Fast Track Template

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0970-0401)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Collaborative small group discussions

PURPOSE:

The TANF Data Collaborative is part of the larger TANF Data Innovations project funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) and Office of Family Assistance (OFA). The information collected will be exclusively qualitative. The contractor, MDRC, proposes to use the data gathered in the final project report. This report will describe the lessons from the design and implementation of the pilot initiative. Through this request for approval, we seek to include a description of the progress that pilot participants / respondents have made since the pilot initiative ended in July 2022 along with any barriers they have faced and their plans for future data analytics. MDRC will communicate the qualitative nature of the information collected and indicate that any information or data collected is not generalizable to all government employees who work with the TANF program. MDRC proposes to host small group discussions at the virtual cross-pilot reunion in April 2023 and conduct a poll asking no more than five questions about what they continue to use from the pilot.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Individuals who are government employees who work with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in their state or county. These individuals were active participants in a 30-month pilot to improve how they use their own data to answer program and policy questions. The pilot ended in July 2022 and MDRC is seeking an update about what knowledge, practices, resources from the 30-month pilot they continue to use in their daily work.

TYPE OF COLLECTION:

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

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

[ ] Focus Group [X] Other: web-based poll using zoom during the meeting

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 primary purpose of the results is not for public dissemination.

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 and affiliation: Richard Hendra, Project Director, MDRC

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

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

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

BURDEN HOURS

We anticipate having approximately 40 individuals in total (8 pilot teams * 5 staff per team + 8 agency leaders) respond during the small group discussion and meeting-based poll. We anticipate that on average each individual will participate for 0.25 hours. We anticipate a total of 25 burden hours for this effort as shown below.

The cost to respondents was calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job code for Social and Community Services Managers (11-9151) in state government, excluding schools and hospitals (NAICS 999200) and mean wage data from May 2020, which is 36.13/hour. To account for overhead and fringe benefits, this wage was multiplied by 2, which is $72.26.

Information Collection	Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Estimated Time per Response	Burden Hours
Virtual convening small group discussion	Individuals	40 (8 teams x 5 members)	1	.25 hour	10.0
Totals		40	1	.25	10.0

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is 10 x $50.18/ hour = $501.80.

The cost to respondents was calculated using the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) job code from May 2020 estimates for the mean hourly wage of Community and Social Service Occupations (21-0000): $25.09. To account for overhead and fringe benefits, this wage was multiplied by 2, which is $50.18.

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?

The universe of potential respondents are individuals who are government employees who work with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in their state or county and were members of the eight pilot agency teams participating in this pilot program. We will not sample from this universe but will invite all who attend the April virtual convening to join the small group discussion and take the meeting-based poll.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X ] Telephone and video in virtual small group discussions and using a Zoom poll

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

   1. MDRC staff are the facilitators.

Two attachments are included:

1. Virtual reunion small group discussion

2. Meeting-based poll questions