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consisted of an FS Team Meeting in which each FS could discuss region-specific topics and have
time for team building exercises.
5.3.5 Special Veteran Training Sessions
One additional veteran training session was held January 11–13, 2003 in Cincinnati, OH
to accommodate those veteran interviewers unable to attend the early January sessions and to
train traveling FIs. Various project staff served as the trainers for these sessions, so that FSs
could focus on managing data collection.
As the year progressed, veterans from 2002 who wished to continue working were trained
individually via home study and telephone conference with an FS. These veterans missed the
January sessions due to illness or pre-approved scheduling conflicts. With special permission,
one-on-one training brought these interviewers up-to-speed on the 2003 NSDUH. Following
successful completion of the home study, an FS (who had been chosen based on training ability)
worked with the veteran for one to two days covering the content of the 2003 Veteran Training
session. While group exercises were excluded, all individual exercises and discussions occurred.
5.4 Ongoing Training
Regional team meetings with particular FS teams occurred throughout the year. As
needed, team meetings were held to introduce interviewers to a new supervisor (either FS or RS).
In other situations with teams performing below expectations, the focus of these meetings was to
provide further training for FIs on refusal avoidance, refusal conversion, and efficiently working
case assignments. Additional discussion topics included data quality and specific team
performance issues. For efficiency, these training meetings usually took place as group
conference calls. Other than the kick-off team meetings held during Veteran training, no inperson
team meetings occurred during 2003.
5.5 Periodic Evaluations (eVals)
Periodic evaluations of interviewer knowledge were conducted via an arrangement
similar to the electronic home study for veterans. All FIs picked up the eVal program via
transmission and had about one week to complete the 10 item questionnaire. These 10 items
were assigned randomly from a bank of close to 100 questions all designed to test interviewer
knowledge of basic NSDUH protocols. When finished with the open book evaluation, the
computer program scored the answers so that the FIs could receive immediate feedback about
their results. To pass, FIs had to score at least 80 percent. FIs not achieving that score received
another set of 10 questions to complete. Any FI not scoring at least 80 percent on the second set
of questions was placed on probation pending the completion of further re-training with the FS.
For the first eVal issued in May of 2003, almost 99 percent of the current interviewers
passed on the first try. All 7 FIs requiring a second attempt passed. The results of the second
eVal issued in August, 2003 were similar: over 99 percent passed on the first try, and all 6
needing a second attempt passed. Results from the 2003 eVal program are provided in Table 5.2.
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