GenIC Request In-Person

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0920-1027)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Online and In-Person Baseline Usability Testing for the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention Act Against AIDS Website—In Person

PURPOSE:

The CDC Act Against AIDS (AAA) Website (www.cdc.gov/actagainstaids) has had minor usability testing over the last four years, but no comprehensive usability testing has been done to help guide its current and future development. The purpose of this collection is to conduct comprehensive usability testing of the CDC Act Against AIDS Website (www.cdc.gov/actagainstaids) to find out how this web site can be made more effective and user-friendly by soliciting in-person facilitator directed feedback related to usability, delivery effectiveness, visual appeal, overall satisfaction, and problems with existing interfaces, of the CDC Act Against AIDS Website. Responses will be analyzed to plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service to the public.

The feedback from this information collection will provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences, and expectations; provide an early warning of issues with service; or focus attention on areas where changes in navigation, labeling, or infrastructure might improve delivery of information to users of the website. The purpose of easier access to the information and resources is to reduce the number of persons living with HIV (PLWH), get more PLWH into care, and reduce the transmission of HIV.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

The participants will be from the groups known to use the AAA website to include: health care providers, academics, public health professionals, general public, and scientists/researchers. They will be solicited by contacting health departments, medical offices, faith groups, academic colleagues, and social/civic groups.

The in-person survey (Attachment 1) process includes a facilitator script and consent to be recorded (Attachment 2). A facilitator will guide the respondents through the survey.

In-person survey respondents will self-select by responding affirmatively to an electronic request (see attachment 5) and will be scheduled to meet with a facilitator to perform the tasks while being observed and encouraged to think aloud. The In-person survey will be completed by 30 respondents undergoing a guided survey under the guidance of the facilitator using a script for an estimated 60 minutes for a total of 30 burden hours.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

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: Susan H. Carlson (sqc2)

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

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 NA

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ x ] Yes [] No

Numerous empirical studies have shown that honoraria can significantly increase response rates (e.g., Abreu & Winters, 1999; Shettle & Mooney, 1999, C. Grady, Ethical and Practical Consideration for Paying Research Participants, 2005). We also believe that the small token of appreciation will result in higher data validity as participants become more engaged in the data collection process. Participants will receive their token of appreciation after they complete the posttest survey.

We are also conducting a related online survey and believe that the online survey invitation will result in sufficient numbers of participants for this project. Therefore, a token of appreciation of $40.00 will only be provided to the 30 in-person participants. Because most of the users of the website are professionals, i.e., Academics, Public Health, Health Care, Scientists or Researchers, they are more difficult to recruit due to their major responsibilities. To reach these essential representative populations, offering a token of appreciation is justified to increase the cost-effectiveness of the recruitment and to improve response rates and the validity and significance of the data obtained. Monetary incentives are often used to facilitate survey recruitment and motivate participation among individuals who might otherwise not respond.

OMB guidance also justifies the use of tokens of appreciation “to improve coverage of specialized respondents, rare groups, or minority populations” and defines specialized respondents as a highly selective group (OMB, 2006).

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time/mins.	Burden
Academic Public Health Professional General Consumer, Scientists/Researcher In-person participants with facilitator	30	60	30
Totals	30		30

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is: 117,778.

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?

Inperson respondents will selected from the demographic groups listed above. These respondents come from multiple sources such as CDC partner organizations, academic colleagues known to the contractor who may have accessed the CDC website as part of their normal course of business and or activities. In-person participants will comprise health care providers, public health professionals, academics, and the general public. The individuals may be frequent or infrequent users of the site.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[X] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ x] Yes, for the in-person surveys only [ ] No

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