Coding forms containing the lists of dwelling units are returned to RTI for entry into the database used in the next step selecting the household sample. This list of households to be contacted within each segment is the household sample. The households selected for the sample must be distributed throughout each segment. Once the household sample is drawn, field interviewers return to the segments and begin knocking on doors and compiling a roster of the residents in each household. From these rosters, one, two, or no residents, aged 12 or older, are selected at random for interviewing.
Interviewers take about an hour to administer the survey questionnaire using a laptop computer.
During some portions of the interview, the field worker reads questions and records the respondent's answers directly into the computer. For more sensitive questions, respondents listen to the questions through a headset or read the questions and key their answers in the laptop. Interviewers make every effort to ensure that no one other than the respondent can see or hear the questions. The names of respondents are not collected or associated with the interview data. Identification information, such as the household address, is stored separately from the data so that the respondent's answers remain completely confidential.