Form 7 COORDINATING CENTER TELEPHONE INTERVIEW GUIDE

Attachment 7

Coordinating Center Telephone Interview Guide

7. RTI Coordinating Center

Telephone Interview Guide

OMB No: 0925-XXXX

Expiration Date: xx/xx/20xx

Collection of this information is authorized by The Public Health Service Act, Section 411 (42 USC 285a). Rights of study participants are protected by The Privacy Act of 1974. Participation is voluntary, and there are no penalties for not participating or withdrawing from the study at any time. Refusal to participate will not affect your benefits in any way. The information collected in this study will be kept private to the extent provided by law. Names and other identifiers will not appear in any report of the study. Information provided will be combined for all study participants and reported as summaries. You are being contacted to participate in this data collection so that we can evaluate the State and Community Tobacco Control (SCTC) Research Initiative.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 40 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to: NIH, Project Clearance Branch, 6705 Rockledge Drive, MSC 7974, Bethesda, MD 20892-7974, ATTN: PRA (0925-XXXX). Do not return the completed form to this address.

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this telephone interview focused on your involvement in the SCTC Initiative as the initiative’s coordinating center. As you know, this project is being sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. My name is ___________ and I work for a company called Westat, an independent research firm located in Rockville, Maryland. Westat was contracted by NCI to conduct these interviews as part of a larger assessment of SCTC.

As was explained in the initial invitation, your participation is voluntary and you can choose to not respond to any question for any reason. But keep in mind that the information you provide will be kept private to the extent provided by law. The information collected will be analyzed and published in aggregate form and we will not identify any individuals in any report or presentation.

Your participation will help provide valuable information that will assist NCI and NIH in making decisions regarding future program activities and their structure.

The interview will take approximately 40 minutes. We would like to audio-record it to ensure accuracy. Only the Westat team will have access to the recording for analytical purposes and the recording will be destroyed once the project is completed. Do I have your permission to continue?

Today’s conversation is going to cover your impressions of the overall SCTC Initiative as well as your impressions of the Coordinating Center’s unique contributions. By overall SCTC Initiative we mean all of the individuals and institutions involved including all seven of the university based research centers, the coordinating center, and the affiliated partners. By Affiliated Partners we are referring to SCTC collaborators who are not SCTC grantees and are based outside of funded research centers. Affiliated partners can include representatives at state or local tobacco control programs, public health and community based organizations, Federal or State agencies, organizations hired to consult on SCTC projects or workgroups, as well as other academic institutions.

A. NETWORK

1. How would you describe the value of the overall SCTC Initiative¹?

• Probe on how the SCTC network enables SCTC stakeholder / partners to conduct research, meet researchers with similar interests, develop dissemination products, accomplish goals.

• Probe specifically on opportunities to learn and grow from each other.

• Especially opportunities for SCTC scientists and affiliated partners to learn and grow from each other?

2. In your experience, what factors tend to promote collaboration² within the SCTC initiative?

[Probe on structural and cultural factors.]

• If not mentioned, probe specifically on whether the U01 cooperative agreement explicitly helped promote collaboration?

• If not mentioned, probe specifically on collaboration between SCTC scientists and affiliated partners³?

• Probe for issues involving alignment, trust, and synergy

3. In your experience, what factors tend to inhibit collaboration within the SCTC initiative?

• If not mentioned, probe specifically on collaboration between SCTC scientists and affiliated partners?

4. Are there ways that NCI could help promote increased collaboration in the future?

• Probe specifically on how future RFAs could be written to promote greater collaboration?

• If not mentioned, probe specifically on increasing collaboration between SCTC scientists and affiliated partners?

B. PROCESSES AND ACTIVITIES

5. What would you say is the primary value of the Coordinating Center as part of the SCTC Research Initiative?

[Obtain their open-ended response which might include: Master Disseminator; Supporting Steering Committee; Providing Logistical Support, Promoting Collaboration; Linking to similar Initiatives funded by NIH or others; all the above, etc.]

Potential Probes:

• What unique contributions does the Coordinating Center offer?

• What is the value of collaboration of SCTC centers within the Coordinating Center?

• How does the Coordinating Center help core projects accomplish their goals?

5.a. What is the role of the Coordinating Center with respect to the dissemination of products?

• As Master Disseminator for SCTC

• As supporter to specific core projects

5.b. What, if any, obstacles to performing these roles did you encounter?

6. In what ways could the Coordinating Center promote collaboration between grantees (university based research centers) and between grantees and outside collaborators in the future?

[Obtain open-ended response]

Potential probes:

• Connect projects to pre-existing networks

• Serve as a relationship broker (matchmaker) strategically bring organizations together

• What obstacles, if any, mitigate against the Coordinating Center promoting collaboration?

C. PRODUCTS

7. What role, if any, did the Coordinating Center play in helping to create products?

• Did the Coordinating Center directly collaborate with any Affiliated Partners when helping to produce products?

• What role, if any, did the Coordinating Center play in influencing or determining the final set of audiences for the Core Projects or Pilot Projects?

• What role, if any, did the Coordinating Center play in helping to tailor products to different audiences?

8. How were the local perspectives and cultural orientations of the ultimate audiences reflected in the products?

9. Which aspects of the products got tailored to meet the needs of specific audiences or end users, and why?

• Was it their content, their format, or the strategy for how they will be disseminated?

• When did this take place? (Front end; mid-way; back end)

• Who (which partner) provided the impetus, input, or data on which to tailor products?

10. At this juncture, what are your impressions of the products emerging from the core projects?

• Do you believe the end users will find them useful? Relevant? Effective?

• Which ones are seen as most successful and which less so, and why?

11. How would you describe the products developed by the Coordinating Center?

• Why did you decide on the products you did?

• Who do you work with in developing them?

• Who were they designed to serve?

• What is your sense of their utility?

12. In thinking about the overarching goals of SCTC, are there additional ways in which NCI can help promote product development and dissemination within the U01 cooperative agreement structure in the future?

13. From your perspective, what have been the lessons learned? What advice would you give to another coordinating center serving on a similar initiative? How can NCI help the Coordinating Center to be more productive?

1 The “SCTC Initiative” includes all centers, the coordinating center, and affiliated partners.

2 Aspects of collaboration: communication; sharing knowledge; building consensus; joint development; coauthorship; division of labor; decision-making; more…

3 Current collaborators for your SCTC work who are not SCTC research center-based scientists.