The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in conjunction with the Census Bureau’s Demographic Surveys Division (DSD), requested that the Statistical Research Division (SRD) conduct pretesting activities on the addition of Internet predation questions to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). These additional questions are intended to collect data on any contacts that children between the ages of 12 and 17 might have from people they initially met through online channels.

In the fall of 2006 we conducted an initial round of cognitive interviews with children in the target age group. These interviews revealed that the questions were quite problematic, and we recommended additional pretesting before implementing them (Beck & DeMaio, 2007). The sponsors agreed to additional pretesting, and in the spring of 2007 we conducted two focus groups with kids in the target age group to find out more information about their Internet activities that would help us revise the questions (Beck, 2007).

The current report summarizes the results of the final pretesting activities on the proposed questions. Based on the results from the first round of cognitive interviews and the focus groups, we revised the questions and conducted a final round of cognitive interviews with children who were from the Washington DC metropolitan area.