Read the brief New York Times article we posted under the Midterm assignment in Canvas for some background and motivation for this problem. The article covers some points related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the Mountain West Region of the United States. We will focus on neighboring Idaho for this problem.

You are interested in gathering information regarding COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy for the adult population in Idaho by designing a survey. Your response variable will be around vaccine hesitancy (yeso). You also want to ask questions that will give you information about things that might be associated with vaccine hesitancy?these will be your predictors.

We can think of several ways to define vaccine hesitancy. It could be someone that was eligible for a vaccination (no contraindications) and had no doses. It could be someone who was eligible, had a first dose and then nothing further, etc.

a) What is your definition of vaccine hesitancy for your survey? Be as specific as possible.

b) What question would you ask to determine if a respondent is vaccine hesitant or not? Restrict your question to a yeso answer. Be careful to think about neutral wording of your question

c) List three additional questions you could ask to gather information about other variables that may be associated with vaccine hesitancy. For each question, think about the wording and make sure to indicate the possible responses (at least two questions need to be more than yeso responses). Note: the full survey would have many more questions, but you only need to pick three.

d) Outline one way you might obtain a random sample (this is just an outline, so do not worry about every detail; rather, highlight essential elements; use of bullet points is okay). (3 points) e) List two ways you might deploy this survey.

f) How many surveys will you "send" out? What is your target number of completed surveys? Briefly explain your choice of numbers. Be sure to think about nonresponse. Note: it is unlikely that your target number of completed surveys will equal the number sent out, so do not just choose the same number.

Vaccines are a tough sell in the sparsely populated, skeptical Mountain West. By Dan Levin Published June 26, 2021 Updated Oct. 6. 2021 The Mountain West has emerged as one of the most vaccine-hesitant regions of the United States. Along with the South, it is lagging far behind the national vaccination pace. In both Idaho and Wyoming, fewer than 40 percent of people have received at least one dose so far, ranking those states among the bottom five in the nation, according to a New York Times database. Montana, Utah and Nevada are doing a bit better, but remain well below the national average of 54 percent. None of the five states is on track to meet President Biden's goal of at least partly vaccinating 70 percent of adults by July 4, and the White House acknowledged this week that the president doesn't expect the nation as a whole to meet that target. Health officials in the region say that their efforts have been hampered by sparse populations in their wide-open areas and by the deep rooted brand of political conservatism that is common among rural residents. But there is more to the story than that. As in other parts of the country, the unvaccinated in the Mountain West can be divided largely into two camps, experts say. "There are those who are kind of the wait-and-see folks, and then we have the absolutely, definitely not," said Greg Holzman, who was Montana's state medical officer until April. Rampant misinformation makes it difficult to change minds, he said, and so does the logistical difficulty of providing convenient access in small, widely scattered communities. Today's 3 Key Reads About Covid . 1. The Booster Problem: Why are Americans slow to get booster shots? There are perhaps two possible explanations. . 2. Canada's Trucker Protests: Demonstrations against vaccine mandates have turned into an 11-day occupation of Ottawa. Follow our live coverage. . 3. Virus in the Wild: If white-tailed deer become a reservoir for Covid, experts say the virus could mutate and spread to other animals or back to us. There are crosscurrents beneath the statewide trends. For example, Native Americans in Montana, after some initial hesitancy, have embraced the vaccines while white residents in rural areas have been less accepting. Garfield County, in eastern Montana, illustrates some of what health officials are up against. The county was the scene of a lengthy standoff in 1996 between the F.B.I. and an anti-government militia called the Montana Freemen. These days, "the life philosophy is pretty much the same, and that's no government intervention, no way, no how," said Dr. Randall Rauh, medical director of the Garfield County Health Center, a critical access facility and nursing home. Just 21 percent of eligible county residents have been fully vaccinated, the lowest rate in Montana, according to state figures. Dr. Rauh said that after the center vaccinated all of its nursing home residents, he was accused by an employee of experimenting on old people, and the facility received little support from local officials. The county health department will administer vaccine doses only when 10 or more people show up to get them, Dr. Rauh said, so "it's very difficult for people unless they can make the trip to a surrounding county to get vaccinated." In Utah, home to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church's leadership has voiced strong support for vaccination. Even so, a recent survey found that about half of Mormon respondents were hesitant or unwilling to get vaccinated. The Coronavirus Pandemic: Key Things to Know The state of the virus in the U.S. The coronavirus has now claimed more than 900,000 lives across the country, and the Covid death AMisinformation appears to be a factor among Mormon women, in a state with one of the nation's highest birthrates, said Dr. Emily Spivak, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. "I've had a lot of questions about fertility" and whether the vaccines affect menstruation, she said. There is no current evidence that the vaccines impact fertility. Idaho tends to have lower immunization rates in general, according to Maggie Mann, the district director for Southeastern Idaho Public Health. Many people have told her that their schedules are too busy to fit in the appointment. The eight counties Ms. Mann oversees are dotted with communities that have not been severely hit by the pandemic, she said, and "it's hard for people when they haven't been personally affected to be highly motivated to get that vaccine." Only one county in Nevada has fully vaccinated more than half of its residents 12 and older, according to the Times database. Experts say many people in the state's rural areas simply do not see the need. Matthew Walker, chief executive of William Bee Ririe Critical Access Hospital and Rural Health Clinics in Ely, Nev., said that health care workers try to win over skeptics by appealing to their sense of self-reliance. "We try to really push that if you get sick, regardless whether it's the flu or Covid, and you have to be laid up in bed for a few days, or worse, what's going to happen?" he said. "You can't take care of yourself, you're an hour or two away from a medical facility, you've got kids or family - who's going to take care of your ranch? And oftentimes, that will get people.' Dan Levin covers American youth for the National Desk. He was a foreign correspondent covering Canada from 2016 until 2018. From 2008 to 2015, Mr. Levin was based in Beijing, where he reported on human rights, politics and culture in China and Asia. @globaldan Covid News: Amid Britain's Delta-Driven Surge, Health Minister Resigns Over Affair > . Britain's health minister, accused of violating restrictions, resigns amid a Delta-driven surge. . Latin America's students, robbed by pandemic shutdowns, are leaving school in alarming numbers. . Due to Covid-19 protocols, a College World Series run ends abruptly for North Carolina State. . Sydney, Australia, enters full lockdown for the first time in more than a year to fight the Delta variant. . When parents refuse permission, some teenagers defiantly seek ways to get their Covid shots. . The T.S.A. resumes self-defense classes for airline crews as unruly incidents, often linked to masks, grow. A