# Cell Phone RDD Sampling to Reach Young Adults for Tobacco Control Surveillance

> **NIH NIH R01** · RBHS-SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · 2020 · $538,902

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
In recent years, cigarette smoking prevalence in the U.S. has declined slowly and young adults continue to
have among the highest rates of smoking. Moreover, the market for emerging tobacco products is growing and
has received a lot of media attention. Yet very little is known about the nature of using emerging products,
traditional tobacco products, and poly-tobacco use among young adults. Current surveillance systems to
monitor and examine the trajectories of tobacco use in young adults are undermined by inadequate sampling
and data collection methodologies for reaching this important but difficult to reach population. Research from
the current funding period demonstrated that cellphone random digit dialing (RDD) is an effective and
innovative sampling methodology to reach a representative sample of young adults in the US. However,
longitudinal data in this population is still sorely needed, but remains challenging given the technological
environment in which to conduct surveys. Therefore, this competing renewal application seeks to develop and
compare three data collection modes to longitudinally survey young adults that leverage cellphone RDD and/or
smartphone technology in different ways. Specifically, we aim to 1) develop and implement an innovative
mixed mode design to follow young adults longitudinally using cellphone RDD sampling and mobile data
collection technologies, 2) assess the strength and limitations of each mode along data quality indicators for
longitudinal studies via a randomized experiment, and 3) use collected longitudinal data to explore young
adults' tobacco use trajectories during a time of rapid change. In addition to its potential to improve our
understanding of tobacco use in young adults and support effective tobacco control regulatory policy, this
research may provide real-world solutions for improving the collection of longitudinal data as well as more far
reaching implications for survey research more generally.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9977956
- **Project number:** 5R01CA149705-10
- **Recipient organization:** RBHS-SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
- **Principal Investigator:** CRISTINE D DELNEVO
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $538,902
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2010-04-12 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9977956

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9977956, Cell Phone RDD Sampling to Reach Young Adults for Tobacco Control Surveillance (5R01CA149705-10). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9977956. Licensed CC0.

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