NIH ODP PRES Change Request Memo

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service

National Institutes of Health

Office of the Director

Office of Disease Prevention

November 14, 2018

TO: Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

Through: Reports Clearance Officer, DHHS

Project Clearance Chief, NIH

Project Clearance Liaison, Keisha L. Shropshire, ODP

FROM: Kat Schwartz, Communications Specialist

NIH Office of Disease Prevention (ODP)

SUBJECT: Non-substantial Change Request for “Identifying Experts in Prevention Science Methods to Include on NIH Review Panels” from the NIH Office of Disease Prevention (ODP)
OMB#: 0925-0728
Expiration Date: 11/30/2020

This is a non-substantial change request from the NIH Office of Disease Prevention (ODP) for the OMB to approve a modification to our current OMB Clearance # 0925-0728, expiration date 11/30/2020, “Identifying Experts in Prevention Science Methods to Include on NIH Review Panels.” This submission was most recently approved in December 2017 for use by the ODP to (a) identify methodologists with expertise in content areas related to prevention science, (b) identify mid- and senior- level researchers who may have an interest in serving on review panels, and (c) help NIH Scientific Review Officers (SROs) identify experts in prevention science methods to include on their review panels. The ODP is now proposing two non-substantial changes to the Prevention Research Expertise Survey (PRES) (OMB-approved instrument, #0925-0728): (1) Combining two data entry pages into one webpage, and (2) adding one question.

1. The ODP determined we could simplify and improve the overall survey design if we combined the current “Create My Profile” page (step 1 of 9 of the survey) and the “Additional Information” page (step 9 of 9 of the survey) into one webpage. We believe that requesting all professional and profile-related information at the same time, on a single page, will improve the user experience and reduce any possible confusion. By combining these two pages into one, the number of steps (i.e., pages) in the entire survey will also be reduced from nine to eight. The new, combined page would come at the very beginning of the survey and become step 1 of 8. The proposed change is demonstrated in the attached mockups, with the current version – two separate pages (see Attachment 1) and the proposed combined page (see Attachment 2).

2. The ODP received feedback from SROs that the tool could be improved if SROs could easily find the geographic region in which each respondent works, which will help SROs in their official duties. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) requires SROs to take the location of reviewers into account to ensure the panel’s overall makeup is balanced by geographic region, and we heard from SROs that they spend a lot of time trying to find reviewers who both have the appropriate expertise and are from diverse geographic regions across the country. The geographic region is based on the location of the institution where the expert works, not where they live.

To capture this information, the ODP is proposing to add a single new question to the “Create My Profile” page of the survey: “Where is Your Institution/Organization Located?”. This will be a dropdown field from which the survey respondent can pick either the appropriate state, U.S. territory, or “Outside the U.S.” Only state-level information is needed, not the city, zip code, or street address (if the expert doesn’t work in the U.S., SROs only need to know they are located outside the U.S., not the specific country).

To make the new question as clear and simple to answer as possible, we are including “tip text” on the screen to help the respondent understand the type of information requested:

If you work for an organization with multiple locations, use the location of your office. For example, if you work at RAND’s Boston office, you would select “Massachusetts (MA)” from the dropdown menu.

If you work remotely (e.g., from home), use the location of your organization’s office.

If you work at a foreign institution/organization, select “Outside the U.S.”

The dropdown field will list the U.S. states and territories in alphabetical order. “Outside the U.S.” will be the last item in the list. Finally, this will also be an autocomplete field, so respondents can simply start typing and it will either suggest all possible the matches or take them directly to that state in the list.

We anticipate that with this functionality, the additional burden on the respondent will be minimal. The proposed new question, tip text, and dropdown field have been circled in yellow in the attached mockup (please note the mockup of the new question is on the proposed new combined “Create My Profile” page outlined in #1 above). (see Attachment 3).

We believe these modifications will both (1) improve the overall experience for the survey respondent by combining similar questions onto one page and reducing the number of pages they have to navigate through, as well as (2) better support the needs of the end user (SROs) by providing them with easy access to information they need to fulfill their official duties.

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