Technical Information and Data

Numbered Memos

BRFSS POLICY MEMO 2000.4
FINAL DISPOSITION PROTOCOLS

This memo replaces BRFSS Policy Memo 97.3, effective January 1, 2001.

If, in the judgment of the BRFSS State Coordinator, a household member has objected to being called so strenuously that the phone number should be excluded from future samples for an extended but limited (e.g., one to two years), the Coordinator may have that phone number placed on a Never Call list. If such a number subsequently appears in the sample, it should be assigned a "never call" [13] disposition.

When a household has been contacted and an eligible respondent has been selected, the final disposition must reflect the identification of an eligible respondent (i.e., "complete" [01¹], "refused" [02], "selected respondent not available during the interviewing period" [07], or "terminated within questionnaire" [09²]).

Only when a household has been contacted and it is positively determined that the household contains no one over the age of 17 is a final disposition of A no eligible respondent@ [06] appropriate.

When a possible household has been contacted but an eligible respondent has not been selected, the final disposition must reflect the household status (i.e., A language barrier@ [08], A physical or mental impairment@ [11], or A hang-up or termination before respondent selection@ [14].

When a person who has answered the phone or an answering machine or other device positively indicates that the phone number is not to a private residence, A not a private residence@ [05] is the appropriate final disposition.

When at least one call attempt results in a response by an answering machine or other device that indicates a possible or definite household and all the other call attempts for that record result in either ring-no-answer or line-busy dispositions, A technological barrier@ [12] is the appropriate final disposition.

Final "ring-no-answer" [04] and "line-busy" [10] dispositions indicate that every interim disposition was either a A ring no answer@ or A line busy.@

Following are guidelines for assigning the appropriate disposition depending on the identification of an eligible respondent:
 

1. A selected respondent who is not available when selected and is not reached on subsequent dialings should be dispositioned as "selected respondent not available during the interviewing period."

2. A selected respondent who refuses initially and is not spoken to on subsequent calls should be dispositioned "refused."

3. A selected respondent who begins the interview but terminates without meeting the criteria for a completed interview [sex and three or more questions from age, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, education, employment status, county code, and “Do you have more than one telephone number in your household?” are answered with a response other than Don’t know/Not sure (7, 77, or 777) or Refused (9, 99, or 999)] should be dispositioned [09] "terminated within questionnaire" if s/he continues to not meet the criteria after subsequent calls.

NO RESPONDENT SELECTED

1. The choices of disposition for calls that are answered by a person but are terminated without an eligible respondent being selected are "not a private residence (05)," "no eligible respondent at this number (06)," "language barrier (08)," "respondent unable to communicate due to physical or mental impairment (11)" and A hang-up or termination before respondent selection (14)@.

2. If a sampled phone number reaches an answering machine or other technological barrier, it should be dispositioned "not a private residence" only if the message clearly indicates that the phone is not in a private residence. If the recorded message (1) does not provide enough information to determine the residential status of the phone number and is never answered by a person, or (2) indicates it is a residence but is never answered by a person, then the number should be given a final "technological barrier" [12] disposition once the callback rules are satisfied.

Implementing these guidelines for CATI systems will require that records receiving interim disposition codes of "ring-no-answer", "busy", or "technological barrier" dispositions only have their interim disposition codes reviewed to determine the appropriate final disposition code. For DOS Ci3 CATI, the CLEANALL.EXE program has been revised to perform these conversions.

ASSIGNMENT OF FINAL DISPOSITION BASED ON INTERIM DISPOSITIONS

Either because a record has reached the maximum number of call attempts or for some other reason, the last disposition in the call history of a record may not be a final disposition. In such cases, the assignment of the appropriate final disposition will require a review of all the interim dispositions. The table below shows the appropriate final disposition that should be assigned in a variety of such cases. Projects should contact their Project Officer about cases not covered by the table below.

Projects should ensure that every record whose last disposition in its call history is an interim disposition is assigned a final disposition according to the following rules. The first rule should be applied first to all records with a last, interim disposition code, then the second rule to the remaining records, etc. WinCATI makes most of the assignments below when the Assign Final Disposition menu item is chosen.
 

Footnotes

1. - All disposition codes referenced are final BRFSS disposition codes per Numbered Memo 2000.3. During data collection, CATI systems utilize different codes that are converted to the final code set.

2. - A Language barrier@ [08] or A physical or mental impairment@ [11] may also occasionally be appropriate final dispositions.

* Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.

Policies and Regulations | BRFSS Home | Contact Us

CDC Home | Search | Health Topics A-Z

This page last reviewed June 22, 2005

United States Department of Health and Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Division of Adult and Community Health