Request for Approval

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0970-0401)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Child Welfare Information Gateway’s Customer Satisfaction Assessment

PURPOSE: Child Welfare Information Gateway (CWIG) is a service of the Children’s Bureau, a component within the Administration for Children and Families, and is dedicated to the mission of connecting professionals and concerned citizens to information on programs, research, legislation, and statistics regarding the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families. CWIG’s main functions are identifying information needs, locating and acquiring information, creating information, organizing and storing information, disseminating information, and facilitating information exchange among professionals and concerned citizens. A number of vehicles are employed to accomplish these activities, including, but not limited to, website hosting, discussions with customers, and dissemination of publications (both print and electronic).

CWIG initiated its Customer Satisfaction Assessment in response to Executive Order 12862 issued on September 11, 1993. The Order calls for putting customers first and striving for a customer-driven government that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector. To that end, CWIG has designed a customer satisfaction assessment plan to better understand the kind and quality of services customers want, as well as customers’ level of satisfaction with existing services.

This is a request for approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), under the Federal Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, for a data collection task to be added to the Administration for Children and Families’ already approved generic OMB clearance # 0980-0266. The proposed information collection activity includes delivering voluntary and anonymous feedback forms, surveys, and focus groups. Data collected from these activities will be used to better understand who uses CWIG and what suggestions they have for enhancements that can be made to CWIG’s products and services. This information, in turn, will be used by the Children’s Bureau to better meet the needs of professionals using CWIG’s products and services.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Survey respondents will include State and local governments, the territories, service providers, Indian Tribes and tribal organizations, grantees, researchers, and significant other service providers serving target populations identified by and funded directly or indirectly by ACF. An estimate of the annual response burden is outline in the following table.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[ ] Focus Group

[X] Other: Customer Satisfaction Assessment

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:________________________________________________

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

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

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

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time*	Burden**
State, local, or tribal governments	593	0.046044	27.878
Private sector	667	0.041565	28.914
Federal Government	593	0.046044	27.878
Individuals or households	145	0.019241	2.79
Totals			87.46

* The participation times listed in this table each represent an average and were calculated by dividing the “burden” for each category by the “number of respondents” for each category (e.g., 27.878÷ 593=0.046044). A more description of the burden calculation is provided in the next section and includes the participation time for each data collection method used in CWIG’s overall customer satisfaction assessment.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is approximately_$10,000.00__

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.

The sample size and annual burden estimates are based on upon our previous experience conducting similar data collection activities during FY 2012 approved under OMB control number 0970-0303. Below is a breakdown of each data collection activity used to inform CWIG’s Customer Satisfaction Assessment.

Conference comment cards. CWIG will distribute comment cards at various conferences throughout the year to learn more about child welfare professionals’ information needs and collect suggestions regarding CWIG’s products and services. CWIG anticipates that 200 customers each year will complete a comment card at conferences and each comment card will take approximately one minute to fill out in hard copy format. These estimates are based on the number of customers that submitted comments at conferences during FY 2012.

Website Feedback Form. A feedback form will be used on CWIG’s website to collect comments and suggestions from website users. CWIG estimates that 218 customers will complete a Website Feedback Form each year and it will take roughly one minute for each customer to complete the form online. These estimates are based on the number of customers that submitted comments and suggestions using CWIG’s website during FY 2012.

Focus Groups. CWIG will use focus groups to learn more about the information needs of child welfare and related professionals and understand the usefulness of a specific product, tool, or topic so CWIG can better meet their needs and support their work in improving services and outcomes for children and families. CWIG will conduct six focus groups per year with an average of eight respondents per group for a total annual sample size of 48 respondents. Each focus group will last approximately one hour.

Online Tool/Publication/Web Section Survey. The Online Tool/ Publication/Web Section Survey will be used to help us understand online users’ satisfaction with specific web services, publications, and offerings (e.g., database, tools, learning centers, specific websites/sections/publications). We expect to collection 160 Online Tool/Publication/Web Section Surveys each year and each survey will take approximately three minutes to complete. These estimates are based on our experiences delivering a similar survey during FY 2012.

Webinar Feedback Survey. The Webinar Survey will be used to solicit feedback from child welfare professionals that participate in webinars sponsored by either CWIG or the Children’s Bureau to learn about the overall quality of webinars and to learn more about whether or not the webinar met their needs. We expect to collect 160 Webinar Surveys each year and each survey will take about three minutes to complete. These estimates are based on our experience delivering a similar Webinar Survey during FY 2012.

Customer Services Information Questions. CWIG’s customer service representatives will ask customers contacting us via telephone, email, or live chat to provide information on their professional background and the geographical location of their workplace. We expect customer services staff to ask these questions of approximately 1,212 professionals each year and it will take about one minute to solicit this information. These estimates are based on our experience asking customers for this type of information during FY 2012.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X] Telephone

[X] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

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

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households; (2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of Respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time (in minutes) required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of Respondents and the Participation Time then divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

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. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

Submit all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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