Fast Track Template TTW Focus Group

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0960-0788)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION Ticket to Work (TTW) Program Focus Group

PURPOSE:

Ticket to Work (TTW) is a Social Security Administration (SSA) program that offers adults receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments because of disability or blindness greater choices for receiving employment services. Under this program, SSA issues tickets to eligible recipients who, in turn, may choose to assign those tickets to an employment network or place their ticket in-use with their state vocational rehabilitation agency to obtain employment services, vocational rehabilitation services, or other support services necessary to achieve a vocational (work) goal.

The purpose of this focus group is to discuss the impact of messages and themes designed to build awareness of the TTW program benefits. We hope such messages and stories will generate interest in the program and persuade the intended audience to respond to the call-to-action. At the conclusion of the focus group sessions, SSA hopes to have a better sense of which messages and themes are most likely to persuade people the TTW program is a good one for them, and that they should participate. We also hope to gain a sense of which messages do not encourage people to participate, or perhaps even inspire a negative response from potential participants.

The qualitative analysis from these focus groups will provide SSA with the necessary insights and recommendations for improving the efficacy of the TTW program in recruiting participants from the pool of eligible beneficiaries and claimants.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

We will recruit respondents from a list of newly awarded Social Security beneficiaries and SSI recipients who are not (yet) participating in the TTW program. Respondents will be fluent in English, and exhibit diversity across disability type, age, gender, race, and the type of benefits they are receiving.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[x] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Faye Lipsky, Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [x] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [x] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No N/A

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [x] Yes [ ] No

We will pay a cash incentive of $50-100 to each focus group participant. We will base the exact amount on the cost-of-living in the test area, and prevailing market rates for focus groups of this nature.

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time (minutes)	Burden (hours)
Focus group participants	27	120	54
Totals	27	120	54

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $47,000.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ ] Yes [x] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

We will use the contact list of newly awarded Social Security beneficiaries and SSI recipients who are not participating in the TTW program. From this list, we will randomly recruit persons via telephone to participate in the focus group sessions based on their proximity to the testing site and demographics. Recruitment will take place approximately two weeks prior to the date of the focus group. We will base our selection of participants on such criteria as fluency in English, and demographic considerations such as age, gender, ethnicity, type of benefits, etc.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[x] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [x] Yes [ ] No

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