At the request of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Demographic Surveys Division (DSD), staff from the Center for Survey Measurement, cognitively pretested the 2013 American Housing Survey Neighborhood module It included questions about methods of transportation used, working at home, and characteristics of the area surrounding the home.

Results of 15 cognitive interviews conducted in June and July 2012, include the following: 1) When respondents were asked a series of questions about whether they can walk or bicycle to get to various services and amenities, several answered incorrectly based on whether they had the means to do so (that is, whether they had a bicycle); 2) respondents interpreted the phrase “highways with at least four lanes” to mean restricted access highways, rather than four-lane main arteries as the sponsor intended; and 3) respondents interpreted parking lots to include residential lots associated with an apartment or townhouse complex, while the sponsor intends the question to measure proximity to commercial parking lots.