Supporting Statement B (rev)

Using Administrative Data to Answer to Inform Program and Policy Decisions

OMB Information Collection Request

0970-0356

Supporting Statement

Part B

May 7, 2014

Submitted By:

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

7^th Floor, West Aerospace Building

370 L’Enfant Promenade, SW

Washington, D.C. 20447

Project Officer:

Kathleen Dwyer

B1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods

This project will provide information to the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) about the use of early childhood administrative data, barriers in analyzing administrative data, and suggestions for resources to support the use of administrative data. It is critical to obtain this information from the 56 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) administrators in the states and territories in order to understand the patterns and variability in the uses and issues facing states in analyzing administrative data. OPRE will use this information to determine which resources would best support CCDF administrators in their analysis of administrative data for addressing policy questions of interest, as well as to inform planning for future child care policy research. We will invite CCDF administrators from the 50 states plus Washington, DC as well as the administrators from 5 U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands) to participate in phone interviews (see Appendix A for the interview protocol). If the CCDF administrator is unavailable or would like to be joined by someone else, he/she may nominate one other person who is considered to have expertise in the use of administrative data.

B2. Procedures for Collection of Information

As a part of the recruitment process for the phone interviews, each CCDF administrator will be sent an initial recruitment email asking about his/her interest (Appendix B). If s/he is interested, we will schedule a time for the interview and send the questions prior to the interview (Appendix E). If a CCDF administrator does not respond to the initial email, a follow-up email will be sent a week later (Appendix C). If a CCDF administrator does not respond to the second recruitment email, we will call him/her a few days later (Appendix D). If the CCDF administrator responds to the follow-up email or phone call, a time will be scheduled and the interview questions will be sent prior to the interview (Appendix E). For administrators who agree to participate and have scheduled a time to talk, reminder emails will be sent 1-2 days before the interview (Appendix F). For any administrator who is not willing to participate, we will send an email asking for an alternate participant (Appendix H). For anyone who misses the interview, an email will be sent to ask for new dates and times for the interview (Appendix G).

During the interview, participants will call a conference line. A senior researcher will conduct the interview, and another researcher will take notes. A digital recorder will record the conversation with the permission of the participant. The digital recording will be stored in a secure data server until it is no longer needed—and will then be deleted.

B3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with Nonresponse

Expected Response Rates

We expect that at least one CCDF administrator from each state and territory will participate, but acknowledge that constraints may warrant a lower response rate. However, we expect that our connections to the states and territories will facilitate complete participation in this data collection effort. For example, the contractor recently conducted another state interview through the Early Childhood Data Collaborative with all fifty states. In addition, nearly all states and territories have worked on an ongoing basis with the Urban Institute on another ACF-supported research project, the CCDF Policies Database.

Dealing with Nonresponse

Although we hope to gather information from each of the state and territory CCDF administrators (or their representative), we recognize that a few may not participate in the interview. There is no prior data on which to base estimates of expected nonresponse, though it is possible that administrators who have used or are more interested in using administrative data may be more likely to participate. When developing the internal memo of findings from this project, we will report the participation rate and consider nonresponse bias when summarizing the information gathered.

Maximizing Response Rates

To maximize response rates, project staff will conduct administrator interviews during hours most convenient for administrators, which we expect to be between typical working hours of 8am-5pm Monday through Friday. We will accommodate the normal working schedule of administrators on the west coast by extending interview availability until 8pm. We may also interview administrators outside of the regular work day, if needed, to maximize participation. We will conduct phone interviews in order to eliminate any travel burden on participants.

B4. Tests of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken

To test the interview protocol, a pilot will be administered internally between two project staff. In addition, one state will act as a pilot state, and the interview will be administered to the CCDF administrator in that state. After the first state interview, any minor yet necessary changes that need to be made to the interview protocol will be made.

B5. Individual Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data

The administrator interview team is led by Drs. Kelly Maxwell and Nikki Forry, co-principal investigators. Other team members include Dale Epstein, senior research scientist; Carlise King, research scientist; and Van-Kim Bui, research analyst.

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