Cost Study - Post-interview Survey

OMB No.: 1290-0NEW 

Expiration Date: TBD

RESEA Cost Study: Post-Interview Survey

Section I. Introduction

Dear [Name of staff member]:
You recently completed an interview with our team at American Institutes for Research (AIR) to collect information about your job duties as they relate to the RESEA program. As you know, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Chief Evaluation Office – or DOL CEO – partnered with us and our colleagues at Abt Global to help them understand the state and local costs associated with the RESEA program. Like in the interviews, we are interested in learning about five program components: RESEA Program Administration, selecting and scheduling of RESEA participants, AJC Orientation, Initial RESEA meeting, and subsequent RESEA meetings (if applicable).

As we mentioned during our interview, we'd like to ask you some follow-up questions about the time you spend on various RESEA activities, which will help us better understand the resources required to run RESEA in your state.

Your participation in this survey is voluntary. You may discontinue this survey at any time by [insert instructions for exiting survey in specific survey platform]. We will not share your responses outside of the research team or mention you by name in any of our reports. If we would like to quote one of your responses in the report, we will only do so with your permission for attribution. All information obtained today will be kept private and will be used only for the purposes of this project.

Please review our informed consent form, below, which provides an overview of the purpose of this survey and describes your rights as a participant of research.

Introduction and Purpose. The U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO), in partnership with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Abt Global, is conducting a study to understand the state, local, and participant costs associated with administering the RESEA program. AIR is an independent, nonprofit research organization. Abt Global is an employee-owned research and consulting firm. The study aims to use the information gathered from interviews, questionnaires, and other sources to understand the RESEA program’s impact on UI benefits as well as the average per-participant costs, component costs, and claimant costs of the RESEA program.

Data Collection. AIR is conducting up to 30 interviews with State Unemployment Insurance (UI) and American Jobs Center (AJC) staff who administer, evaluate, or otherwise work on aspects of the RESEA program in your state. During the interview, we will ask you about the job duties related to the RESEA program performed by you and people you work with to better understand the types of state and local resources that are spent on the RESEA program. We may also, separately, include other data on staffing qualifications, salary, and other staffing data about individuals who work on activities related to RESEA. We may also send you a brief follow-up survey to collect additional information or to clarify the information that you provide today.

Privacy. We will keep all the information you share with us private.private. This means that we will not share your individual responses directly with DOL CEO staff. We will use the information only for the purposes of this study. We will not use your name in any reports. If we use quotes in our reports, we will not attribute them to individuals.

Benefits and Risks of Participation. There are no known risks to participating in this interview. A benefit to participating in this interview is that you will be able to share your perspective and increase DOL CEO’s understanding of the state and local costs associated with administering the RESEA program.

Freedom to Withdraw. Your participation in this interview is completely voluntary. You may pass on any question or withdraw from participating at any time, without penalty. Your participation and the information you share with us will not affect your employment in any way.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection will be entered after clearance. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 45 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection.

More Information. For more information about this study, you may contact Correne Saunders, the Project Director at Abt Global, at 301-347-5657 or Correne.Saunders@abtglobal.com. For questions regarding your rights as a subject participating Abt Global’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) at irb@abtglobal.com or toll free at 1-877-520-6835.

Note to US DOL: For the purposes of OMB approval, we have created a post-interview survey that includes all possible post-interview follow-up questions that we might want to ask. We will use post-interview surveys to capture any information we missed during staff interviews, so not all interviewees may need to complete all of these questions, but we wanted to ensure every question we might need to ask went through the OMB review process. During data collection, we will customize these surveys to each respondent as appropriate.

We estimate that we’ll send the customized survey to 30% of the 30 interview respondents in a given state (i.e. about 9 interview respondents per state), and we estimate it will take 10 minutes for a respondent to complete the customized survey.

Survey Instructions: [insert instructions for navigating the survey in the specific platform we choose, e.g., using buttons to navigate, whether they can save and return or must complete in one sitting, etc.].

1. What is your name?

2. What is your job title?

____________________________________________________________________________

3. What state do you work in?

(Please select only one answer from the drop-down menu.)

*Dropdown Menu*

4. Which office do you work in?

(Please select only one answer from the drop-down menu.)

*Dropdown Menu*

Section II. Central Office Staff

[If Central Office, proceed to section II. If AJC Office, skip Section III.]

Component I: RESEA Program Administration

1. Are you involved in the general administration of the RESEA program? This includes activities involved in implementing and managing RESEA. It could include tasks like developing the RESEA State Plan, working on RESEA-related compliance activities, developing selection models, or any other activities necessary to run the state’s RESEA program.

□ Yes □ No

[If yes, respondent will answer the below questions]

1. Standard Administration:

1. In a typical week, about how many hours do you spend working with/overseeing state staff and contractors who directly work on RESEA? Or, what percentage of your time you spend working with or overseeing staff and contractors who directly work on RESEA? This can include staff who work on RESEA reporting activities, staff who do data collection, management, or analysis, staff who create or maintain your RESEA selection model. If you do not do this, please enter “0”.

__________ Hours __________ %

2. In a typical month, how many hours do [you or your team] spend liaising with Employment Services staff about the RESEA program? This may include efforts to support reporting, alignment with policy requirements, selection and scheduling, or other program requirements. If you do not do this, please enter “0”.

__________ Hours

3. In a typical quarter, about how many hours do you spend communicating with, meeting with, or preparing reports for your Federal Project Officer? This may also include attending regional calls with your Federal Project Officer, regional office staff, and other states. Or, In a typical quarter, what percentage of time do [you or your team] spend communicating with, meeting with, or preparing reports for your Federal Project Officer? If you do not do this, please enter “0”.

__________ Hours __________ %

4. In a typical year, about how many hours do you spend assembling or working on your RESEA state plan? Or, in a typical year, what percentage of your time do you spend assembling or working on your RESEA state plan? If you do not do this, please enter “0”.

__________ Hours__________ %

5. During this time, approximately how many hours do you spend trying to identify evidence-based interventions to include in the state plan?

__________ Hours

6. In a typical month, about how many hours do you or your team spend working on or reviewing RESEA program reporting? Or, in a typical month, what percentage of time do spend working on or reviewing RESEA program reporting? If you do not do this, please enter “0”.

__________ Hours__________ %

2. Compliance and Reporting Activities

1. About how many hours do you spend each month reviewing the RESEA program’s alignment with policy requirements? Or, in a typical month, what percentage of time do you spend working on reviewing the RESEA program’s alignment with policy requirements? If you do not do this, please enter “0”.

__________ Hours__________ %

3. AJC Supervision, TA, and Training

1. Do you directly supervise any staff based at AJCs, such as RESEA Area Managers?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend supervising AJC-based staff? Or, in a typical month, what percentage of time do you spend supervising AJC-based staff?

__________ Hours__________ %

2. Do you provide RESEA-related technical assistance to AJC’s?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend providing RESEA-related technical assistance to [state AJCs names]? Or, in a typical month, what percentage of time do you spend providing RESEA-related technical assistance to [state AJCs names]?

__________ Hours__________ %

3. Do you provide training for state employment services staff or AJC staff on UI eligibility requirements?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend preparing for these trainings? Or, in a typical month, what percentage of time do you spend preparing to provide these trainings? This can include things like reading up on changes in the law, preparing training materials, etc.

__________ Hours__________ %

2. [If yes] In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend providing trainings for state employment services staff or AJC staff on UI eligibility requirements? Or, in a typical month, what percentage of the time do you spend providing these trainings?

__________ Hours__________ %

4. Program Evaluation and Evidence Building Activities

1. Do you oversee your state’s RESEA evaluation and/or evidence building?

□ Yes □ No

1. If so, please tell us about your evaluation and your work in overseeing the evaluation.

2. Do you use an in-house program evaluation team or do you contract with an external evaluator to conduct your program evaluations?

___________In-house ______________Contractor

1. [If contract with external evaluator] How much does [state name] spend on evaluation activities each year?

___________Month(s) ______________Year(s)

2. [If contract with external evaluator] In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend meeting with or working with your evaluation team? Or, in a typical month, what percentage of time do you spend meeting with or working with your evaluation team? This can include doing things like making evaluation decisions, getting evaluation updates, liaising between RESEA program staff and evaluation staff, reviewing evaluation reports, etc.).

__________ Hours__________ %

3. [If use in-house evaluation team] Are you currently working on an evaluation or have you done an evaluation in the past?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] Who is/was in charge of conducting the evaluation? In a typical month, about how many hours did you spend working on the evaluation? Or, what percent of your time did you spend conducting the evaluation?

__________ Hours__________ %

4. [If relevant to respondent’s role and responsibilities] In a typical year, about how many hours do you and your evaluator spend participating in evaluation technical assistance calls, events, or activities sponsored by DOL?

___________Hours □ Not relevant

2. Are you involved in UI-related aspects of the RESEA program?

[if yes, respondent will answer the below questions]

□ Yes □ No

1. Approximately what percentage of your full-time equivalent time do you spend working on RESEA program activities versus the regular unemployment insurance (UI) program?

__________ %

2. Standard Program Administration

   1. Do you create, update, or distribute RESEA communication materials? This can include things like RESEA selection letters or UI disqualification letters due to RESEA non-compliance.

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend creating or updating RESEA communication materials? Or, what percent of your time do you spend creating or updating RESEA communication materials?

__________ Hours__________ %

2. In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend distributing RESEA communication materials? Or, what percent of your time do you spend distributing RESEA communication materials?

__________ Hours__________ %

2. Do you or your team conduct eligibility reviews for claimant’s selected for the RESEA program?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] In a typical week, about how many hours do you or your team spend trying to connect with each claimant to conduct the review? Or, what percent of your time do you spend trying to connect with claimants?

__________ Hours__________ %

2. [If yes] In a typical week, about how many hours do you or your team spend conducting the eligibility review with claimants? Or, what percent of your time do you spend conducting eligibility reviews?

__________ Hours__________ %

3. [If yes] In a typical week, about how many hours do you or your team spend entering data following your eligibility reviews? Or, what percent of your time do you spend entering administrative data following eligibility reviews?

__________ Hours__________ %

3. Are you responsible for adjudicating UI claims after they’ve received benefit disqualifications/payment pauses that are due to RESEA non-compliance?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] In a typical month, what percentage of time do you spend adjudicating benefit disqualifications or payment pauses due to RESEA noncompliance?

__________ %

4. Are you and your team responsible for hearing appeals from UI claimants after they’ve received benefit disqualifications/payment pauses that are due to RESEA non-compliance?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] In a typical month, what percentage of time do you spend on appeals related to benefit disqualifications or payment pauses due to RESEA noncompliance?

__________ %

3. Compliance and Reporting Activities: In your work, do you work on aspects of RESEA compliance with state and federal laws?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] About how many hours do you spend each month reviewing the RESEA program’s compliance with local and federal laws and/or engaging in federal reporting (this includes the time it may take to collect, organize, and clean RESEA data)?

__________ Hours

4. RESEA Program Data Collection:

   1. Are you involved in collecting, organizing, and cleaning RESEA data?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend collecting, organizing, and cleaning RESEA data? Or, what percentage of your time do you spend collecting, organizing, and cleaning RESEA data?

__________ Hours__________ %

2. In a typical month, about how many hours do you spend performing data requests or reporting related to RESEA? Or, what percentage of your time do you spend performing data requests or reporting related to RESEA

__________ Hours__________ %

2. Are you involved in maintaining RESEA databases and data collection systems?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] In a typical month about how many hours do you spend maintaining various databases and data collection systems? Or, what percentage of your time do you spend maintaining databases and data collection systems? This can include but may not be limited to UI application data, UI claims and payment data, RESEA services records, wage records, etc.

__________ Hours__________ %

Component II: Selecting and Scheduling RESEA Program Participants

1. Are you involved in the selection and/or scheduling of UI claimants for RESEA? This could include creating and/or testing the selection model for choosing RESEA participants, communicating results to AJCs, or managing scheduling software. [if yes, respondents will answer below questions]

□ Yes □ No

1. About how much time did you spend creating and testing your RESEA selection model?

__________ Hours

2. In a typical year, about how many hours do you spend updating your RESEA/WPRS selection model? Or, about what percentage of your time do you spend updating your RESEA/WPRS selection model?

__________ Hours__________ %

3. [If scheduling system is automated and maintained by state] In a typical month, how much time do you spend ensuring that selection model results are appropriately transmitted to your RESEA scheduling system? Or, about what percentage of your time do you spend ensuring that selection model results are appropriately transmitted to your RESEA scheduling system?

__________ Hours__________ %

1. [If AJC’s are responsible for scheduling claimants] In a typical week, how many hours do you spend ensuring that selection model results are appropriately transmitted to AJCs? Or, what percentage of your time do you spend ensuring that selection model results are appropriately transmitted to AJCs.

__________ Hours__________ %

2. [If AJC’s are responsible for scheduling claimants] In a typical week, how much time do you spend helping AJCs troubleshoot scheduling issues? Or, what percentage of your time do you spend helping AJCs troubleshoot scheduling issues? This may include issues pulling eligible claimants from the scheduling pool, helping them figure out technology issues, etc.

__________ Hours__________ %

3. [If AJC’s are responsible for scheduling claimants] In a typical week, how many hours do [you or your team] spend providing other guidance, training, and/or scheduling support to AJCs? Or, what percentage of your time do you spend providing other guidance, training, and/or scheduling support to AJCs?

__________ Hours__________ %

Section III. AJC Staff

[Note: central office staff will be finished with the survey after this section. After completing the last question, they will be directed to the exit screen.]

Component I: RESEA Program Administration

1. Does any of your work involve supporting RESEA program managers, staff, or program activities (for example, providing training to RESEA staff, developing website material about RESEA, creating videos or handouts)?

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] In a typical week, roughly what percent of your time do you think you spend supporting RESEA managers, staff, or activities you described above, compared to staff and activities for other AJC programs? Or, about how many hours do you spend on this in an average week?

__________ Hours__________ %

2. Do you do any data collection or performance reporting related to the RESEA program (for example, performance reports to the local workforce development board or the [central office name])?

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] About what percentage of your time spent on RESEA each month do you spend on data collection or performance reporting related to the RESEA? Or, about how many hours do you spend on this in an average month?

__________ Hours__________ %

3. Did you participate in any trainings related to RESEA in the past year?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] About how many RESEA-specific trainings did you participate in?

__________

2. [If yes] About how long did each training last?

__________ Hours__________ Days

4. Do you meet with state RESEA staff as a part of your regular job duties? For example, do you meet with state RESEA staff for check-in calls, provision of technical assistance, training and professional development, or other purposes?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] What percentage of your time spent on RESEA each month do you spend in these meetings? Or, about how many hours do you spend meeting with state RESEA staff in a given month?

__________ %__________ Hours

Component II: Selecting and Scheduling RESEA Participants

1. Are you involved in the scheduling of RESEA appointments for selected claimants? This could include tasks like scheduling appointments with claimants, rescheduling missed appointments, or sending reminder emails.

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes]: How much time do you spend scheduling and rescheduling RESEA appointments in an average week? Or, about what percentage of your time do you spend scheduling and rescheduling RESEA appointments in an average week?

__________ Hours__________ %

Component III: AJC Orientation

1. Are you involved in delivering AJC Orientation to RESEA participants?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes]: About how many hours do you spend on tasks related to AJC Orientation in an average week? Or, about what percentage of your time do you spend on tasks related to AJC orientation? This includes time spent preparing for orientation (e.g., preparing PowerPoint slides or handouts) as well as actually delivering orientation to participants.

__________ Hours__________ %

2. Is there an option to deliver orientation virtually?

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] About how many hours you spend on tasks related to in-person AJC orientations? Or, about what percentage of your time do you spend on tasks related to in-person AJC orientation?

__________ Hours__________ %

2. [if yes] About how many hours you spend on tasks related to virtual AJC orientations? Or, about what percentage of your time do you spend on tasks related to virtual AJC orientation?

__________ Hours__________ %

Component IV: Initial RESEA Meeting

1. Are you involved conducting initial meetings with RESEA participants? Please note that we are specifically interested in initial meetings here, or the first meeting you have with an RESEA claimant after they are selected. We will ask about any additional meetings you have with participants later.

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes]: About what percent of your time spent on RESEA is spent on delivering initial RESEA meetings in a typical week? Or, about how many hours do you spend delivering initial RESEA meetings in a typical week?

__________ %__________ Hours

2. [If yes]: About how long does one initial meeting take?

__________ Hours__________ Days

3. [If yes]: About how many initial meetings do you have in an average week?

__________

2. Is there an option to conduct virtual initial meetings with RESEA participants?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] About what percent of your time spent on RESEA is spent on delivering in-person initial RESEA meetings in a typical week? Or, about how many hours do you spend delivering in-person initial RESEA meetings in a typical week?

__________ Hours__________ %

2. [If yes] About what percent of your time spent on RESEA is spent on delivering virtual initial RESEA meetings in a typical week? Or, about how many hours do you spend delivering virtual initial RESEA meetings in a typical week?

__________ Hours__________ %

Component V: Subsequent RESEA Meeting [note: this section will only be available to respondents who select a state that conducts subsequent meetings. We will use skip logic to achieve this]

1. Are you involved in conducting subsequent meetings with RESEA participants? This includes any meetings you have with participants after their initial meeting, to complete RESEA program activities specifically.

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes]: About what percent of your time spent on RESEA is spent on delivering subsequent RESEA meetings in a typical week? Or, about how many hours do you spend delivering subsequent RESEA meetings in a typical week?

__________ %__________ Hours

2. [If yes]: About how long does one subsequent meeting take?

__________ Hours

3. [If yes]: About how many subsequent meetings do you have in an average week?

__________

2. Is there an option to conduct virtual subsequent meetings with RESEA participants?

□ Yes □ No

1. [If yes] About what percent of your time spent on RESEA is spent on delivering in-person subsequent RESEA meetings in a typical week? Or, about how many hours do you spend delivering in-person subsequent RESEA meetings in a typical week?

__________ %__________ Hours

2. [If yes] About what percent of your time spent on RESEA is spent on delivering virtual subsequent RESEA meetings in a typical week? Or, about how many hours do you spend delivering virtual subsequent RESEA meetings in a typical week?

Section IV. AJC Operations and Management

__________ Hours__________ %

[skip logic note: individuals who complete the “AJC” section will be directed here. Individuals who complete the Central Office staff questions will not]

1. Are you involved in RESEA program management at your AJC? For example, do you supervise RESEA staff or work with the state administrative entity to administer RESEA at your AJC? [if yes, respondent will answer the below questions]

□ Yes □ No

1. Working with RESEA Staff: Does any of your work involve supporting RESEA program managers, staff, or program activities (for example, providing training to RESEA staff, developing website material about RESEA, creating videos or handouts)?

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] About how much time do you spend on this in an average week?

__________ Hours__________ Days

2. Roughly what portion of your time do you think you spend supporting RESEA managers, staff, or activities, compared to staff and activities for other AJC programs?

__________ Hours__________ Days

2. Reporting:

   1. Do you do any performance reporting related to the RESEA program (for example, performance reports to the local workforce development board)?

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] About how much time do you spend doing this reporting each month?

__________ Hours__________ Days

3. Trainings and Professional Development

1. Did you participate in any trainings related to RESEA in the past year?

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] About how many RESEA-specific trainings did you participate in?

__________

2. [if yes] About how long did each training last?

__________ Hours__________ Days

2. Do you meet with state RESEA staff as a part of your regular job duties? For example, do you meet with state RESEA staff for check-in calls, provision of technical assistance, or other purposes?

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] How frequently do you meet with state RESEA staff in a given month?

__________

2. [if yes] How much time, on average, does each meeting take?

__________Hours

4. Other Activities

3. Are there any other activities or tasks you do at work that are related to the RESEA program

□ Yes □ No

4. If so, please describe below 1) each activity/task and 2) how much time do you spend on it in an average week.

________________________________________________________________________Activity

__________ Hours__________ Days

2. Are you involved in AJC operations, management, and/or budgeting and finance at your AJC? [if yes, respondent will answer the below questions]

□ Yes □ No

1. [if yes] Approximately what percentage of the people you serve are unemployment insurance claimants who have been selected for RESEA?

__________ %

2. [if yes] How many staff sit at this AJC? How many of them provide RESEA services?

__________ # of Staff

__________ $ of staff RESEA services

3. [if yes] We’d like to know more about how much it costs to operate your AJC. Please provide us with the average monthly/quarterly/annual cost estimates for the following expenses:

   1. IT support

__________

2. Security systems (e.g., alarm system, keycards)

__________

3. Computers + software subscriptions

__________

4. Printing

__________

5. Phones/Fax/Internet/Wi-Fi hot spots

__________

6. Office/desk supplies

__________

7. AV equipment (e.g., projectors, video cameras)

__________

8. Other AJC expenses (please specify):

__________

Public reporting burden for this data collection instrument is estimated to average 10 minutes per response. The burden estimate includes the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and submitting the survey. This collection of information is voluntary. You are not required to respond to this collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number.  Please send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information to the U.S. Department of Labor, Chief Evaluation Office, 200 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC 20210, or ChiefEvaluationOffice@dol.gov and reference OMB control number 1290-0NEW.