Study Assessing Effectiveness of FTC Advertising Services

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:
Study assessing effectiveness of FTC advertising services to promote public awareness.
PURPOSE:
The FTC periodically pays for publicly available advertising notices that are intended to inform
and protect consumers. The agency proposes a study to understand the effectiveness of the
language and placement of these paid advertisement notices in online content.
DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:
The study of approximately 800 consumers will be conducted through an online panel assembled
by the Nielsen Company.
TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)
[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form
[ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey
[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software)
[ ] Small Discussion Group
[X] Focus Groups
[ ] 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: Rosario Mendez, Division of Consumer and Business Education, Federal Trade
Commission
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
BURDEN HOURS:
Category of respondent

No. of Respondents

Female, ages 25‐54, who have  800
previously agreed to participate 
in surveys with the Nielsen 
Company.  

Total

Participation Time
10 minutes each

800

Burden
133 hours

133 hours

FEDERAL COST:
The survey is a free benefit that the company is providing because the FTC purchased ad space
from the company. There is no separate cost for the survey.
If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please
provide answers to the following questions:
The respondents are people who already agreed to do studies through the Nielsen Company. That
vendor has the contact lists and conducts the interviews in the form of a survey that is provided
to the participants online.
The selection of your targeted respondents:
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?
[ ] Yes
[ X ] No. The FTC doesn't have the lists. The vendor owns and manages the lists of targeted
respondents.
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?
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 an online survey
2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used?
[ ] Yes
[ X] No