OMB Comments on PVFES/RSA Responses

OMB Comments On

Post Vocational Rehabilitation Experiences Study (PVRES)

RSA Response (8/8/07)

1. (p. 27) ED indicates that they will later send OMB a memo on their disclosure review plans. Why is ED unable to address this issue at this time?

ED’s plan is to submit statistical reports, means and frequency distributions, and data sets of the survey data to the NCES disclosure review board (DRB) for review and approval before making them available to the public.

3. (p. 39) ED indicates that they expect the questionnaires to change after each administration. Please note that any changes to these forms require OMB review and approval.

The current submission of the CATI version of the instrument includes language and survey questions for the baseline version of the survey and for followup surveys. The baseline administration of the survey will use the baseline language and the followup administrations would use only the follow up language. All of the questions are contained in the package undergoing review. We note that any changes to these forms require OMB review and approval.

4. (p. 41) ED indicates that they will re-contact individuals who have affirmatively indicated their decision not to participate (i.e. hard refusals). Did the IRB concur with this plan? How will ED address criticism that this action is coercive?

The intent of re-contact with hard refusals was simply to confirm their refusals, not to coerce them to respond. The IRB concurred with the plan. The script to be used for the refusal confirmation calls has been added to the Supporting Statement as Appendix H.

5. Will the study separately analyze individuals who receive supported employment (SE) services or who achieve a supported employment outcome? If not, could this analysis be added?

The study will add a separate limited analysis of individuals who received supported employment (SE) services or who achieve a supported employment outcome (ASE). The analysis will examine individuals having SE as a goal for the individualized plan for employment in VR as reported in the RSA 911 data. About 23 percent of the sample is expected to have SE as a goal and about 13 percent to have Title VI-B funds expended for SE. The analysis of ASE will be inferred from questions currently in the survey instrument (i.e., personal assistant to help with job related activities or personal care needs at work, job coach to help train and supervise, on-going supports, etc.). The survey does not explicitly ask if the respondent achieved a supported employment outcome.