Health Resources and Services Administration
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Evaluation Support for the Division of Transplantation’s Outreach Activities
A. Justification
1. Circumstances of Information Collection
This is a request for OMB approval of virtual interviews under HRSA’s generic clearance. HRSA’s Division of Transplantation (DoT) is the primary federal entity responsible for oversight of the nation’s organ and blood stem cell transplant systems and for initiatives to increase organ donations in the United States. DoT uses a coordinated approach to promote awareness of the need for donated organs and to encourage the public to enroll in their state donor registries. This coordinated approach includes a social media initiative, an Internet component with websites and other electronic materials, paid advertisements, as well as radio, print, and television public service announcements (PSAs), all of which are in English and Spanish. DoT’s outreach efforts target the public and specific audience segments such as older Americans and minorities. DoT has engaged customers during the development of the outreach messages and materials, but has not collected in-depth data to gauge customer experience with the disseminated materials. The purpose of these virtual interviews is to gather audience feedback on the initiatives to understand how the public perceives the messages, how well the messages resonate, and how effective these messages are in increasing individuals’ willingness to register as organ donors. DoT will use the feedback from these virtual interviews to inform future development of outreach approaches and improve customer experience.
To conduct the virtual interviews, DoT’s contractor for this project, NORC at the University of Chicago, will use the market research vendor Dynata, to conduct online recruitment with its panel of consumers. Dynata will issue a brief screening questionnaire to ensure participants meet the target audience criteria (age/race) and will collect participant contact information including first name, phone number and email address. During the screening, participants will be advised of the opportunity to participate in a virtual interview and receive a $40 gift card in appreciation of their time. If the participant agrees, he/she will then be re-contacted by an NORC interviewer to conduct the virtual interview. Dynata recruiters and NORC interviewers are the only parties that will have access to participant name and contact information. Participant information will be shared via secure file transfer and will never be transmitted via email. This method offers several advantages over other qualitative research methods. Virtual interviews do not require the use of specialized focus group facilities, but can instead be conducted at the convenience of the interviewee in his/her own home. Further, virtual interviews eliminate the potential for “group think,” a type of bias that sometimes occurs in focus group research where members tend to avoid expressing dissenting opinions. Because these virtual interviews are brief (20 minutes) and do not require respondents to travel to a specific location at a certain time (as they would for a focus group), the burden on participants is very low.
DoT will obtain feedback about its outreach messages from respondents among the general public through short, virtual interviews via a videoconferencing platform. These virtual interviews will focus on the public’s feedback to DoT’s video PSAs. A total of four video PSAs will be tested with three audience segments: general public, minorities (African American and Hispanic/Latino), and adults age 50 and over. All participants will be over the age of 18.
Interviewees will view a brief video clip less than two minutes long, and will answer a series of interview questions on how well the video communicates the importance of organ donation and encourages individuals to consider signing up as organ donors. Participants will be asked if anything stood out to them positively or negatively, if they thought the message was believable and convincing or if anything was confusing, and if or how it might affect their future intentions in registering as a donor or talking about their organ donation intentions with their family members.
Executive Order 12862 directs agencies that “provide significant services directly to the public” to “survey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction with existing services.” Video PSAs are one of the key ways that DoT increases public awareness of the importance of organ donation and encourages donor registration. The objective of interviewing the public about DoT’s video PSAs is to gather the public’s reactions, feedback, and ideas for improvement. Through these virtual interviews, DoT will gain actionable insights on how to improve one of its key offerings to the public, better tailor the message to specific populations, and increase the reach and effectiveness of DoT’s outreach materials.
2. Purpose and Use of the Information
The vast majority (90 percent) of American adults support organ donation, but only 50 percent have signed up to be a donor. HRSA DoT’s goal is to help close this gap by raising awareness of the importance of organ donation and encouraging people to sign up as organ donors. PSAs are one of the key approaches DoT uses to increase public awareness of organ donation. Each year, HRSA DoT develops and publishes a range of different PSA messages based on which concepts are believed to best resonate with various target audiences. For example, HRSA DoT runs specific outreach campaigns aimed at adults over the age of 50, minority populations, and parents of teens. However, to date, no formal public feedback has been gathered on the videos or messaging concepts. The information gathered through these virtual interviews will help DoT better understand what aspects of the PSAs are resonating with their intended audiences and what could be improved. By gaining specific feedback from the intended audiences, DoT can improve its approach and will be better able to select effective messaging for PSAs and other outreach activities. This information will only be used internally by DoT to improve its messaging to the public and fulfill its statutory requirements of increasing awareness of the importance of organ donation. The findings will not be published or presented externally.
3. Use of Improved Information Technology
NORC will use videoconferencing to show respondents video PSAs. Because the intent is to capture qualitative feedback with open-ended questions, the most efficient and least burdensome approach is through oral, virtual interviews. Respondents will not have to take extra time to write or type answers. Their responses will be recorded to ensure full interviews are captured.
4. Efforts to Avoid Duplication
Each questionnaire is designed to reflect the specifics of each PSA and populations being interviewed. Questionnaires have been reviewed carefully to avoid potential duplication. The proposed questionnaires are unique to this activity, and the information is not found elsewhere.
5. Involvement of Small Entities
No small businesses will be involved in this study.
6. Consequences if Information Collected Less Frequently
These virtual interviews are for a one-time project that will help evaluate the effectiveness of DoT’s outreach materials in raising awareness about organ donation and encouraging individuals to sign up as organ donors. If these virtual interviews are not conducted, DoT will not know whether its approach is effective in motivating the public to become organ donors, and DoT will not have the opportunity to improve its approach based on participant feedback. Future PSAs and messaging will be designed in the absence of evidence about what messaging resonates with intended audiences, and they may not be effective in communicating the importance of organ donor registration or encouraging sign-ups. There are no legal obstacles to reduce the burden.
7. Consistency with the Guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2)
These virtual interviews will be implemented in a manner fully consistent with 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation Outside the Agency
The notice required in 5 CFR 1320.8(d) was published in the Federal Register on December 17, 2014, (Vol. 79, No.242, pages 75164). No public comments were received.
9. Remuneration of Respondents
A $40 gift card will be given to participants to thank them for their participation in the interview. Research has shown improved participation in qualitative interviews with adults in the general United States population when given a monetary incentive in comparison to a nonmonetary incentive or no incentive.1
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
Participation is fully voluntary, and the privacy of individuals will be protected at all phases, from initial screening and recruitment to reporting and beyond. The methods used to protect participant privacy are described further below.
During recruitment: In order to provide a way for the NORC interviewer to contact the participant for the interview, the Dynata recruiter will verify the participant’s name, email address, and phone number as part of the initial screening. This information will be accessed only by the Dynata recruiters and NORC interviewers. No identifying information will be stored or shared for purposes other than contacting the individual for the interview. When information is transmitted from Dynata to NORC so that the NORC interviewer may contact the individual, it will be done via secure file transfer and not via email.
During the interview: Respondents will be told at the beginning of the interview that they have the right to discontinue the interview at any point. Participants will be asked to give verbal consent to have the interview recorded. The recording will only be accessed by NORC interviewers and research analysts.
During reporting: During reporting, data will be anonymized so that respondents’ PII will not be associated with their responses. Records with this information will be handled pursuant to HHS records management policies.
11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature
DoT’s messaging, and PSAs are targeted to certain demographic audiences. Therefore to verify that we are showing the appropriate PSA to each respondent, we need to ask about race and ethnicity so as not to make assumptions. After the participant agrees to engage in the interview, the interviewer will ask the respondents to share their race(s) and ethnicity, and then proceed to conduct the interview. If a respondent declines to share this information, the respondent will be shown the PSA targeted to general audiences.
12. Estimates of Annualized Hour Burden
Respondents:
Respondents will include a sample of the general public, adults ages 18 and older. A maximum of 32 interviews will be conducted, broken down in the following segments: 1) general public, English speaking adults ages 18 and older (n=8); 2) African American adults ages 18 and older (n=8); 3) Hispanic adults ages 18 and older (n=8); and 4) Adults over the age of 50 (n=8).
Annual burden estimates:
We expect a total of 32 respondents to participate in the virtual interviews, and each interview and screening will be 0.5 hours (30 minutes). The total respondent burden for the virtual interviews is estimated to be 16 hours. With an average wage rate of $26.76 per hour2 for each respondent, the total hourly cost is estimated to be $428.16.
Type of Collection |
Number of Respondents |
Responses per Respondent |
Total Responses |
Hours per Respondent |
Total Burden Hours |
Wage Rate (Hourly) |
Total Hour Cost |
HRSA DoT PSAs Evaluation Interview Guide – Members of the Public |
32 |
1 |
32 |
.5 |
16 |
$26.76 |
$428.16 |
Total |
32 |
-- |
32 |
-- |
16 |
-- |
$428.16 |
Planned frequency of information collection:
This is a one-time project.
13. Estimates of Annualized Cost Burden to Respondents
The only associated cost to respondents is their time to provide the requested information.
14. Estimates of Annualized Cost to the Government
The cost of the study for government personnel is estimated at $20,350 for the year (10 percent full-time equivalent at $203,500=$20,350 per year; GS-14, Step 5 salary level with 48 percent fringe benefit included [https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/salary-tables/20Tables/html/DCB.aspx]). The estimated government cost for a contract to carry out the virtual interviews is $4,127.35. This cost is for roughly 90 person hours, of which 26 percent are professional hours, and 74 percent are supporting hours (of which 57 percent are interviewing hours).
15. Change in Burden
Not Applicable. This is a new activity under HRSA’s generic clearance and will be included in the total burden currently approved by OMB under OMB Control No. 0915-0212.
16. Plans for Analysis and Timetable of Key Activities
The virtual interviews will be conducted in a period of 2-3 weeks in May/June 2020 to fit within the contract period of this HRSA funding. NORC staff will prepare, organize, and consolidate their notes from the interviews. Narrative information from the virtual interviews will be summarized and examined using thematic analysis. Findings will only be used for internal improvement and will not be generalized to the public. There are no plans for publication of any interview results.
17. Exemption for Display of Expiration Date
No exemption is being requested. The expiration date will be displayed.
18. Certifications
This information collection activity will comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.
1Kelly, B., Margolis, M., McCormack, L., LeBaron, P. A., & Chowdhury, D. (2017). What Affects People’s Willingness to Participate in Qualitative Research? An Experimental Comparison of Five Incentives. Field Methods, 29(4), 333–350. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X17698958
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | 04.03.2020 DoTEvaluation_GenericOMB_Supporting Statement |
| Author | Jodi.Duckhorn |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-13 |