The survey instrument used in this study was developed through the collective efforts of the evaluation specialists at the New York State Department of Health Tobacco Control Program, together with the local tobacco coalition coordinators. The instrument, the introductory script used by interviewers on the telephone, and the required methodology to collect the data (complete interviews) were approved by the Institutional Review Board of the New York State Department of Health in February 2008.The survey included approximately 100 items (questions) regarding the seven sets of tobacco issues outlined in the introduction above. Copies of the script and survey instrument are attached as an appendix.
The study included completing interviews of 400 Tompkins County adult residents. All interviews were completed via telephone. To be eligible to complete the survey, the resident was required to be at least 18 years old.
Two thousand five hundred (2,500) personal residence telephone numbers were randomly selected from Tompkins County. The telephone numbers were obtained from an unscrubbed list, ensuring that individuals whose households are included in the “telemarketing do-not-call list” would be represented in this study.
After selecting the 2,500 random telephone numbers, the list was randomly sorted a second time. All telephone calls were made between 3:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. from a call center in Watertown, New York, on the evenings of June 9th through June 12th, 2008.
The staff of Joel LaLone Consulting, who completed the interviews, has extensive experience and training in human subject research methodology and effective interviewing techniques. Mr. LaLone supervised the telephone interviewing at all times.
From the 2,500 personal residence telephone numbers initially randomly generated for Tompkins County, it was only necessary to attempt to contact 2,033 households before completing the 400 interviews. When each of the 2,033 telephone number was attempted, one of four results occurred: Completion of an interview; a Decline to be interviewed; No Answer/Busy; or an Invalid Number.
As required within the research protocol provided by the New York State Department of Health, voluntary informed consent was obtained from each resident before the interview was completed. This protocol included informing each resident that it was his or her right to decline to answer any and all individual questions within the interview.
To be categorized as a completed interview, at least half (50%) of the questions on the survey had to be completed. The resident’s refusal to answer more than half of the questions was considered a decline to be interviewed. The typical length of a completed survey was approximately ten-to-fifteen minutes. Declines to be interviewed (refusals) were not called back in an attempt to convince the resident to reconsider the interview. If no contact was made at a telephone number (No Answer/Busy), callbacks were made to the number. Telephone numbers that were not successfully contacted and, as a result, were ultimately categorized as No Answer/Busy, were attempted a minimum of four times (three callbacks). No messages were left on answering machines at homes where no person answered the telephone.