attend classes

Exercise, participate in sports

Travel to another destination [skip to Q4.2]

Other

Q3.1 [if chose other 99] What other activity did you do?____________

Q3.2 [if activity is “travel”] Method of travel

Car

Hybrid car

Minivan 

Full-size Passenger Van 

SUV 

Motorcycle 

Pickup truck 

Walking/Running to destination

Riding on a bus, 

Riding on a train, subway or light rail

Commercial vehicle

Bicycle, Skate, etc. to destination

Airplane

Boat

Other method

Q3.3 [if chose other 99] What other method of travel did you
use?____________

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

Q4: What was your level of activity?  Please select the level of
activity from the list below.

□

Sedentary 	For example, sitting	Low	□

Light 	For example, standing	Low active	□

Moderate	Moderate activities cause only light sweating or a slight to
moderate increase in breathing or heart rate. Some examples are brisk
walking, bicycling for pleasure, golf, or dancing.  	Moderate	□

Vigorous	Vigorous activities cause moderate sweating or large increases
in breathing or heart rate. An example is jogging.	Heavy/vigorous		□

Maximal exertion	Maximal exertion activities cause heavy sweating or
large increases in breathing or heart rate. An example is running hard.
Maximal exertion		□

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

The table below lists all your activities so far.  If you need to change
one of your responses, please click on the item you need to change and
use the drop down list to select the correct response. 

Time	Activity	Location or Method of travel	Activity Level

Before Q1	Wake up and get out of bed	Q2	Sleep

Q1	Q3	Q2	Q4

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

Q5  What time did you finish [insert Q3]?

Time [PROGRAMMER NOTE: SHOW CHOICES FROM Q1, Starting with Q1.]

01	12:00 A.M

…

02	6:00 A.M.		

03	6:15 A.M.		

04	6:30 A.M.		

05	6:45 A.M.		

06	7:00 A.M.		

07	7:15 A.M.		

08	7:30 A.M.		

09	7:45 A.M.		

10	8:00 A.M.		

11	8:15 A.M.

…		

59  11:45 P.M.

Q6  Now think about the next thing you did.  Please pick the type of
activity from the following list or tell us what you did by choosing the
“other” category. 

	

Shower, bathe, personal hygiene

Eat 

Sleep/Nap 

Work (any paid work)

Childcare

Caregiving for an adult

General household activities

General leisure activities 

Shop, run errands

Attend classes

Exercise, participate in sports

Travel to another destination [skip to Q9]

Other

Q6.1 [if chose other 99]	What other activity did you do? _______________

Q7: Where were you? 

Indoors at

Home [skip to 8 or 10 as appropriate]

Work or school

Other's home

Indoors other         

Outdoors at

Home or near home[skip to 8 or 10 as appropriate]

Work or school 

Other's home 

A parking lot/garage 

A park or natural area

Outdoors other

Q7.1 [if chose other]	What other place were you? _____________________

Q8: (if change from own home to other place or back with no travel): (if
change from own home to other place with no travel):  During your last
activity, you were [insert location from last activity] and now you are
[insert location from current activity].  Is this correct?

01 Yes

02 No [return to Q7]

Q8.1 How did you get from Q2 to Q7?

Car

Hybrid car

Minivan 

Full-size Passenger Van 

SUV 

Motorcycle 

Pickup truck 

Walking/Running to destination

Riding on a bus, 

Riding on a train, subway or light rail

Commercial vehicle

Bicycle, Skate, etc. to destination

Airplane

Boat

Other method

Q8.2 [if chose other 99] What other method of travel did you
use?____________

Q9 [if activity is “travel”] Method of travel

Car

Hybrid car

Minivan 

Full-size Passenger Van 

SUV 

Motorcycle 

Pickup truck 

Walking/Running to destination

Riding on a bus, 

Riding on a train, subway or light rail

Commercial vehicle

Bicycle, Skate, etc. to destination

Airplane

Boat

Other method

Q9.1 [if chose other 99] What other method of travel did you
use?____________

Q10: What was you level of activity?

□

Sedentary 	For example, sitting	Low	□

Light 	For example, standing	Low active	□

Moderate	Moderate activities cause only light sweating or a slight to
moderate increase in breathing or heart rate. Some examples are brisk
walking, bicycling for pleasure, golf, or dancing.  	Moderate	□

Vigorous	Vigorous activities cause moderate sweating or large increases
in breathing or heart rate. An example is jogging.	Heavy/vigorous		□

Maximal exertion	Maximal exertion activities cause heavy sweating or
large increases in breathing or heart rate. An example is running hard.
Maximal exertion		□

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

The table below lists all your activities so far.  If you need to change
one of your responses, please click on the item you need to change and
use the drop down list to select the correct response. 

Time	Activity	Location or Method of travel	Activity Level

	

CONTINUE UNTIL CYCLE THROUGH 24 HOURS

Q11 On [insert date], did you leave [insert name of city]? 

Yes

No [skip to 13]

Q12 [if yes] Below is a table of your activities on [insert date] that
took place away from your home.  Please type in the name of the city
where the activity took place if it took place in another city.

Q13 You indicated that some of the activities took place at “work or
school” Do you know the address of the building where the work took
place or where you go to school?

Yes, the address is _________________ [skip to Q15]

No

Q13.1 [if no] Do you know the name of the nearest major intersection?

Yes

No

Q13.2	If you were to drive from your house to this location, how long
would it take?

01	Less than 5 minutes		

02	5 to 10 minutes		

03	10 to 20 minutes		

04	20 to 40 minutes		

05	More than 40 minutes 			

Post-diary

	

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

Q15  Think about the amount of time you spent indoors and outdoors
compared to the amount time you usually spend indoors and outdoors on
weekdays.  Using the scale below, please indicate the amount of time you
spent indoors or outdoors on [PROGRAMMER NOTE: INSERT DATE] compared to
a typical day.

A lot more 	A little more	Usual amount of		A little more	A lot more

Time indoors	time indoors	time indoors and 		time outdoors	time outdoors

				outdoors

 	 1		2		3			4		5		

BASE: SPENT A LOT OR A LITTLE MORE TIME INDOORS 

Q16 Which of the following contributed to you spending more time
indoors? Please check all that apply.

01	Your health on this day 		

02	The health of your child on this day	

03	The health of another person you care for on this day		

04	Conditions were not good outside.		

05	I had previously scheduled plans to do an indoor activity.		

06	No particular reason 

96	Other, What other reason contributed to you spending more time
indoors?

BASE: conditions outside WERE Not NICE

Q16.1  Which outdoor conditions contributed to you spending more time
indoors? Please check all that apply.

01	Too hot		

02	Too cool		

03	Too humid		

04	Poor air quality		

05	Too much dust or pollen		

06	Too much rain		

07	Too windy			

96	Other, What other reason contributed to you spending more time
indoors?

BASE: SPENT A LOT OR A LITTLE MORE TIME OUTDOORS 

Q17  Which of the following contributed to you spending more time
outdoors? Please check all that apply.

01	Conditions outside were nice

02	I had previously scheduled plans to do an outdoor activity

03  No particular reason	

96	Other, What other reason contributed to you spending more time
outdoors?

BASE: conditions outside WERE NICE

Q17.1  (md6351-md6356)  Which outdoor conditions  contributed to your
spending more time outdoors? Please check all that apply.

01	Good weather		

02	Good air quality		

03	Low dust or pollen		

96	Other, What other reason contributed to you spending more time
outdoors?

base: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

Q18  (md6401-md64012)  Did you experience any of the following symptoms
on [PROGRAMMER NOTE: INSERT DATE]? <I>Please check all that apply.</I>

	

01	Coughing		

02	Wheezing		

03	Shortness of breath		

04	Asthma attack		

05	Runny nose or other cold symptoms		

06	Nausea, stomachache		

07	Fever		

08	Earache		

09	Sore throat		

10	Chest pain		

96    Other, What other symptoms did you experience?

97	I did not experience any symptoms on [PROGRAMMER NOTE: INSERT DATE].	
	

BASE: HAVE EXPERIENCED SYMPTOMS 

Q18.1	 How long your [PROGRAMMER NOTE: INSERT RESPONSE FROM Q17] last?

1	All day		

2	Most of the day		

3	Some of the day

4	A short time		

BASE: HAVE EXPERIENCED SYMPTOMS 

Q18.2	 How would you characterize your [PROGRAMMER NOTE: INSERT RESPONSE
FROM Q17]?

1	Mild		

2	Moderate		

3	Severe		

BASE: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

Q19  Did you take any medication on [PROGRAMMER NOTE: INSERT DATE]? 
Please include prescription and over the counter medicines.

1	Yes		

2	No		

BASE: TOOK MEDICATION 

Q20 Did you take any medication that you do not usually take every day
or did you take a higher dose of a medication you usually take? 

Yes

No

Q21 What medications did you take? <I>Please enter one medication per
box.</I>

[TEXT BOX]

[TEXT BOX]

[TEXT BOX]

[TEXT BOX]

[TEXT BOX]

BASE: ALL QUALIFIED RESPONDENTS 

Q22  Did you have your windows open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on
[PROGRAMMER NOTE: INSERT DATE]?

1	Yes		

2	No		

8	Not sure			

BASE: HAD WINDOWS OPEN 

Q22.1  For how long between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. did you have your windows
open?

Q19.11			Q19.12

Hours			Minutes

[Range 0-13]		[Range 0-59]	

|__|__|                                  |__|__|			 	

Thank you for completing this survey.  We appreciate your time and
effort.

[if appropriate] You will be asked to fill out more diary surveys for
the next (1/2/3) days.  It is very important for this research study
that we get more than 1 diary from each person and ideally that we get
all 7 diaries from each person.  Don’t forget that you can earn ****
for completing all 7 diaries.

C3. Debriefing Survey

When you think about air pollution, do you consider any of the following
air pollution?

pollen from plants

yes

no

don’t know

smoke from a wood fire

yes

no

don’t know

dust from a construction site or other open area

YES

NO

don’t know

smoke from factories

Yes

No

Don’t know

exhaust from cars and trucks

yes

no

don’t know

In this survey, when we say air pollution we are not talking about
pollen.

Overall, how would you rate the level of air quality in [name of metro
area]?  Would you say it is excellent, good, fair, poor or very poor?

excellent [skip to Q5]

good

fair

poor

very poor

Please rate the level of air quality in [insert name of metro area]
during each season. [if all excellent, skip to Q5]

	Excellent	good	fair	poor	Very poor

Winter

	Spring

	Summer

	Fall

	

In some cities, air quality may be different in different parts of the
city. Do you think the air quality in the neighborhood where you live is
better, worse or about the same as the rest of the [name of city]?

Better

Worse

About the same

Don’t know

Have you ever lived somewhere else that had episodes of high air
pollution? 

yes

no

don’t know

In your opinion, can air pollution have an impact on a person’s life
or the quality of their life? 

Air pollution can have a big impact

Air pollution can have a moderate impact

Air pollution can have a small impact

Air pollution has no impact

Don’t Know

Ask Q7 only if they think air quality in their city is good or less in
Q2 and 3 or lived somewhere that had air pollution (Q6)

What about your life -- would you say air pollution currently has a big
impact, a moderate impact, a small impact or no impact on your life and
the quality of your life? 

Air pollution has a big impact

Air pollution has a moderate impact

Air pollution has a small impact

Air pollution does not affect the quality of my day-to-day life at all

Don’t Know

Ask everyone

Do you think people can experience symptoms or other health problems due
to air pollution? The health problems could be short term or long term.
Remember we are talking about air pollution, not pollen. 

Yes

No Don’t Know 

Has a doctor, nurse, or other health professional ever told you to
reduce your outdoor activity level when the air quality is bad? 

Yes

No[skip to Q13]

Don’t know

Ask Q10-12 only if think air pollution can impact health

Have you ever experienced any symptoms or developed any health problems
that you think were related to air pollution? Please think about all the
places you have lived when you answer this question.

Yes

No [skip to Q12]

Don’t know

Some people are more likely to experience health problems related to air
pollution than others.  Do you consider yourself to be more likely than
the average person your age to experience health problems related to air
pollution? 

Yes

No

Don’t know

Thinking about the other people in your household, is there anyone in
your household who is more likely than the average person their age to
experience health problems related to air pollution? 

Yes

No

Don’t know 

Ask Q13 to 16 only if they think air quality in their city is good or
less in Q2 and 3 or lived somewhere that had air pollution (Q6) and
think air pollution has some impact on day to day life (Q7)

Sometimes people make big changes in their life because of air
pollution.  Has air pollution ever been an important factor in your
decision about what city to live in?

Yes

No

I don’t know

Has air pollution ever been an important factor in your decision about
which neighborhood within the city to live in? 

Yes

No

I don’t know

Has air pollution ever been an important factor in your decision about
what job to take? 

Yes

No

I don’t know

Has air pollution ever been an important factor in your decisions about
your daily schedule or things you do during the day?  Examples might be
the time of day you exercise, how long you exercise, how you commute,
when you commute, or what activities to participate in. 

Yes

No

I don’t know

Ask everyone

Do you think there are actions that people can take to protect
themselves from exposure to air pollution? 

Yes

No [skip to Q19]

Don’t know

What actions can people take to avoid being exposed to air pollution or
to reduce the effects of being exposed?   Please list up to 3 actions.

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Here is a list of strategies that have been suggested if people want to
avoid being exposed to air pollution. In your opinion, how effective
would the strategy be in reducing someone’s exposure to air pollution
or reducing the impact air pollution had on the individual?

	Very Effective	Somewhat Effective	Not at all effective	No opinion

Spend less time outdoors

Use the air conditioner

Close the windows

Engage in less strenuous activities outdoors

Take medication

Wear a face mask

Now we would like you to think about the things a person can do to
reduce air pollution.  Do you think there are actions that people can
take to reduce their contribution to air pollution? 

Yes

No [skip to Q22]

Don’t know

 What actions can people take to reduce air pollution? Please list up to
3 actions. 

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

________________________________________________

Here is a list of strategies that have been suggested if people want to
reduce the amount of pollution in their city. In your opinion, how
effective would the strategy be in reducing the amount of air pollution?

	Very Effective	Somewhat Effective	Not at all effective	No opinion

Drive less, carpool or postpone errands

Use  public transportation

Don’t burn wood in the fireplace or wood stove

Don’t burn trash or brush

Drive a hybrid car or a car that gets good gas mileage

Postpone refueling their cars until after sundown

Postpone using gas-powered machines or tools until after sundown

Reduce electricity use

Get you car’s emissions tested regularly

Ask Q23 and 24 only if they think air quality in their city is good or
less in Q2 and 3 or lived somewhere that had air pollution (Q6) 

Now let’s go back to actions people can take to avoid exposing
themselves to air pollution and talk about things that you, personally,
might have done.  We recognize that people have very demanding schedules
and lifestyles.  Making changes to avoid air pollution can be difficult
or impossible.  For these next few questions, please give us your honest
opinions.

On days when you think air pollution is high, do you [only include
somewhat or very effective actions from Q19]

	Always	Sometimes	Rarely	Never

Spend less time outdoors

Use the air conditioner

Close the windows

Engage in less strenuous activities outdoors

Take medication

Wear a face mask

 [if never] There are lots of reasons why people do or do not do things.
What would say is the main reason that you don’t [name of activity]? 

People don’t do things like that where I live.

Air pollution is not a big enough problem here

I can’t [insert activity].

I don’t take any medication

It costs too much

I never thought about doing this

I don’t know

Now let’s go back actions people can take to reduce air pollution, and
talk about things that you, personally, have done.  Again, we realize
that some of these actions may be difficult to take.  Please give us
your honest opinions.

On days when you think air pollution is high, do you [only include
somewhat or very effective actions from Q22]

	Always	Sometimes	Rarely	Never

Drive less, carpool or postpone errands

Use  public transportation

Don’t burn wood in the fireplace or wood stove

Don’t burn trash or brush

Drive a hybrid car or a car that gets good gas mileage

Postpone refueling their cars until after sundown

Postpone using gas-powered machines or tools until after sundown

Reduce electricity use

Get you car’s emissions tested regularly

[if no] Again, there are lots of reasons why people do or do not do
things. What would say is the main reason that you don’t [name of
activity]? 

I am worried about air pollution, but I don’t think this will help
reduce air pollution levels.

Air pollution is not a big enough problem here

People don’t do things like that where I live

I can’t [insert activity].

I don’t drive

I don’t have any gas powered machines or tools

The reduction in air pollution would be so small it wouldn’t matter

It costs too much.

I never thought about doing this.

I don’t know

Ask everyone

During the past year, have you heard, read or seen any news stories,
articles or public service announcements about air pollution in your
city? We are interested in what you have heard about your city, not
national or international air pollution.

Yes

No [skip to Q27]

Don’t know [skip to Q27]

Where have you heard about or seen information about daily air pollution
or air pollution warnings  

on TV

on the radio

in a newspaper

on the Internet or a website

at your school or office

from a friend, family member, or colleague at work

I receive e-mail notifications when higher levels of air pollution are
forecast

Other, where _______________

Don’t know

In some cities, the government routinely collects information on air
quality that may be distributed by local radio, TV and newspapers to
help inform the public about air pollution levels.  Have you ever heard
or read about air pollution information or warning systems where you
live? Please do not include times when you may have heard or read about
high pollen counts. 

Yes

No [skip to Q29]

Don’t know [skip to Q29]

What is the name an air pollution warning system used in your city?
________________________________________ [skip to Q31]

These warnings might be called the Air Quality Index, Code Red or Orange
Days, Air Pollution Watch, Ozone Action Days, Smog Alert, Spare the Air
Day or something similar.   Have you ever heard or read about any of
these air pollution alerts where you live? Please do not include times
when you may have heard or read about high pollen counts. 

Yes 

No [skip to Q36]

Don’t Know

Which of the following do you think is the name of the air pollution
warning system in your city?

Air Quality Index

Code Red or Orange Days

Air Quality Action Day

Air Pollution Watch

Ozone Action Days

Smog Alert

Spare the Air Day

Enviroflash

Other, name ________________

Don’t know

Using a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is least important to you and 10 is
vitally important to you, how important are air quality forecast alerts
to you and your family’s daily life? 

enter response _______

What is the name of the agency or organization that provides air
pollution information for your city?

The name is ______________

Don’t know

Do you think the information in the air quality forecast is 

Very reliable

Somewhat reliable

Not very reliable

Don’t know

In general, which of the following best describes how often you get
information about air pollution during the summer? 

I receive e-mail notifications when bad air quality conditions are
forecasted

  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 I look for the air pollution forecast myself every
day or almost every day

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6\h \r 1 I look for the air pollution forecast myself some days

  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 I do not check the forecast, if I see or hear that
air pollution is forecast to be high, I consider that information when I
make plans for the day

  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 I rarely or never pay attention to air pollution
or air pollution warnings

Other, ____________________

Can you tell me what air quality color code was forecast for today [OR
Can you tell me if a smog alert/ozone action day/spare the air day was
forecast for today – tailor to city]?

Code Red

Code Orange

Code Yellow

Code Green

Other _________

Don’t know

Ask Q36 and Q37 only if they think there is air pollution in their city
or lived somewhere that had air pollution

Which of the following pollutants is biggest problem in your city in the
summer, if any? (randomize order)

My city does not have an air pollution problem in the summer

Ozone

Particle pollution

Carbon Dioxide

Nitrogen

Sulfur or acid rain

Other, ___________

Don’t know

Which of the following pollutants is biggest problem in your city in the
winter, if any? 

My city does not have an air quality problem in the winter

Ozone

Particle pollution

Carbon Dioxide

Nitrogen

Sulfur or acid rain

Other, ___________

Don’t know

 U.S. Department of Labor, Civilian Employee Compensation , December
2006 at www.bls.gov/ncs

 PAGE  8 

 PAGE   2 

 PAGE   32 

 

 

Perceived self-efficacy of known risk-reduction actions

Risk-reduction options known to the individual

Perceived personal vulnerability

Perceived overall magnitude of risk

Personal risk perception

Set of possible actions

Behavioral change observed