Support for LLA Staff

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The resources on this page are intended for LLA staff. These materials are mostly useful before and/or during data collection. Additional resources are also available on the End Commercial Tobacco Campaign Page on Partners.

FAQs for LLAs

Is the expectation that the observations are to be done by June 30th? What do I have to turn in?
Yes, data collection for all the observation locations must be completed by June 30. The deliverable, a summary report that analyzes your findings, can be submitted in the next progress report (July-December 2022). However, it is best practice to analyze and use your data within two months. TCEC will be providing assistance for data cleaning, analysis, and reporting once the first few LLAs finish collecting data.

The other deliverable is the data collection instrument that you can access here.
What are some safety tips for data collectors?
Safety always comes first. CTCP created this safety tip sheet for all data collectors working on this project. If you are approached, there are potential scripts and sample letters you can use to help explain what you're doing. As the LLA, be sure to tailor the letters (links below) and ideally laminate the letters so that they can be quickly shown and then kept by each data collector. If they want to take a picture of the letter that's fine, too.

Script for introducing yourself during a retail observation
Script for introducing yourself during a park or sidewalk observation
Script for introducing yourself during an MUH observation
MUH sample letter for editing | Spanish MUH sample letter for editing
Park/Sidewalk sample letter for editing | Spanish park/sidewalk sample letter for editing
Retail sample letter for editing | Spanish retail sample letter for editing
Are these observation instruments required or can projects use their own instruments for the observations (or modify your instruments)?
These are the only instruments that can be used for required observations listed in the LLA's End Commercial Tobacco Campaign objectives. These four observation surveys are administered through the TCEC SurveyAnalytics account, so there is no way to modify the instruments.

If you have observation activities for other objectives, you can use different tools tailored for your purpose and community. If you are interested in using these protocols for competitive grantees or other objectives, please contact tcecTA@phmail.ucdavis.edu.
How does the sampling work?
CTCP has sent each LLA Lead Contact their list of locations (retail, parks, and MUH properties). In the email with the list of locations, there was also a pdf explaining CTCP's sampling process. If you did not receive this list by now, please email your TCEC Contact.

For retail and park observation, the sample was defined by CTCP. CTCP gave each LLA their list of stores with unique store IDs and parks with unique park IDs. The LLA must attempt to complete the observation for all stores and all parks on their lists using the unique IDs provided by CTCP. If a store or park cannot be observed (e.g. if it closed down, cannot be found, asked to leave, etc.), a replacement store or park is NOT needed.

Retailers that have active smoking (e.g., hookah bars, cigar bars), substantial cost-consideration and membership fees (e.g., airport retailers, wholesale clubs), or restricted access (e.g., military base) should NOT be surveyed. Complete the survey up to question 5 and indicate why it cannot be surveyed. If the store has an age restriction i.e. only 21+ or only 18+ may enter, then a data collector that meets those requirements must conduct the observation in those stores.

For sidewalk observations, the sample will be purposively chosen by the LLA. Sidewalks should be chosen based on the LLA's focus, i.e. smoke free beaches, parks, sidewalks, dining, entryways, worksites, event sites, bike lanes/paths, alleys, parking structures. This is because indicator 2.2.35 includes so many different outdoor recreational and non-recreational public places. If your LLA is mainly concerned about smokefree outdoor dining, then it is suggest to select sidewalks near places that offer outdoor dining. If your LLA is mainly concerned about smokefree beaches, then it is suggest to select sidewalks near beach areas. Another important strategy may be to select sidewalks in neighborhoods or areas where there is a high proportion of priority population communities.

At a minimum, one sidewalk will be observed per park sampled. Sidewalks can be anywhere in the jurisdiction. LLAs that have 20 or more parks will only be required to select a minimum total of 20 sidewalks. For example, an LLA that is required to observe 10 parks must observe a minimum of 10 sidewalks; an LLA that is required to observe 50 parks must observe a minimum of 20 sidewalks.

LLAs that chose indicator 2.2.35 in their End Commercial Tobacco Campaign objectives will complete both the park and sidewalk observation surveys.

Each street segment gets its own observation survey record. If you want to do the observation on both sidewalks on the street, start a new survey. If you want to continue the survey on the next block, start a new survey.  Keep the observation to under ½ mile. If the street is longer than ½ a mile, you should split it into two segments and therefore two survey records

For MUH observations, the sample will be defined by the LLA based on the list of MUH properties provided by CTCP. CTCP gave each LLA their list of MUH properties and unique MUH IDs. If the list contains 20 or fewer MUH, then a census of all MUH properties must be visited. If there are more than 20 MUH, a sample size calculator can be used to determine the sample size. Then, the LLA will randomly or purposively select the MUH properties to observe using the list and unique MUH IDs provided by CTCP. You can oversample based on things like neighborhood, demographics, size, etc. but not exclude based on these attributes.  Another important strategy may be to select MUH in neighborhoods or areas where there is a high proportion of priority population communities. The sample should be large enough to be useful for the LLA and to not omit specific MUH attributes (e.g. ignoring duplexes, triplexes, populations etc.) In some cases, as few as 20 MUH observations completed may be enough to be useful while in other communities it might be necessary to observe more. We recommend observing several extra in case some records need to be removed due to being asked to leave or other reasons why the data collectors couldn't successfully complete the observation.

Also keep in mind that the list from CTCP may required an extra step to clean up records that are on the same property. For example, condos (which are individually owned) are likely listed in separate records, but they might only be a single MUH complex that needs observation. See the next Q/A for tips to clean up the MUH list.
What tips do you have to clean up the MUH list? Or the list of MUH properties has duplicates or what appears to be multiple condos in the same complex. Do I have to do all of these separately?
Once you receive the list of MUH properties, you'll need to spend some time to clean up the list. Tips to do so include looking for the words unit, apartment, apt, number, num, or the symbol # in the the address field. You can also sort by address, and you may find that there are several records with the same or very similar addresses. Another tip is to filter the list by the condominium field, because that's probably the most common type that has separate records, but they're actually within the same complex. Then, you can either delete the "duplicates" or create a new variable to identify which one you will keep to represent the whole complex.

After the list is cleaned up, try a sample size calculator to estimate your sample size.
There are some on the MUH list that are part of the housing authority department (HUD), would we need to still include them in our sample as they are already smoke free?
Yes, they should be included. HUD allows for designated smoking areas and local smokefree MUH laws should and generally are stronger than that of HUD policies.
There are some county operated parks on my list, would we need to include them in our sample?
For LLAs working in unincorporated areas, they must observe the county parks if within their authority.

For LLAs working in incorporated cities, they do NOT need to observe county-operated parks or parks that are not affected by city policy (state run, privately owned, etc.) It should still have a record, so complete the survey up to Q5 and note that it is county-operated. Then the survey will jump to the end.
There are cemeteries on my list, do we need to observe those?
The LLA can decide whether or not to observe cemeteries. If they opt to not observe, complete the survey up to Q5 and note that it is a cemetery. Then the survey will jump to the end.
Do you have tips for training or monitoring data collectors?
Yes! Take a look at the section on Training Data Collectors in the California Tobacco Control Evaluation Guide. Contact us if you're interested in having one of our evaluation associates assist with your local data collector trainings.
Do you have a pre/post training survey?
Unlike HSHC, where everyone was required to conduct a data collector training. If your LLA chooses to do a training, you can search our data collection instrument database for Education/Participant Surveys. There is no “test” to pass in order to be a data collector. Instead, we recommend ensuring all data collectors are given plenty of opportunities to practice and become comfortable with the survey protocols. If they are still not comfortable collecting data, perhaps they can be paired with a more confident or experienced data collector or take on a supportive role such as navigator or driver.
What is the Coder ID?
Each LLA will assign their data collection teams a unique 2-digit coder ID. In general, coder IDs 10-50 are for data collectors under 21 and coder IDs 51-89 are for adult data collectors. If you are doing a test survey, you can use 99 until you have assigned coder IDs.

The coder ID can be used to track trends by data collector or as another clue if there are data entry errors with the location ID. This will make more sense when you start collecting data and communicating with TCEC for your data checks.
My objective is about TPW. Why am I doing the retail observation not the park/TPW observation?
The language of the TPW objective focuses on eliminating the sale of products that cause TPW, so it's essentially a tobacco sales ban, but with a focus on TPW and the environment. For this reason, a retail observation (not a park observation) is required. I know it seems backwards because you expect to be able to present counts of TPW, but the way the objective is written is about point of sale.
Can we use these data collection instruments and tools for our other objectives?
Yes! Contact your TCEC lead for more information.

If you notify CTCP by March 18th, CTCP will provide you with the list of locations for observation. If you want to have CTCP create your sample list, then the sample size will be dictated based on the ECTC methodology. Also note that you must attempt to observe all locations in the sample from CTCP, you must also be on the same timeline as the regular End Commercial Tobacco Campaign surveys (which means completing surveys by the end of June), and you must use the standardized questions and complete the full survey CTCP developed. Contact your TCEC lead for more information.
The activity language in our workplan says that the surveys will be done in one jurisdiction but I noticed that we got retailer lists for both our primary and secondary location, so are we required that we do surveys in both than that are on the list we were given.
Please check with your TCEC Lead Contact. This may just be an error in the primary community selection or there might have been a change.
It sounds like a data collection training is not required if we're just doing internally with staff. Is that correct?
Yes, you'll essentially send them to these resources, videos, guidelines, FAQs, etc. Only some LLAs have a data collection training in their workplan.
Is there an age limit on who can be a data collector?
We defer to your organization rules about age limits on data collectors.
Are they available in Spanish?
Yes. Here is the MUH, park, and sidewalk observation surveys in Spanish.
How strict do we need to be about the weather conditions?
It is suggested to collect data during a time when the weather conditions (wind, rain, temperature) are similar to the first wave of data collection. Take a look at the data that were previously collected (or ask TCEC to send your LLA's wave 1 data) and you can eyeball the general weather conditions.
Do we have to recruit and train volunteers if it isn't specified in the language of the activity?
No
Just to confirm, the MUH and OSHS videos and slides were from 2022 but still relevant?
Correct. There were no changes to the MUH nor OSHS training videos and slides, so the 2022 versions are still the correct, relevant versions. For retail training videos and slides, the correct version is labeled 2024.
Will the downloadable pdf version be available on the website?
Yes, but not yet. The observation instruments will be posted in June in time to submit with July progress reports. Check https://tobaccoeval.ucdavis.edu/ectc-analysis#codebooks for updates.
Who can I call for help?
If you need additional help in the field, please call your locally designated Lead Contact. If necessary, the Lead Contact may then contact The Tobacco Control Evaluation Center (TCEC) at UC Davis, which is available for technical assistance in the field by phone at the TCEC helpline at 530-754-8929 or by e-mail (tcecTA@phmail.usdavis.edu). If the Lead Contact anticipates needing help outside of normal business hours, schedule an appointment with TCEC at least one week in advance.

Click here for more information about Roles and Responsibility and where you can find help.