Evaluation of Domestic Victims of Human Trafficking Program
Supporting Statement B
Additional Information Collection Request
OMB No. 0970-0487
August 2018
Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Mary Switzer Building
330 C Street, SW
Washington, DC, 20201
The Evaluation of the Domestic Human Trafficking (DVHT) Program is an evaluation of 13 projects awarded cooperative agreements in fiscal year (FY) 2016 to expand or develop innovative, multi-disciplinary, trauma-informed approaches to identifying and meeting the service needs of domestic victims of human trafficking. The evaluation will document the ways in which projects achieve the goals of the DVHT Program and examine projects’ various service delivery models. The evaluation will use a mixed methods approach, including surveys and semi-structured interviews, to collect the data necessary to address the evaluation questions.
Target Population and Sampling Frame
The sample will be purposive and non-probability-based. The project director from each of the 13 DVHT projects will be asked to complete a survey and participate in two telephone interviews (the first, soon after the Web-survey, and the second, within the final 3 months of their project’s period of performance). Two key stakeholder groups from each DVHT project—case managers (up to 10 per site, N=130) and key project partner agency staff (up to 20 per site, N=260)—will be asked to complete a Web-based survey. Additionally, project stakeholders (project directors, case managers, survivor leaders, key partner agency staff) from a subset of 8 project sites (up to 17 stakeholders per site, N=136) and clients (up to 5 clients per each selected site, N=40) will be asked to participate in an in-person interview during a site visit. In consultation with ACF, RTI will select 8 sites that are diverse and representative in terms of their previous experience in human trafficking services provision, geographic region, rural/urban setting, target population, program model, services offered, and partnerships. RTI will select respondents for the in-person stakeholder interviews in consultation with project directors from each of the 8 DHVT project sites chosen for a site visit. The respondent universe for the client interviews will be DVHT project clients who meet the criteria to be interviewed. More specifically, criteria to invite clients to participate in interviews will include:
Safety: We will not invite any clients for whom case managers believe an interview could potentially compromise client safety for any reason.
Mental health status: We will not invite clients who are currently experiencing severe mental health issues, including but not limited to, post-traumatic stress disorder or suicidal ideation, as known by the case manager.
General emotional stability: We will not invite clients who case managers believe may not have the emotional stability to answer interview questions or for whom case managers believe that interview questions will pose distress.
Level of involvement with the program: We will invite clients who have participated in the program in a substantial way, as defined by program activities (e.g., a client who has undergone intake, assessments, and some level of case management).
Diversity: We will invite clients who represent a diversity of backgrounds and demographics, such as type of trafficking experienced (labor and sex), race and ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, age, and experiences/involvement with the program.
Expected Response Rate
Given the small, purposive sample of mostly DVHT project staff and their partner agencies, we expect the response rates to be high. Because the DVHT projects are required to participate in the federally funded evaluation of the DVHT Program, project directors, case managers, survivor leaders, and other staff will be motivated to participate in the voluntary surveys and interviews. For client interviews, we anticipate lower response rates because clients will not be asked to participate as part of their job and many clients’ schedules and life needs change day-to-day. We also may have lower response rates of survivor leaders who work on the DVHT projects on a volunteer basis. However, we will use several strategies (see Section B.3) to maximize client and survivor leader response rates. We do not expect any item non-response for critical questions.
Data collection will begin after the study team receives OMB approval and through March 2020 (approximately two years). We will collect data through Web-based surveys (Appendices A-1 through A-3); telephone interviews with project directors (Appendices A-4 and A-5); in-person interviews with program staff, survivor leaders, and partners (Appendix A-6); and in-person interviews with clients (Appendix A-7). The mixed methods approach will allow the evaluation to collect quantitative data across all 13 projects and their partners, while the qualitative methodology will enable the evaluation to “unpack” the quantitative data and document the nuances of program models, service delivery approaches, and the extent to which and how these models and approaches affectuate change in clients’ lives. Collectively, these methods will address the evaluation questions and measure DVHT projects’ progress and successes. Descriptions of each of the data collection instruments are outlined in Supporting Statement A.
First, the evaluation team will administer a project director survey to each of the 13 DVHT project directors. The information obtained through the survey will help provide a baseline understanding of the 13 projects and will inform subsequent data collection. Following the project director survey, the RTI evaluation team will collect in-depth information through a telephone interview with each of the 13 project directors. During the telephone interview, the evaluation team will request key project documents (e.g., service and referral protocols, outreach materials) and a list of their project’s case managers and key partners to receive a survey. We will invite up to 10 case managers and 20 partners per project site, for a total of 130 case manager and 260 partner respondents. If a list contains more than 10 case managers or more than 20 project partner agencies, then the evaluation team will consult with the project director to identify the case managers and project partners who are the most involved in the DVHT project. Shortly after the first project director interviews are completed and the lists are confirmed, the evaluation team will send survey invitations via email (Appendix A-8) to each projects’ list of case managers and partners.
Following completion of the case manager and partner surveys, the evaluation team will collect additional data from a subset of 8 sites during in-person site visits. ACF and RTI will work together to select 8 sites that are diverse and representative. During the site visits, evaluation team members will conduct semi-structured interviews with approximately 17 project stakeholders per site (N=136), including project directors, case managers, survivor leaders, and key partner agency staff. The site visit interview guide will be used to collect in-depth information about each project from multiple stakeholder perspectives. In addition, RTI will conduct interviews during site visits with approximately 5 clients per project (N=40) to gain an understanding of client experiences and perspectives.
Finally, during the last three months of the evaluation, the evaluation team will conduct a second interview with each of the 13 project directors. This second and final interview will provide the opportunity for project directors to reflect on final lessons learned and project successes, and the evaluation team to clarify data previously collected and document project developments.
We will employ several methods to maximize response rates for all data collection. We will email up to three survey reminders (Appendix A-9) to potential survey respondents. We will also make follow-up reminder telephone calls to project directors who have not completed their survey (Appendix A-10). We will offer to walk through the survey sections with them over the telephone. We will work directly with project directors to schedule their telephone interview during a time that is convenient for their schedule. The site visit interviews will be coordinated by RTI, in collaboration with each selected site’s project director (or another key DVHT project staff person). We will ensure that respondents are scheduled for their interview during a time that is convenient for them. RTI will work with survivor leaders to ensure that they are offered a time that works for their schedule. For client interviews, the RTI evaluation team will ask case managers to identify clients who meet the evaluation’s selection criteria and pass on information about the study along with the opportunity to voluntarily participate in an interview. Clients will be told that their decision to participate or not will have no effect on any services they receive from the program. Client and volunteer survivor leader response rates will be maximized through a $25-dollar gift card (justification for this incentive amount can be found in Supporting Statement A, section A.9).
We do not anticipate challenges with low response rates or nonresponse for the other interview participants (project directors, case managers, survivor leaders who are paid project staff, and partner agency staff), because of the purposeful selection of interviewees and because participation in the federal evaluation is a requirement of the DVHT Program cooperative agreement.
The surveys, project director guides, and site visit guide were tested by the RTI staff from the DVHT evaluation team. Staff tested the pen and paper versions of each of the three survey and the site visit guides. Fewer than ten people tested each of the instruments. Because of this, the burden estimate closely resembles what the actual burden will be for the FY 2016 DVHT evaluation participants. The client interview guide was revised from the previous client interview guide from the FY 2015 DVHT evaluation (OMB # 0970-0487). Additional questions were added to address the ACF evaluation questions for the DVHT project and we estimate the total time will be about an hour with these new questions.
Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Mary Mueggenborg, Project Officer
RTI International
Deborah Gibbs, Principal Investigator
Jennifer Hardison Walters, Project Director
Kathleen Krieger, Associate Project Director
Merissa Gremminger, Task Lead
Rose Feinberg, Analyst
Marianne Kluckman, Analyst
Shilpi Misra, Analyst
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission |
| Author | Peyton Williams |
| Last Modified By | SYSTEM |
| File Modified | 2018-08-14 |
| File Created | 2018-08-14 |