Guidelines for

Homeless Youth Population Survey  

A Project of the Garden State Coalition 
for Youth and Family Concerns, Inc.
330 Washington Street
Newark, NJ  07102 (973) 286-3404

XI APPENDICES

B.  Interviewer’s Guide 

Purpose.  The purpose of this questionnaire is to identify youth under the age of 21 who are at risk of being homeless, or are homeless.  Throughout the interview we will avoid the use of the word homeless in our conversations with individuals. 

Whom do we interview.  We will be interviewing all youth whom we think are 21 years of age and under.  Our primary population will be drawn from the streets within specific designated zones that have been identified by the street outreach staff at the coordinating organization.

Length of interview.  The entire interview is designed to take less than five minutes.  This however can be a long time if out on the street and talking to someone who is impatient, restless or does not really want to be interviewed, or is being distracted simply by his/her friends who may be standing in the area.

Where, when, conditions in conducting interview. Do not interview individuals with friends close at hand where they intrude in the “space” in which the interview is being conducted.  Ask the individual to join you a few feet away from his/her friends and create a private space where you two can speak privately. Your street partner can help you secure this space and could be engaged in conversation with the friend(s) of the individual being interviewed.  Additional pointers will be provided in the discussion of street outreach.

Cover Page.  The top half of the cover page is information that will be filled out when you receive the questionnaire.  If it is not filled out please leave blank.  The bottom half of the cover page is to be filled out by the interviewer.  You should complete the bottom section before beginning your interview. Please try to be accurate in recording the time you began the interview.  Note Zone will reflect the zone in which the interview is being conducted.  If you move to another zone please make sure you refer to the maps to record the correct zone.

Token of Participation.  Make it clear to the individuals that the token of appreciation will only be given for a completed interview.

Introducing yourself

Hello, my name is _____________ and I am working with the {your organization name].  We [or the organization’s name] run[s] a number of youth and young adult programs.  We are interviewing young adults 21 years of age and under in [city name] to better understand their housing and living conditions so that we can better plan our youth programs.  All of the information you provide will be kept confidential. We can provide you a small token  of our appreciation for participating in this interview.  Would you be able to take five minutes of your time to answer a few questions? 

Coding Questionnaires.  You will circle responses where they are given. These circles will correspond to the response category listed.

Following directions.  Please follow directions as indicated in the questionnaire.  Where it says do not read categories, please do not read the categories.  Read categories only when instructions indicate you should do so.

 Questions with multiple responses.  Where an individual has to give a number of responses do not try to look up the list but rather write the responses in the margin and after the interview go back and check the appropriate response category.

 Open ended questions.  There are some open-ended questions in which you should write all the responses provided by the individual.  Do not express surprise by the answers given, simply record without giving a reaction.

End of interview.  We strongly urge that you take one minute out before going on to another interview to fill in the responses. 

Completing interview.  You should go over each question and make sure it is properly filled out before turning in each survey form.  Even though we know who has conducted the interview it will be impossible several weeks later as we enter the data into the computer that you can go back and recall what was said or what you meant by your marginal notes.

Recording time.  Several questions require you to record time.  The individual may provide you time with years, months, weeks.  Record as given.  After the interview you are to translate all time as months.  Doing this is part of the process of  submitting  a complete interview.

Refused to answer.  For many questions there is a category indicating the individual “refused to answer.”  This response is different from a “no” response.  Where a “no” response may trigger instructions to  “skip to” this is not true of “refused to answer.” It is always assumed that because an individual refused to answer a specific question that they may answer the next question.  You must therefore always ask the next question even if they “refused to answer” the previous question.  The only time you have the flexibility to not continue on to the next question is at the very start when you have asked the individual if he/she has been interviewed previously.  Then you must make the decision whether you want to go on or talk about rescheduling and meeting them another time.

Back to XIa Questionnaire Rationale

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