Justification for Compensation for EBB Participants

OMB No. 0960-0787

SSA Electronic Bulletin Board Discussion Group

Justification for Monetary Incentive

SSA rarely compensates participants in customer satisfaction surveys. Even when we do so, we typically limit financial incentives to $50 maximum. However, our proposed Electronic Bulletin Board (EBB) Discussion Group poses several unique challenges, which we hope to surmount by offering compensation of $75.00. Below we discuss these challenges.

Challenge 1: Length of Time

The discussion/customer service assessment, which SSA will be conducting electronically, will take two hours. We believe the unusually long discussion warrants extra compensation, and offering the $75 incentive is a standard industry practice for an activity of this duration.

Challenge 2: Limited Participant Pool

The pool of people who are eligible to participate in the study is very narrow. Specifically, SSA needs respondents who:

• Are deaf or hard of hearing,

• Have visited one of only 37 SSA field offices offering video remote interpreting (VRI) services (out of 1,500 SSA field offices);

• Must have used the VRI service while visiting the field office;

• Are computer savvy (familiar with both the Internet and e-mail); and

• Will be available and willing to participate in the 2-hour EBB discussion.

To obtain usable results that will help us improve the VRI service for all deaf and hard-of-hearing people, it is essential that we have as many participants as possible. Offering the $75 incentive is designed to help us achieve that goal.

Ultimately, SSA will use the feedback from the discussion group to improve and expand VRI to other field SSA field offices, thus allowing greater accessibility for our customers with disabilities.