Non Research Determination

Project Determination

Customer Discovery Interviews with Five NIOSH Audiences

Project ID:	0900f3eb82378a2e
Accession #:	NIOSH-OD-4/24/24-78a2e
Project Contact:	Emily Novicki
Organization:	NIOSH/OD
Status:	Project In Progress
Intended Use:	Project Determination
Estimated Start Date:	10/01/24
Estimated Completion Date:	09/30/25
CDC/ATSDR HRPO/IRB Protocol#:
OMB Control#:

Description

Priority

Standard

Date Needed

07/19/24

CDC Priority Area for this Project

Other CDC Priority - National Firefighter Registry for Cancer

Determination Start Date

07/09/24

Description

This project will conduct customer discovery interviews with five key audiences of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In recent years, NIOSH has used business practices associated with Lean Start-up Methodology to provide staff with information about their audiences. NIOSH staff can use this audience information to gain insights for future research or communication strategy. An important part of Lean Start-up is a process called “customer discovery.” Businesses use customer discovery to provide insight customer wants and needs for future product development. Customer discovery collects anecdotal attitudes, typically from 20 to 50 targeted people. The questions focus on the people’s tasks, the gains available, the barriers they face, and the resources they rely on. NIOSH proposes conducting 125 customer discover interviews across five key audience groups (25 participants per audience): 1. Volunteer firefighters 2. Home healthcare aides 3. Corrections officers 4. Mental health workers 5. State, county, and city health department employees Interviews will be 30-60 minutes, either in person or via video call. Questions in the interview guide ask participants to provide feedback on: (1) job-related duties, (2) gains, or positive aspects of their job, (3) challenges related to their job, (4) where they seek out resources, and if time permits, (5) attitudes about safety and health. The interview guide is semi-structured, and interviewers may need to ask additional follow-up questions to obtain complete information.

Goals/Purpose

The feedback will provide insights into customer perceptions, experiences, and expectations. At NIOSH, this approach helps shine a light on promising avenues for future research and communications. It also helps use funds efficiently by giving early insight which strategies are likely to be successful and which are not. The ultimate goal is to focus NIOSH staff attention on areas where communication might improve delivery of products or services.

Objective

The proposed questions to participants will focus on learning more about the challenges and needs related to occupational safety and health. This includes job-related duties, positives of their job, challenges to doing their job, where they seek out resources, and attitudes about workplace safety and health.

Determinations
Determination	Justification	Completed	Entered By & Role
HSC: Does NOT Require HRPO Review	Not Research / Other 45 CFR 46.102(l) Other - Marketing survey	07/15/24	Berry_K Ann (zcz2) Division HSC
PRA: PRA Applies		07/15/24	Fitzgerald_Emily (iza8) OMB / PRA