Corporation for National and Community Service
Department of Research and Policy Development
Accomplishment Surveys for Senior Corps Programs
Office of Management and Budget
Clearance Package Supporting Statement and
Data Collection Instruments
March 5, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A Explanation of the Circumstances That Make the Collection of Information Necessary
A.1. Study Background
A.2. How, by Whom, and for What Purposes the Information will be Used
A.3. The Use of Improved Information Technology to Reduce Burden
A.4. Efforts to Identify and Avoid Duplication
A.5. Efforts to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses or Other Entities
A.6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection
A.7. Special Circumstances Requiring Collection of Information in a Manner Inconsistent with Guidelines in Title 5, Section 1320.6 of the Code of Federal Regulations
A.8. Efforts to Consult With Persons Outside the Agency
A.9. Payments to Respondents
A.10. Assurances of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents
A.11. Justification for Questions of a Sensitive Nature
A.12. Estimates of the Response Burden to Participants
A.13. Estimates of Annual Cost Burden to Respondents
A.14. Estimates of Annual Costs to the Federal Government
A.15. Reasons for any Program Changes or Adjustments
A.16. Plans for Tabulation and Statistical Analysis and Time Schedule
A.16.1. Data Analysis Plan
A.16.2. Project Schedule
A.16.3. List of Deliverables
A.17. Display of Expiration Date for OMB Approval
A.18. Exception to the Certification Statement
A Explanation of the Circumstances that Make the Collection
of Information Necessary
The Corporation for National and Community (CNCS) is planning to conduct Accomplishment Surveys for the three major Senior Corps programs -- Foster Grandparent Program, Senior Companion Program, and RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program). These surveys will collect information about local project volunteer activities, inputs and accomplishments.
Senior Corps matches more than half a million people age 55 and older with meaningful service opportunities addressing critical needs in their home communities. Senior Corps encompasses more than 1,300 sponsoring organizations, known as “projects,” which are administered locally. Service activities grow out of agreements among the volunteers, projects and the community as represented by community advisory groups and more than 65,000 volunteer-hosting organizations, known as “volunteer stations.” As a result, Senior Corps activities reflect a mix of services and needs unique to each community. The mission of Senior Corps is to unite the time and energy of mature, experienced, skilled and creative older persons with unmet community and individual needs, making a vital difference in the areas of education, public safety, health, human needs, the environment and homeland security.
The Foster Grandparent Program (FGP) is authorized under Title II, Part B, of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, as amended (Public Law 93-113). Program funds are used to support Foster Grandparents in providing supportive services to children with exceptional or special needs. About 30,000 Foster Grandparent Program volunteers serve in youth-serving agencies or organizations such as elementary schools, Head Start centers, day care facilities, hospitals and child residential facilities.
The Senior Companion Program (SCP) is authorized under Title II, Part C, of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, as amended (Public Law 93-113). Program funds are used to support Senior Companions in providing supportive, individualized services to help adults with special needs maintain their dignity and independence. More than 15,000 volunteers with the Senior Companion Program provide direct services. Typical volunteer stations for the Senior Companion Program are medical facilities, area agencies on aging and similar organizations.
RSVP (Retired and Senior Volunteer Program) is authorized under Title II, Part A, of the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973, as amended (Public Law 93-113). The dual purpose of the program is to engage persons 55 and older in volunteer service to meet critical community needs, and to provide a high quality experience that will enrich the lives of the volunteers. RSVP has more than 450,000 volunteers serving within as many as 65,000 volunteer stations. Almost any type of local organization can serve as a volunteer station for this project. RSVP services span a wide range, including disaster, education, environment, homeland security, community and economic development, health and nutrition, housing, other human needs, and public safety.
The Accomplishments Survey is intended to collect information on the community service accomplishments for each of the three Senior Corps programs over the fiscal year. The previous Accomplishments Survey was administered in 2004, and covered program activities during fiscal year 2003.
The Accomplishments Surveys will be distributed to volunteer stations for each program. Each volunteer station will receive surveys targeted to the issue areas in which they offer services.
The survey will address two primary topics:
Accomplishments of Senior Corps volunteers:
The measurable accomplishments achieved within specific subcategories of the Senior Corps’ primary issue areas
The numbers of volunteer service hours provided within specific subcategories of Senior Corps’ primary issue areas
The number of volunteers engaged in service within specific subcategories of the Senior Corps’ primary issue areas
The capacity of Senior Corps volunteer volunteer stations to manage and support Senior Corps volunteers:
How stations establish the rationale for volunteer involvement;
The involvement of paid staff in volunteer program design;
How well volunteers are integrated into the organization;
The preparation of volunteer assignment descriptions; and
Managing, evaluating, and recognizing the efforts of volunteers
The data provided by the three Accomplishment Surveys will provide information for required annual program reports by the Corporation for National and Community Service to the Office of Management and Budget. In addition, Senior Corps frequently receives requests for information about program accomplishments in specific service areas or for specific geographic areas. Gathering information about program outputs also will enable the Corporation to collect information about program outcomes more systematically and reliably. Past experience demonstrates that such reports are useful to grantees in their own working on behalf of their projects in the community and in their states.
The Senior Corps Accomplishment Surveys will use available electronic data at the national and local levels to the extent possible to reduce burden.
At the national level, data on volunteer stations, which are submitted by project directors to the Corporation, will provide important information about the universe of potential respondents. The Accomplishment Surveys also use existing information from the Corporation’s databases, such as the numbers of volunteers and volunteer hours devoted to particular activities.
The data on the programs’ volunteer accomplishments are not collected in any other way for national-level reporting. Data on the activities of volunteers are collected through the Senior Corps’ Project Profiles and Volunteer Activities reporting form, but that data collection activity does not provide data on outputs or accomplishments due to the activities or the level of volunteer effort involved.
No small businesses are involved in this data collection; the respondents are volunteer supervisors in community-based organizations, large and small, faith-based and secular.
The data gathered through this collection activity is necessary for providing information related to the GPRA performance reporting by the Corporation. No accomplishments or outputs data have been collected since FY 2004.
The proposed data collection is consistent with guidelines set forth in 5 CFR 1320.6.
In 2003-2004, the Corporation consulted with persons outside the agency by having the survey instruments reviewed by a Field Working Group established by Senior Corps to advise it on performance indicators and other performance measurement issues. The surveys were also pretested with a small number of volunteer station supervisors.
No payments are to be made to respondents, although an inexpensive token (a “participation pin”) will be included in the survey package.
Your responses to this data collection will be used only for purposes of this research. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific organization or individual. We will not provide information that identifies individuals or their districts to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law
For practical data collection reasons, the Senior Corps project directors will distribute the survey packages to the volunteer station supervisors, who will return the surveys directly to the contractor for processing and analysis.
None of the survey questions is sensitive.
We estimate that the Accomplishment Surveys will take an average of 45 minutes to complete, including gathering information. The sample sizes are 500 for SCP and FGP and 1,500 for RSVP. The total respondent burden, assuming a 100 percent response rate, imposed by the three survey is estimated at 1,875 hours (see Table 2, below).
Annual cost to respondents of this data collection activity is estimated to be about $48,825. The assumptions underlying this estimate are presented in Table 2.
Table 2. Estimated response burden and annualized cost to respondents
Survey Instrument |
Number Respondents |
Time to Respond (hours) |
Estimated Hourly Wage* |
Total Cost |
|
Average |
Total |
||||
Senior Companions Program Accomplishment Survey |
500 |
0.75 |
375 |
$26.04 |
$9,765 |
Foster Grandparent Program Accomplishment Survey |
500 |
0.75 |
375 |
$26.04 |
$9,765 |
Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Accomplishment Survey |
1,500 |
0.75 |
1,125 |
$26.04 |
$29,295 |
Totals |
2,500 |
NA |
1,875 |
NA |
$48,825 |
*The station supervisors' hourly wage is estimated based on a $50,000 annual salary (or $26.04 per hour).
During FY 2004, the government contracted with Westat of Rockville, MD for $156,495 to design, conduct, analyze, and report on the Senior Corps Accomplishment Surveys. Using the surveys previously developed, the estimated costs for this collection are $120,000.
The Corporation is not proposing any changes to the approved data collection instruments or procedures.
This survey seeks to quantify the accomplishments of each of the three Senior Corps Programs.
Sample selection procedures will ensure sufficient cases are present to support analysis by program, region and service category. The survey results will be weighted to produce estimated results that are nationally representative. Data will be analyzed using SPSS.
Table 3. Schedule of activities and deliverables
ACTIVITY |
TIME LINE |
Finalize survey and submit final forms clearance package |
2 weeks after project start |
Translate surveys and telephone questionnaires into Spanish |
4 weeks after project start |
Send survey awareness materials to State offices, grantees, and other stakeholders; place survey announcement on Senior Corps listserv |
4 weeks after project start |
Complete CATI programming and tests |
6 weeks after project start |
Draw survey samples |
6 weeks after project start |
Set up survey answer line and response system |
6 weeks after project start |
Prepare survey FAQs for telephone interviewers and answer line operators |
6 weeks after project start |
Begin telephone interviewer training |
7 weeks after project start |
Pre-survey communication with projects: Verify contact information, determine program areas, encourage timely response |
8 weeks after project start |
Ship paper surveys to project managers for distribution to sampled stations (as contact information is verified) |
9 weeks after project start |
Data collection and processing |
Begins 10 weeks after project start |
Conduct descriptive analysis; submit public use dataset and documentation |
24 weeks after project start |
Draft versions of Accomplishments Reports |
28 weeks after project start |
Final versions of Accomplishment Reports |
32 weeks after project start |
The contractor will submit a public-use data file in SPSS format, with all necessary documentation, to the Corporation within 24 weeks of the start date of the project. The contractor will submit draft reports on the activities and accomplishments of each Senior Corps program within 28 weeks of the project’s start date. Final reports, which will be used for performance reporting and program management, will be submitted within 32 weeks of the project’s start date.
The OMB number and expiration date will be displayed at the top of the cover page for each instrument submitted.
There are no requested exceptions to the certification statement in Item 19 of OMB Form 83-I.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Corporation for National and Community Service |
| Author | KCramer |
| Last Modified By | LaMonica Shelton |
| File Modified | 2007-07-26 |
| File Created | 2007-07-26 |