Time Use Interviews

Appendix D

Time Use Interview Guide

Introduction.

{For first interview}

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Justice have asked the Urban Institute (a non-profit, nonpartisan research organization in Washington, DC) to conduct an evaluation of the Pay for Success (PFS) Demonstration Project. This evaluation is extremely important to our understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the PFS approach.

One important aspect of PFS is the cost of implementation borne by the participating organizations, which has been difficult to measure. Because of your organization’s involvement with PFS in [site], we would like to get a better picture of the time spent on PFS-related tasks by people in your organization. We would like you to participate in phone call that will collect information on how much time is being spent on PFS-related tasks by staff and consultants in your organization.

{Interviews after the first interview}

Just to remind you, this interview is part of the evaluation the of the Pay for Success Demonstration Project being conducted by the Urban Institute for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Justice. The purpose of this call is to collect information on time spent on PFS-related tasks by people in your organization.

[All interviews}

This interview is completely voluntary. Your responses will be used to create an estimate of the time costs of PFS to the organizations involved. Time spent will be reported by us in the aggregate, by role, organization type, and PFS stage. Individuals will not be identified by name. However, unique roles and organizations could allow a reader to attribute a statement to you. Your decision to participate or not and the responses you provide will no effect on your interactions with the Federal Government.

The information you provide will be kept private to the extent permitted by law.

We want to be sure that you freely consent to participate in this interview and that you are aware that you are not obligated to answer any questions you do not wish to. Do you consent to participate in the interview?

As we will be discussing specific numbers, we would like to record this conversation for the purposes of verifying notes after the interview. If you consent, the recording will not be shared with anyone outside the research team. Do you consent to having this interview recorded?

1. Do you (or your staff) report hours to DRGR for the purposes of this grant?

   1. {If no} Proceed to question 2

   2. {If yes} Are there PFS-related activities and time spent by staff that are not covered in your DRGR reporting?

      1. {If no} Stop interview here

      2. {If yes} Proceed to question 2

2. Are you able to provide information about time spent on PFS-related tasks, such as PFS committee meetings, partner meetings, or time spent analyzing data, drafting materials, or preparing for meetings, by people across your organization? This time may be tracked through a time card system, looking at weekly or monthly employee reports, or through staff calendars.

   1. {if no} Can you provide estimates for some of the people in your organization? Is there someone else we can talk to for the other people engaged on PFS tasks?

3. Which people in your organization or contracted to your organization worked on PFS-related tasks in the previous quarter (from (month 1) to (month 3))? It may help to refer to meeting schedules for this period, or time sheets with separate charges.

   1. (If DRGR data is available, informant can be reminded of staff that have charged time to the grant.)

4. How much time, in hours, did each person spend, in total during this period?

   1. Is this information based on calendar schedules, time sheets, or some other source?

5. Are there PFS-related activities that are not covered in your DRGR reporting?

6. Are there other people who may have spent time on PFS for whom you may not have information?

   1. {If yes} Is there someone at your organization who would know what other staff may have spent time on PFS? How can we contact them?

7. Thank you for your time!