Template - Webinar and Wecast Survey Description

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0960-0788)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Social Security Administration Webinar and Webcast Surveys for 2014

BACKGROUND:

Periodically, the Social Security Administration (SSA) prepares webinars and webcasts in communicating Social Security information to the public. These web-based communications provide needed information about many of SSA’s programs and services, including the retirement program, the disability program, and eServices.

PURPOSE:

Our goal is to evaluate customer satisfaction of each webinar/webcast by asking questions about the quality and effectiveness of the broadcasts. We will conduct online surveys for the general public; this includes SSA beneficiaries, their representative payees, and third-party advocacy organizations who watch our webcasts and webinars. After the broadcast, the videos are available on “www.socialsecurity.gov” web pages.

Methodology:

• SSA contacts third party organizations who assist the public with SSA-related issues; SSA sends an invitation to view the broadcast or video link. Those organizations may share the invitation with other interested parties.

• Invitations contain a link to take viewers to a web page to watch the live or prerecorded video (http://www.ssa.gov/webinars/). A media contractor hosts the videos. During the video, viewers are asked to participate in the survey to provide feedback about the webinar. The link to the survey is available on the video screen under a paper clip symbol. To take the survey, respondents must initiate an action to access the survey. The survey is voluntary.

• SSA will collect survey data until the end of the campaign – generally, as long as the business sponsor indicates the issue remains current. We use an online web-based collection tool for the surveys. We have designed the survey to be easy read and complete. We have strategically placed “Question skips” in the survey to ensure minimal impact on respondents.

• While each webinar and webcast is different, the customer satisfaction surveys are the same and vary only slightly to accommodate “webinar/webcast content” differences. The attached sample survey document shows the replaceable language in highlights.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

We will survey the general public, including:

• SSA beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries

• National, regional, and local advocacy groups

• Third party representatives

• State and local agencies, and tribal governments

• National and local media outlets

TYPE OF COLLECTION:

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software) [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: Intercepts

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Faye Lipsky, Reports Clearance Officer, Social Security Administration

To assist review, please provide answers to the following questions:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

2. If yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [X] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided

to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time (minutes)	Burden (hours)
SSA beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries	2,000	3	100
National, regional, and local advocacy groups	2,000	3	100
Third Party Organizations	2,500	3	125
State and local agencies, and tribal governments	1,500	3	75
National and local media outlets	1,000	3	50
Totals	9,000		450

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal Government is $0.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [X ] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan). If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

SSA’s Office of Communications maintains contact information for national, regional and local

advocacy groups, third-party representatives, Federal, State, and local agencies, and tribal

governments, as well as national and local media outlets.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ X ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [ X] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

USE OF RESULTS:

We will use the research results to measure the success of each webinar and webcast and to inform future web-based communications.

NAME OF CONTACT PERSON: Debbie Larwood

PHONE NUMBER: 410-966-6135

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