Disability Initial Claims Report Survey Description and Survey Letters

DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE
OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Disability Initial
Claims Report Card (DICRC) Survey
SSA SUB-NUMBER: D-01
DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY (give purpose of activity, provide specific information; i.e.,
date(s) of survey, number of focus groups, locations, etc.):
Background
As part of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) ongoing evaluation of its initial disability
application process, the agency assesses applicants’ opinions about their experiences when filing
for benefits. To assess applicant perceptions, SSA plans to survey three groups: 1) mid-process
applicants, who just filed an application but have not yet received a decision; 2) postadjudicative awarded applicants, who just received a favorable decision; and 3) post-adjudicative
denied applicants, whose applications we just denied. SSA will survey overall satisfaction with
and assessment of various aspects of service for each group at their specific stage in the
application process. FY 2010 is the fourth year in which SSA will conduct this survey.
SURVEY
Description of Survey
The survey will utilize two questionnaires developed by SSA, one for mid-process and one for
post-adjudicative applicants (awarded and denied). Both questionnaires were successfully used
in FY 2007, when we first conducted the DICRC survey, and with one exception, the FY 2010
questionnaires are the same as those used in FY 2008 and FY 2009. In FY 2009, the issues of
whether the person had assistance filing and who helped them, formerly covered in one question,
was broken into two separate questions to improve clarity.
We will conduct the survey in three phases during FY 2010. We will conduct each of the
surveys at the same point in time as last year to ensure comparability of results. Based on our
experience conducting previous surveys with this population, we have identified some key
service elements that have an impact on satisfaction with the disability application process.
Those key elements included in the questionnaire are:


How the person filed the application;



Whether the person had assistance filing and who helped them;



Satisfaction with the ease of filing: i.e., finding information, quality of information
obtained, and ease of working with SSA to start the process (mid-process only);
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

Satisfaction with the ease of providing medical information: i.e., describing medical, job
and school history, obtaining medical records and undergoing a medical examination;



Satisfaction with the explanations SSA provided about the application process (midprocess only);



Satisfaction with the ease of checking the status of the application (post-adjudicative
only);



Satisfaction with SSA employees, including their helpfulness, courtesy, job knowledge,
the clarity of their explanations, and the amount of time they spent with the person;



Satisfaction with claims processing time (post-adjudicative only);



Satisfaction with the clarity of the notice of decision (post-adjudicative only);



Satisfaction with the overall ease of filing and overall opinion of SSA’s service.

Statistical Information
Sample Selection
We will conduct this survey in three phases; each phase will assess the satisfaction of a different
group of disability claimants selected in the timeframes shown:
Stratum

Sample

Date Selected

Mid-process - shortly after filing but before a decision is made

10,000

September 2009

Post-adjudicative Awards - just after they receive the decision

10,000

December 2009

Post-adjudicative Denials - just after they receive the decision

10,000

February 2010

In FY 2007 and FY 2008 we sampled 26,000 claims per phase to stratify the sample at the state
level. However, in FY 2009 we reduced the sample size to 10,000 per phase, stratified at the
regional level, because in the first two years, the survey did not yield data at the state level that
was sufficiently useful to justify the cost of the survey or the significant workload incurred by
SSA survey staff.
We plan to select 1,000 cases per region in each stratum (10,000 total per phase) for an overall
sample size of 30,000. Anticipated yearly volumes for each of SSA’s ten regions are displayed
in the table below. We will weight survey data to reflect the actual regional universes identified
during each sampling phase.

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Initial Disability Applications Processed – Title II and Title XVI Combined
Cases Processed
Annually

Percent Cases
Awarded

Percent Cases
Denied

2,595,000

36.0

64.0

Boston
includes CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT

111,000

41.9

58.1

New York
includes NJ, NY, PR

222,000

44.4

55.6

257,000

36.8

63.2

611,000

29.6

70.4

Chicago
includes IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI

462,000

32.7

67.3

Dallas
includes AR, LA, NM, OK, TX

352,000

40.2

59.8

Kansas City
includes IA, KS, MO, NE

114,000

34.2

65.8

Denver
includes CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY

57,000

38.5

61.5

San Francisco
includes AZ, CA, HI, NV

322,000

39.2

60.8

Seattle
includes AK, ID, OR, WA

87,000

39.1

60.9

National

Philadelphia
includes DE, DC, MD, PA, VA, WV
Atlanta
includes AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN

Methodology
An SSA-approved contractor will mail all sampled individuals a pre-notification postcard
encouraging their participation. Three to four days later a brief (one page front and back)
scannable questionnaire, accompanied by a letter explaining the purpose of the survey will be
mailed to all sampled individuals. We will include the Paperwork Reduction Act and the Privacy
Act statements in the cover letter. Two weeks we mail the initial package, we will send a followup postcard to those sampled individuals who did not respond to the initial solicitation.
Four weeks after we mail the initial survey package, we will send a follow-up letter and another
copy of the survey form to those sampled individuals who did not respond to the initial
solicitation.
Response Rate
We take the following steps described to maximize the response rate for this survey:


The questionnaire is short and easy to read and complete. The scannable survey is
designed for ease of use by a disabled population, e.g., font sizes are large, difficult fill-in
bubbles are not used;
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

We send a pre-notification postcard to every sampled individual to inform them that
1) they have been selected for the survey and 2) they should be on the lookout for the
envelope containing the questionnaire. Using a postcard format allows the recipient to
quickly see that the survey is sanctioned by SSA. Also, the postcard identifies the
contractor who is conducting the survey for SSA, which should increase the likelihood
that participants will open the envelope when they receive the questionnaire;



Three to four days later, we mail the first survey package, including a cover letter signed
by an agency official that encourages the individual to respond by emphasizing the
importance of the survey and the confidentiality of the responses;



Two weeks after we mail the initial survey package, we send a follow-up postcard to
those sampled individuals who did not respond to the initial solicitation;



Four weeks after we mail the initial survey package, we send a follow-up letter and
another copy of the survey form to those sampled individuals who have not responded to
the initial solicitation;



We will send Spanish surveys to sampled individuals where SSA records indicate that is
their preferred language; and,



We will provide SSA’s toll-free National 800 number for people to call if they have any
questions.

In the first two years of the DICRC Survey, we achieved an overall response rate at the national
level of close to 50 percent for the mid-process phase, 55 percent for the award phase, and about
30 percent for the denial phase using only two mailings and an initial and follow-up survey. In
FY 2009, we added a pre-notification postcard and a follow-up postcard to the mailings in an
attempt to increase the response rate. The additional mailings yielded a combined FY 2009
response rate of 47 percent. Specifically, the increase was due to improvements in the response
rate for mid-process and awards of 4 and 7 percentage points, respectively. We saw no
comparable increase in the response rate from denials, however, most likely due to the impact of
the unfavorable decision.
Within the regions, the combined response rate (mid-process and post-adjudicative) in FY 2007
ranged from 42 percent to 46 percent; in FY 2008, the range was from 41 percent to 50 percent.
We have not yet completed tabulating the FY 2009 data so we are unable to provide the
combined regional response rates at this time. However, in the FY 2009 Mid-Process Survey
response rates improved in 9 out of 10 regions. (Note that as part of its data validation, SSA
completes a non-responder analysis to evaluate any potential impact of the response rate on
survey findings. Results of that analysis are included when the survey data is reported.)

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Sampling Variability
The key variable for this survey is overall satisfaction with SSA’s service (percent giving a
rating of excellent, very good or good). (We are using the FY 2008 satisfaction ratings to
estimate sampling variability because tabulation of the FY 2009 data is still underway.)
Nationally, our proposed sample size of 10,000 cases in each phase is large enough, assuming a
50 percent response rate, to provide a sampling variability at the 95-percent confidence level
equal to:
Stratum
Mid-process
Awards
Denials

National Key Variable (E/VG/G Rating)
84%
92%
53%

Sampling Variability
+/- 1.4%
+/- 1.2%
+/- 1.5%

Anticipating a response rate of 50 percent as well from the regional samples of 1,000 cases, we
estimate that the sampling variability will fall in the ranges shown below. These ranges are
acceptable given the intended purpose of the survey.
Stratum
Mid-process
Awards
Denials

Regional Key Variable (E/VG/G Rating)
76% to 86%
87% to 93%
47% to 58%

Sampling Variability
+/- 3.8% to +/- 3.1%
+/- 3.1% to +/- 1.9%
+/- 4.4% to +/-4.3 %

SSA’s Office of Quality Performance (OQP) will perform all sampling and data analysis. Dan
Zabronsky, Director of SSA’s Division of Modeling, OQP, will provide statistical support. He
can be reached at (410) 965-5953.
IF FOCUS GROUP MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE A PAYMENT, INDICATE AMOUNT
N/A
USE OF SURVEY RESULTS:
SSA will use the results of this study to gauge satisfaction with the current initial disability
application process, and to assess the impact of the agency’s ongoing improvement efforts.
BURDEN HOUR COMPUTATION (Number of responses (X) estimated response time (/60) =
annual burden hours):
Number of Responses: 30,000
Estimated Response Time: 5 minutes
Annual Burden Hours: 2,500 hours
NAME OF CONTACT PERSON: Deborah A. Larwood
TELEPHONE NUMBER: 410-966-6135
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