This report documents the results of cognitive testing of the Other Living Quarters Validation Questionnaire (OLQVQ) and its facility type flashcard, conducted in the spring of 2006. The OLQVQ is used in the decennial census Group Quarters Validation (GQV) operation to follow up at addresses identified in Address Canvassing as potentially having “other living quarters” (OLQs) to determine if they should be classified and included in the census as group quarters or housing units, or classified as nonresidential places and excluded from the census. Twenty cognitive interviews were conducted in six types of group quarters (GQs) in the Washington, DC/Baltimore area: assisted living facilities, college/university residence halls/dorms, residential treatment centers, group homes, hospitals, and shelters for people experiencing homelessness and motels.

The overall aims were to assess the performance of the flashcard and seven targeted sections of the OLQVQ and to evaluate newly-revised GQ definitions. Other objectives included: 1) probing the meaning of key terms (e.g., “facility,” and “group housing for staff)”; 2) assessing the difficulty of identifying multiple GQs within hospitals; 3) assessing the difficulty of differentiating assisted living and skilled nursing units in the same facility; and 4) assessing the difficulty in distinguishing similar facility types: independent living/assisted living; group home/residential treatment center; and skilled nursing facility/nursing facility/hospital.

Results include the following: 1) in general, the introductory screening questions were understood by most respondents and, in most cases, resulted in classifications of GQs consistent with revised 2006 Census Test GQ definitions/classifications; improvements in wording were recommended for several questions, including the key "facility type" question; 2) the flashcard format worked well; 3) respondents had difficulty in correctly identifying multiple GQs within hospitals because a) they identified GQ units in other buildings of the hospital rather than in the target building and b) the phrase "persons with no disposition or exit plan" intended to identify those with no usual home elsewhere was interpreted to include a much wider set of persons; 4) most respondents understood the word “facility” and applied it correctly to their own GQs; 5) most respondents understood “private residence” to apply to a house or apartment where a family or small number of people live, as intended; and 6) “long-term care” in a mental or psychiatric unit or floor was vague and open to a wide subjective range of time periods. GQ contact respondents clearly distinguished independent living units from assisted living units, but there was ambiguity in distinguishing skilled nursing and nursing units, because the term “skilled nursing” can refer to at least two different types of treatment. Question rewording, reordering, dropping questions, and finding another concept to identify those with no usual residences elsewhere were recommended.