VA Memo

TO:                 Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

RE:                 Revised OMB Submission – VA Burial Benefits Program Evaluation 200707-2900-020

Thank you for your careful review of our submission, VA Burial Benefits Program Evaluation.  As requested by you in our teleconference on October 18, we have revised our submission (enclosed).  This submission contains all documents as originally submitted with revisions as noted below:

1.         Public Comments

VA has not received any public comments for this information collection.

2.         Revisions to Supporting Statement

 

• Addition of Privacy Act Language and Exclusion of “and statistical”:  In section 10 of the Supporting Statement, on the confidential statement, VA has dropped reference to “and statistical” from this sentence and added “under the Privacy Act.”  The new sentence now reads:  Respondents are assured that answers given will be kept confidential under the Privacy Act and will be used for research purposes only.  The information that respondents supply is protected by law (the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 522a and section 5701 of Title 38 of the United States Code).

• Addition of Methodology to Assess Non-Response Bias:  On page 26 of the Supporting Statement VA has revised our methodology to include more detail about procedures to mitigate the risk of non-response bias in our research.

3.         Revisions to Letters to Survey Participants

• Addition of Privacy Act Language and Exclusion of “and statistical”:  Similar to above, in the letters, VA have dropped reference to “and statistical” and added “under the Privacy Act” to correspondence to survey participants.

4.         Revisions to Survey

• Addition of Privacy Act Language and Exclusion of “and statistical”:  Similar to above, in the survey instructions (front cover), we have dropped reference to “and statistical” and added “under the Privacy Act.”

• Switch Order of Question on Religious Preference:  We have moved (old) Question 17 (What is your religious preference?) so it appears after (old) Question 20 (Please indicate your agreement with each of the following statements about burial location and costs.) 

• Revise Race Question:  We have revised Question 36 to: Add:  (Mark One or More); Delete:  (e.g., after American Indian or Alaska Native);  Delete: Other:  _____________

5.         Addition of Focus Group Materials:

• Script to Recruit Focus Group Participants:  Based on a request from Caliber/ICF’s IRB to develop a focus group recruitment script (following initial OMB submission), we have added this document to the revised package submitted today.

Letter to Send to Focus Group Participants that Agree to Participate:  Based on a request from Caliber/ICF’s IRB to draft a letter to send focus group participants who agree to participate (following initial OMB submission), we have added this letter to the revised package submitted today