Supporting Statement - SSA Survey of Online Services Internet Panel

SSA SURVEY OF ONLINE SERVICES INTERNET PANEL

OMB No. 0960-NEW

A. Justification

1. Under the aegis of the E-Government Act of 2002, SSA continually develops Internet-based services so the public can easily access information from and transmit documentation to SSA online. SSA has already created many website applications and electronic versions of common-use forms, and it wants to assess awareness of these services among individuals approaching retirement and perhaps identify ways to increase that awareness. To obtain information which will aid in this goal, SSA plans to conduct the Survey of Online Services, an online panel survey of workers ages 50-67 who are approaching retirement. This survey is conducted under the authority of Section 1110 of the Social Security Act, which permits the use of research studies to improve the administration and effectiveness of SSA programs.

2. An SSA-approved contractor will conduct this study with workers ages 50-67 who have previously told online research services companies they are willing to be contacted to participate in studies. These respondents will receive an e-mail invitation to participate in the study. The e-mail will contain a link taking them to the study, which is a series of questions they will complete and submit online. The study includes questions in a number of areas, including:

• Age, work status, and the state where respondents work;

• Information about the company where respondents work;

• When respondents plan to retire and what kind of retirement planning they have engaged in;

• The retirement services offered by the respondents’ employers;

• What information, if any, respondents were given about Social Security benefits;

• If the respondents’ employer has a website, and if that site has a link to SSA’s website;

• If respondents ever used any of a list of common SSA services;

• If respondents knew they could apply for Social Security benefits online and if so, how they knew this;

• How recently respondents had heard about SSA’s Internet services;

• How many times, if any, respondents had visited SSA’s website in the past 12 months, and for what reason;

• If respondents used SSA’s website to estimate their retirement benefits;

• How likely respondents would be to use SSA’s website in the future or recommend it to a family member or friend;

• How respondents would prefer to file for Social Security benefits when the time comes;

• Why they would or would not prefer to use the Internet to file;

• What they feel SSA could do to encourage people to file for benefits online;

• Some demographic questions for classification purposes.

SSA will use the questions relating to retirement planning and online services to assess awareness of its online services. Ultimately, the Agency hopes to use this information to better understand what would make people more likely to use online services and to develop strategies for promoting awareness of these services. SSA will use the other questions to develop characteristics of the group it is surveying.

3. Since this is an online survey, 100% of responses will be obtained electronically.

4. The nature of the information being collected and the manner in which it is collected preclude duplication. There is no other collection instrument used by SSA which collects data similar to that collected here.

5. This collection does not impact small businesses or other small entities.

6. If this information collection were not conducted, SSA would miss an opportunity to assess awareness of its online services in the target population of pre-retirement workers. Sine the information will only be collected once, it cannot be collected less frequently.

There are no technical or legal obstacles that prevent burden reduction.

7. There are no special circumstances that would cause this information collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5.

8. The 60-day advance Federal Register Notice was published on June 13, 2006 at 71 FR 34184, and no public comments were received. The 30-day Federal Register Notice was published on October 2, 2006 at 71 FR 58041. We will forward public comments to OMB as we receive them.

There have been no outside consultations with members of the public.

9. SSA provides no payment or gifts to the respondents for participating.

10. The information requested is protected and held confidential in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 1306, 20 CFR 401 and 402, 5 U.S.C. 552 (Freedom of Information Act) 5 U.S.C. 552a (Privacy Act of 1974), and OMB Circular No. A-130.

11. The information collection does not contain any questions of a sensitive nature.

12. The projected number of respondents is 1,000, with a response time of 15 minutes and a total burden of 250 hours. The total burden is reflected as burden hours, and no separate cost burden has been calculated.

13. There is no known cost burden to the respondents.

14. The annual cost to the Federal Government is approximately $32,445. This figure represents the fee which the contractor research firm will be paid to conduct the survey and analyze the results for SSA.

15. This is a new information collection which will increase the public reporting burden by 250 hours.

16. The results of the information collection will not be published.

17. Since this is a one-time, online survey, SSA is not requesting an exemption to publishing the OMB expiration date.

18. SSA is not requesting an exception to the certification requirements at 5 CFR 1320.9 and related provisions at 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

The results from this survey will be used to provide qualitative, not quantitative, information. Therefore, statistical methods are not used for this information collection.

Online Services Internet Panel Study

2/6/2021

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