At the request of the Demographic Surveys Division, staff from the Center for Survey Measurement cognitively pretested the 2013 Current Population Survey Unbanked/Underbanked Supplement.

Results of 15 cognitive interviews conducted in February and March, 2013 found that: 1) some respondents thought that asking about reasons for not having a bank account was sensitive; 2) some respondents were not able to choose a main reason for using a prepaid card from the response categories provided, since some of the options referred to how the money got on the card and others referred to how the card was used; 3) respondents did not correctly interpret the concept of a “big box retailer.” Many interpreted this concept to mean stores that sell items in bulk, such as Costco and BJ’s, rather than stores such as Walmart and Kmart; and 4) respondents cashed checks and obtained prepaid cards at locations that were not included in the response categories. A complete enumeration of findings as well as recommendations to address the problems is included in the attached report.