0990-0281_OMB Memo_Ad Council Research 4

____________________________________________________________________________

DATE: April 5, 2012

TO: Behnaz Kohan, HHS

FROM: Sheri Klein, Ad Council

RE: Request for Clearance of Communication Research regarding OMB No. 0990-0281. Ad Council Communications Interviews and Survey

______________________________________________________________________________

Statement of Need

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) partners with the Ad Council and a range of volunteer advertising agencies to develop and distribute communication materials surrounding childhood obesity prevention. Our overall Childhood Obesity Prevention communications campaign objective is to help reduce the nation’s childhood obesity rate. The goal of the research outlined here is to better understand how moms and kids receive, understand, and respond to HHS’s advertising materials developed under the Childhood Obesity Prevention communications campaign so that we may develop and improve upon them going forward. If such information is not collected, it will be more difficult for the Ad Council and their partnering agencies to develop and distribute effective health messages to the American public.

Intended Use of Information

The recommended data collection process includes three types of research—online consumer surveys, a telephone survey and qualitative interviews. Online survey methodologies will be employed among English-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12 and among children ages 8-12. A telephone survey will be conducted among Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12. The survey research among moms and kids will be used to identify respondents’ level of awareness of obesity prevention messages, as well as key attitudes and behaviors surrounding healthy lifestyles

Qualitative interviews will also be conducted with each of the audiences. The qualitative interviews among moms and kids will be used to understand whether or not our communication campaign is clear, relevant and motivating to each respective audience.

The knowledge gained from these research methodologies will allow us to understand whether or not the childhood obesity prevention communications effort is reaching the intended audiences—English-speaking mothers and caregivers, Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers and kids. It will also allow us to determine if the campaigns are influencing consumer attitudes or shifting any key behaviors surrounding a healthy lifestyle. These results will then be used to inform the development of core content.

The assessments are important steps in our formative planning process that will allow HHS, the Ad Council and their partnering advertising agencies to gather information that can be used to develop an effective communication plan. This assessment is formative, solely to inform the childhood obesity campaign communication strategy. No generalizations will be made to a larger population.

The Ad Council plans to work with subcontracting third-party vendors for each research methodology. The survey research vendors will recruit and survey respondents, create a clean data file and deliver cross-tabulation files to the Ad Council who will analyze the data and write a final report. The qualitative research vendors will recruit and interview respondents, compile the results and write a report that outlines key findings and recommendations. Oversight for all of this research will be provided by Sheri Klein, Vice President, Director of Research, the Ad Council.

Description of Survey Respondents

Online survey methodologies will be employed among English-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12 and among children ages 8-12. A telephone survey will be conducted among Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12. Separate qualitative interviews will be used for all audience types.

The breakdown of the online consumer survey research will include:

• 1,200 English-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12. Among these respondents, approximately one-half will have a low household income and approximately one-third will be African American.

• 1,000 Children ages 8-12

The telephone survey of consumers will include:

• 500 Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12

For each audience type— English-speaking mothers and caregivers (approximately one half will be African American), Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers and kids—a total of 16 one-on-one in-depth qualitative interviews will be conducted in two cities with at least eight interviews per market. The breakdown for the qualitative research will include:

• 32 English-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12

• 16 Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12

• 16 Children ages 8-12

Use of Information Technology to Reduce Respondent Burden

Information technology applications will be used to conduct online surveys and reduce respondent burden. The invitation to complete the survey and corresponding reminders will be sent online and by electronic mail. The electronic mail message will include the URL for the Web-based survey and respondents will be invited to complete it electronically.

Convenience samples of test participants are recruited to reflect the target audience. The Ad Council plans to work with third-party vendors to recruit respondents. Data collection will take place using online panels that respondents have opted to join. Respondents will be recruited through an email invitation with a link to the survey.

Data Collection Procedures

Copies of documents that will be used to recruit and conduct the qualitative interviews and consumer surveys are attached. These specifically include:

• The qualitative interview respondent screeners

• The qualitative interview discussion guide

• The online survey for English-speaking Moms and Caregivers

• The telephone survey for Spanish-speaking Moms and Caregivers

• The online survey for kids

Sampling

The following samples will be used for each research methodology:

• Qualitative Interviews will draw from convenience samples where respondents are recruited through a database of market research facility volunteers. Individuals will be prescreened based on age, gender and age of children and then contacted by the facility to determine whether or not they qualify to participate in a discussion and if they are willing to attend a one-hour interview session.

• Online Surveys will also draw from convenience samples where respondents are recruited through an online survey panel of which they have volunteered to participate. Individuals will be prescreened to determine gender, age of child, race, ethnicity and income. Qualifying respondents will be asked to take the survey online.

• The phone survey will draw from a stratified sample based on geographic location. A third-party vendor will employ a Random-digit-dialing data collection technique among Spanish-speaking Moms and Caregivers. They will provide representative sampling across all strata.  Fielding efficiencies are gained with business number removal and pre-screening for disconnected numbers. The vendor will ensure that every possible telephone number in a working geographic stratum has an equal probability of selection.

Recruitment

Qualitative interview respondents will be contacted, screened and recruited by the market research facility. Each respondent will be informed about the purpose of the discussion, estimated completion time, information regarding the voluntary nature of the survey, and information regarding confidentiality. The breakdown of incentives for the qualitative interviews includes:

• English-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12 will be provided with an incentive of $125.00 in all markets.

• Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers of children ages 3-12 will be provided with an incentive of $125.00 in all markets.

• Children ages 8-12 will be provided with an incentive of $75.00 in all markets.

These industry-standard stipends help to ensure that respondents can be recruited efficiently and ensure their arrival and participation in the groups. These standards exist to provide fair compensation for costs incurred by participants while attending groups, based on the location of and expenses in each market. Examples of expenses include the cost of travel, childcare fees, and compensation for time taken off from work.

Online survey respondents will be asked to participate in a survey through the online panel in which they have volunteered. The third-party research vendors operate survey panels that incentivize respondents based on a points-based incentive and rewards system. The points can be redeemed for cash or other items offered by the vendor when enough points are accrued. It is standard practice to provide a basic incentive in order to avoid bias of receiving responses only from individuals generally predisposed to be helpful.

Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers will be surveyed via a subcontracting third-party vendor. The vendor will employ a Computer Assisted Telephone Interviews (CATI) through random-digit dial and determine whether or not a respondent qualifies to participate. Qualifying respondents will be informed about the purpose of the discussion, estimated completion time, information regarding the voluntary nature of the survey, and information regarding confidentiality.

Confidentiality

Market research facilities and online survey vendors keep names and personal contact information for their own database and panel maintenance. But, for the purposes of this research, respondent names and any other identifying information will not be shared with the Ad Council or HHS. Thus, no names will be associated with individual survey responses. Any invitation emails, respondent screeners and survey instructions will include information about confidentiality for respondents and this information will also be included in the survey instructions adjoined to the survey instrument. Respondents will also be instructed that they can terminate their participation at any time.

Data Collection

Copies of the current survey instruments and discussion guides are attached. Qualitative interview discussions address the following topics:

• How well respondents understand the proposed advertising concepts (including the main message, call-to-action and website recall)

• The overall appeal of the proposed advertising concepts (and identifying any “red flags” in regard to respondent sensitivities or confusion)

• The strength and weaknesses of each proposed execution

• The relevancy of the proposed creative concept (i.e. how well the work resonates with respondents)

• Which creative executions are most motivating to respondents (i.e. makes them want to follow through on the call-to-action)

Quantitative interview discussions address the following topics:

• Awareness of advertising messages surrounding eating healthy and being physically active

• Awareness of HHS’s communication campaign materials (aided)

• Key attitudes and behaviors surrounding eating healthy foods and being physically active every day

The survey instruments will be conducted through telephone and online survey vendors who employ, compiled and analyze the data using their proprietary software. Each third-party vendor uses a secure server that is password protected. Potential respondents will be invited to participate via phone or e-mail.

All of the surveys will include brief instructions on completing the survey and information regarding the voluntary nature of the survey as well as information regarding the confidentiality of the information.

Justification for Proposed Data Collection Methodology

Qualitative interviews are the most efficient way to collect in-depth feedback regarding whether or not a proposed communications concept is clear, relevant and motivating to the campaigns’ target audience. And consumer surveys is the most efficient way to understand whether or not the communications campaign reached the intended audience and how it impacted their attitudes and/or behaviors surrounding the issue.

Each methodology is needed to accurately plan for any future communications surrounding healthy lifestyles.

Statistical Methods

No statistical methods will be employed for the qualitative interviews.

For the online and telephone surveys, software will be used to create a database of responses, which will be exported for analysis. These data will be cleaned and used to create SPSS data bases for analyses. Analyses will consist primarily of descriptive statistics and cross-tabulations by selected demographic characteristics. Comparisons of group characteristics will entail the use of non-parametric tests (such as chi-squared tests) for categorical variables and t-tests for continuous variables. (Responses to Likert scaled items will be treated as continuous variables in these analyses.)

Text from responses to open-ended survey items will be reviewed to extract themes.

Estimated Response Burden

The following chart illustrates the estimated response burden for each research type:

	Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
1	Individual for the English-speaking mothers and caregivers online consumer survey	1,200	15 minutes	300
2	Individual for the Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers telephone consumer survey	500	15 minutes	125
3	Individual for the Children ages 8-12 online consumer survey	1,000	15 minutes	250
4	Individual for qualitative interviews of English-speaking mothers and caregivers	32	1 hour	32
5	Individual for qualitative interviews of Spanish-speaking mothers and caregivers	16	1 hour	16
6	Individual for qualitative interviews of Children ages 8-12	16	1 hour	16
	Totals	2,764	4 hr 45 min	739

Attachments

[IN SEPARATE FILES]

• Consumer Survey Instruments:

  • English-speaking Mothers and Caregivers Survey

  • Spanish-speaking Mothers and Caregivers Survey

  • Children Survey

• Qualitative Interview Respondent Screeners:

  • English-speaking Mothers and Caregivers Respondent Screener

  • Spanish-speaking Mothers and Caregivers Respondent Screener

  • Child Respondent Screener

• Qualitative Interview Discussion Guides:

  • English and Spanish-speaking Mothers and Caregivers Interview Discussion Guide

  • Child Discussion Guide