Gen IC Template

DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE

OF MULTIMEDIA RESEARCH ONLINE SURVEY COLLECTIONS

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

(the collection that is the subject of the 10-day review request)

Multimedia Research Online Survey

[X] SURVEY [ ] FOCUS GROUP [ ] SOFTWARE USABILITY TESTING

DESCRIPTION OF THIS SPECIFIC COLLECTION

Following you will find:

1. intended purpose,

2. need for the collection,

3. planned use of the data,

4. date(s) and location(s),

5. collection procedures,

6. number of focus groups, surveys, usability testing sessions

7. description of respondents/participants,

Attached is a copy of the online survey questionnaire.

Purpose of the Research, Need for the Collection, and Planned Use of the Data

This survey will evaluate the perceptions, usefulness, and appeal of a selection of multimedia resource materials (one video and two infographics) produced by FSA. Focus groups were held prior to this survey and the survey will quantify and validate the focus group findings.  

Specific objectives for the online survey phase of the research include: 

• Gauging the effectiveness of the FSA-produced video and infographics based on their perceived purpose, overall appeal, credibility, degree of informative content, and relevance to target audience needs. Additional areas to cover include: 

• Identifying any features that may encourage or impede users from fully viewing the video or infographic; probe such factors as visual appeal, format, flow, and amount of content (and length, for videos).

• Determining whether the video and infographics influence users’ impressions of the topic (e.g., applying for aid, repaying loans).

• Evaluating the extent to which users believe they have clear instructions regarding next steps for taking action or seeking additional information, and the impact of the videos and infographics on their likelihood to take action.

• Determining users’ likelihood to recommend the videos or infographics to a friend.

• Gauging where the target audiences would expect to see the informational video and infographics.

Dates, Locations, and Collection Procedures

This study will be programmed and fielded November 24-December 12, 2014 via an online survey taking participants no more than 10 minutes to complete. Invitations for the survey will be emailed to a sample of potential participants throughout the U.S., representative of FSA’s target audiences, with the goal of 700 completed surveys.

Participants are assured anonymity of their survey responses and that they will only be reported in aggregate form.

Description of Respondents/Participants

The research will be conducted among four core audiences: student loan borrowers in repayment, current college/adult students, high school seniors, and parents of high school seniors.

Total Sample (175 completed surveys per segment)

Survey participants will be screened to ensure that they fall within four core audiences.

• Borrowers in repayment

• Current college/adult students

• High school seniors

• Parents of high school seniors

Borrowers in repayment must have received and currently be repaying federal student loans.

Current college students must currently attend either a two-year or four-year college or university, graduate school, or trade/professional/career school either half time or full time, and have applied for and received any federal student loans.

High school seniors must be currently enrolled in high school and intending to enroll in a college or career school in the next year as a first-year student.

Parents of high school seniors must be the parent or guardian of a child planning to enroll in a college or career school in the next year as a first-year student.

Demographic and general classification information will be collected in the survey. No quotas will be set for any demographic/classification segment (such as educational level, household income, etc.) but instead those segments will be represented as they occur naturally in the convenience sample of targets.

AMOUNT OF ANY PROPOSED STIPEND OR INCENTIVE

No stipend or incentive will be offered for participating in this survey.

BURDEN HOUR COMPUTATION (Number of responses (X) estimated response or participation time in minutes (/60) = annual burden hours):

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Participants completing a survey	700	10 minutes (average)	116.7 hours
Screened participants*	175	2 minutes (average)	5.8 hours
Total	875		122.5 hours

* An estimate of those who will fall outside of target segment parameters, thus not qualifying to take the survey.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION

The existing contract allows for up to 700 completed survey responses, equating to a margin of error of ±3.7% at a 95% level of confidence.

Once online data collection is complete, tabulation and analysis will be conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). SPSS has a complete tool kit of programming, statistical analysis, graphing and reporting capabilities for use in a variety of applications in commercial, academic, and government settings.

In addition to tabulating overall frequencies and descriptive statistics for each survey question, we will conduct advanced statistical analyses (where possible and appropriate) to assess any key relationships among survey items. Appropriateness is typically determined based on a minimum cell size of 30 respondents.

The statistical techniques used may include one or a combination of the following bivariate and multivariate analyses: regression, correlation, CHAID, factor, cluster, multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) or perceptual mapping. These advanced analysis techniques will identify relationships among survey items and provide further interpretation of complex multi-dimensional data that can then further guide messaging and marketing strategy, and decision making. Thematic text analysis will be also used for the open-end and “other specify” question responses to code and categorize these qualitative data.

If sample sizes are sufficient, we will also profile survey respondents by using post hoc segmentation analysis, most likely in the form of cluster analysis (one form of multivariate analysis) to look for patterns in attitudes, perceptions, behaviors and demographics.

While complex analysis techniques are almost always interesting, they are not necessarily useful. We will apply our business and strategy background to ensure that all analyses are performed with actionable results in mind. The final analytical techniques used will be driven by the needs of the FSA team, the approved survey questions and the overall sample size.

NAME OF CONTACT PERSON: Tina Pemberton

TELEPHONE NUMBER: (202) 377-3507

MAILING LOCATION:

830 First St. NE, 32D2

Washington, DC 20202

ED DEPARTMENT, OFFICE, DIVISION, BRANCH:

Tina Pemberton

Program Manager
Federal Student Aid
U.S. Department of Education

TEL: (202) 377-3507

Tina.pemberton@ed.gov

830 First St. NE

Washington, DC 20202

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