2015-06087. Submission for OMB Review; 30-Day Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery (NIDA)

SUMMARY:

Under the provisions of Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for review and approval of the information collection listed below. This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register Volume 79, No. 250, on December 31, 2014, page 78875, and allowed 60-days for public comment. No public comments were received. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.

Direct Comments to OMB: Written comments and/or suggestions regarding the item(s) contained in this notice, especially regarding the estimated public burden and associated response time, should be directed to the: Office of Management and Budget, Office of Regulatory Affairs, [e-mail] or by fax to 202-395-6974, Attention: NIH Desk Officer.

Comment Due Date: Comments regarding this information collection are best assured of having their full effect if received within 30 days of the date of this publication.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To obtain a copy of the data collection plans and instruments, submit comments in writing, or request more information on the proposed project, contact: Genevieve deAlmeida, Project Clearance Liaison, National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Bethesda, MD 20892-9557, or call non-toll-free number [phone], or Email your request, including your address to: [e-mail]. Formal requests for additional plans and instruments must be requested in writing.

Proposed Collection: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery (NIDA), 0925-0655, Expiration Date 3/31/2015, EXTENSION, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

Need and Use of Information Collection: The information collected under this clearance will be qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback information—their perceptions, experiences and expectations of services, issues with service, to focus attention on areas where communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. The information will be useful and will allow for collaborative and actionable communications between the Agency and its customers and stakeholders, and will contribute directly to improving the programs and management of them.

The information will not yield data that can be generalized to the overall population. The information may also be formative for the purpose of developing a concept for a new service program or dissemination program. The collections may still be eligible for submission for other generic mechanisms designed to yield quantitative results. The primary objectives are to obtain feedback on programs from customers and stakeholders, that would help make positive changes to the programs, or to assist in developing a new program or dissemination initiative, or to test medical tools and devices for usability, feasibility, and pilot testing of survey questionnaires for understandability. Data collection methods to be used in these studies include web-based and mailed surveys, focus groups, interviews with small groups, ad hoc collections at Conferences. The findings will provide valuable information to assist in improving programs that serve the public, and in developing good tools and devices to serve the public. OMB approval is requested for 3 years.

NIDA will only submit a collection for approval under this generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:

• The collections are voluntary;
• The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;
• The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
• Any 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 near future;
• Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
• Information gathered will be used only internally for general service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended for release outside of the agency;
• Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
• Information gathered will yield qualitative information; the collections will not be designed or expected to yield statistically reliable results or used as though the results are generalizable to the population of study.

Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized to the overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative information will not be used for quantitative information collections that are designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such data uses require more rigorous designs that address: The target population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative results.

As a general matter, information collections will not result in any new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget control number.

OMB approval is requested for 3 years. There are no costs to respondents other than their time. The total estimated annualized burden hours are 1,560.

Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Type of collection	Number of respondents	Annual frequency per response	Hours per response	Total hours
Customer outcomes and usability testing	900	1	40/60	600
Customer Satisfaction and needs assessment survey	600	1	40/60	400
Focus Groups	130	1	1	130
Small Discussion Groups	130	1	1	130
Pilot Testing of instruments for applicability among diverse populations	450	1	40/60	300

Dated: March 11, 2015.

Genevieve deAlmeida,

Project Clearance Liaison, NIDA, NIH.