NonSub Change - Sharing of Information Clarification (RECS)

To: Kelsi Feltz

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Marie Lawrence and Emily Ross

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: September 16, 2024

Subject: NonSubstantive Change Request – Feedback After the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation’s 2024 Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) (OMB #0970-0531)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved generic information collection (GenIC) Feedback After the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation’s 2024 Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency (RECS) approved under the umbrella generic, Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Formative Data Collections for Program Support (OMB #0970-0531).

Background

The GenIC, Feedback After the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation’s 2024 RECS was approved on August 1, 2024. The survey portion of the project began collection on August 14, 2024, and closed on August 28, 2024. The focus group collection will conclude on September 17, 2024.

The purpose of this data collection was to understand whether and how attendees use information learned at RECS, a large convening hosted by the ACF Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE). Understanding how research information is used in policy, practice, and further research is critical to OPRE’s mission of building evidence to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of programs to improve the economic and social well-being of children and families. Sharing take-aways from this data collection on the topic of research use is an important step in pursuit of that mission and consistent with the principle of transparency in the ACF Evaluation Policy.

Thus, the project team would like to produce a public blog post(s) or brief(s) on what we learn from the data collection. While the instrument and consent reference the potential for reports (“We will not use your name in any reports and will not attribute any quotes to individuals.”), some language in the approved SSA and SSB is not clear about the potential to create these public products. The purpose of this change request is to update the supporting statements to clarify that the team will share key project take-aways about knowledge retention and research/information use following the data collection.

Overview of Requested Changes

We request to make changes to statements in the SSA (section A2) and SSB (sections B6 and B7) that refer to “internal planning purposes,” “internal use only,” or may otherwise prohibit the public use of the information.

These requested changes do not impact burden estimates and are consistent with the consent language used in the approved data collection, which mentions reports and specifies that individuals will not be identified in any resulting reports. All information shared in public products will be at the aggregate level. We will not attribute any quotes to individuals or share any potentially identifying information.

Time Sensitivities

The project team would like to produce an OPRE blog post as soon as possible following the completion of data collection and data analyses on September 17, 2024. Therefore, we appreciate a prompt response.