Agency Survey (3.3)
MPR developed the sampling frame for the agency survey by first obtaining, from participating A2H Network members, lists of all active agencies each member served and then entering the names into a database. The agency survey sample consisted of a census of the agencies provided by the participating members.
After entering the data, MPR staff printed bar-coded mailing labels to identify the agencies and their addresses and then shipped the proper number of questionnaires, labels, and mailing envelopes to each participating member. Some members mailed advance letters informing agencies of the planned survey. Study coordinators were instructed, at the training and in the manual, how to assemble and mail the questionnaires. Each envelope included a personalized cover letter.
The cover letter, as well as the instructions on the questionnaire, directed the agency to complete the questionnaire and mail it back to MPR. In most instances, agencies did so, but some members collected the instruments from their agencies and mailed them to MPR in bulk. When MPR received a questionnaire, staff logged it into a database by scanning the bar code on the mailing label. Each Monday morning, MPR sent an e-mail to the members listing all the questionnaires received the previous week. These e-mails served as the basis for the mailing of reminder postcards to those agencies that did not return the questionnaire within two weeks of the initial mailing, and a second mailing, this time of questionnaires, to agencies that did not return the first one within two weeks after the mailing of reminder postcards. The weekly e-mails also helped the member study coordinators schedule reminder calls to agencies that did not return the questionnaire within three weeks after the second mailing. Occasionally, in areas where response to the mailings of questionnaires was particularly low, member coordinators completed the questionnaires with nonresponding agencies over the phone.
Members were also asked to apprise MPR of agencies that no longer provided food services so that they could be identified as ineligible in the database.
After MPR received, logged into the database, and reviewed the questionnaires, they were shipped to a subcontractor for data capture and imaging. The subcontractor optically scanned all questionnaires and produced data files and CD-ROMs with images of each completed questionnaire for MPR. Chart 3.3.1 summarizes the sequence of activities of the agency survey.
