FTC Clearance Request for Critical Thinking for Tweens Project

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of
Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3084-0159)
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Critical Thinking for Tweens: Focus
groups with Children and K-12 Educators
PURPOSE: The FTC’s Division of Consumer and Business Education plans to explore the
critical thinking skills of tweens and their knowledge of how to protect their privacy online, spot
and avoid scams, and become good digital citizens. The focus groups will inform the design of
consumer education outreach programs to help children between the ages of eight and twelve
years old (“tweens”) understand online privacy and safety and avoid online scams. This
research will help the FTC to create content relevant to tweens and to design content delivery
mechanisms in a way most useful to those who deliver educational programs to tweens. Without
this research, we are less confident that the delivery mechanisms, particularly, would serve this
audience well; with the research, we are confident that the education program will benefit the
target audience. The FTC plans to conduct two sets of focus groups: (1) four focus groups with
families with children, ages eight to twelve years old; and (2) two focus groups with K-12
educators.
DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:



Families with elementary school children, ages eight to twelve years old (for the first set
of focus groups)
K-12 Educators (for the second set of focus groups)

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)
[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form
[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software
[X] Focus Groups

[ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey
[ ] Small Discussion 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: Jim Kreidler, Consumer Education Specialist

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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, 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? [X] Yes [ ] No
Incentive payments will be made by the FTC’s focus group contractor, Brunet-Garcia, as part of
an overall contract to develop consumer education campaigns relating to childrens’ online
activity. Brunet-Garcia plans to offer incentives of $100 for participants in focus groups of
families with children ages eight to twelve years old. The contractor plans to offer incentives of
$150.00 for focus group participants in the focus group for K-12 educators. The contractor has
informed the FTC that these amounts are reasonable based on its work conducting focus groups
for other government agencies this year and necessary to obtain effective participation. BrunetGarcia has stated that a $100 incentive for families with elementary age children is at the lowest
end of incentives it has offered for government-sponsored focus groups this year. The contractor
also recommends a $150 per hour incentive for K-12 educators to reflect their level of expertise
and professional standing. These incentive payments will not increase the overall cost of the
FTC’s contract with Brunet-Garcia.
BURDEN HOURS
Category of Respondent
Private sector (Focus group of families with school
children, ages eight-to-twelve)
Private sector (Screener for families with children,
ages eight-to-twelve)
Private sector (Focus Group of K-12 Educators)
Private sector (Screener for K-12 Educators)
Totals

No. of
Participation
Respondents Time
24
60 mins

Burden

1000

5 mins

83 hrs

16
1000
2,040

90 mins
5 mins

24 hrs
83 hrs
214 hrs

24 hrs

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $19,500.
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

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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 focus group contractor will recruit participants using a national database of potential
respondents. The database includes demographic information such as job and family
information to allow for the identification of appropriate survey participants (i.e., families with
children ages eight to twelve years old and elementary school educators). The focus group
contractor will pull a randomized sample of potential participants from the database who meet
the demographic criteria for participation until the focus groups are filled. Respondents will be
selected according to screeners for the focus groups.
Administration of the Instrument
1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media
[ ] Telephone
[ ] In-person
[ ] Mail
[X] Other, Explain: The focus groups will be conducted via Zoom video conferencing.
2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [X] Yes [ ] No

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