Description - FY 2011 800 Number Caller Survey

DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE

OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: 800 Number Caller Survey for FY 2011 and Continuing

SSA SUB-NUMBER: F-03

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY (give purpose of activity, provide specific information; i.e., date(s) of survey, number of focus groups, locations, etc.):

BACKGROUND

The Social Security Administration (SSA) annually surveys individuals who do business with us to assess their satisfaction with the specific mode of contact they used. As part of this effort, we conduct the 800 Number Caller Survey, in which we interview members of the public who called SSA’s 800 number to complete their transactions. We designed the survey, which takes place shortly after the participant’s number call, to 1) measure public perception of SSA’s 800 number service and 2) collect information that will assist us in understanding the customer experience behind satisfaction ratings. SSA has been conducting a satisfaction survey with the 800 number caller population since 1989.

SURVEY

Description of Survey

SSA conducts the 800 Number Caller Survey over a four-week period in March/April 2011. We conduct the survey in the same general timeframe each year to maintain comparability of results. An SSA contractor conducts the survey interviews by telephone. The survey covers a variety of topics related to SSA’s 800 number service, including the following:

• The type of business the person was calling about;

• The kind of benefits the person was calling about (if applicable);

• Satisfaction with how quickly the person got served on the 800 number;

• The person’s level of comfort using the automated speech recognition system;

• Ease of getting the automated system to understand the type of service needed;

• Whether the person chose to conduct business using one of the automated services offered on the 800 number;

• Whether the person was able to take care of all business completely using the automated service;

• Whether the person continued with the call and spoke to an agent;

• Whether the person was asked for identifying information before speaking to the agent and the ease of that process;

• Whether the 800 number offered to call the person back if all agents were busy and satisfaction with the callback process;

• Satisfaction with the time on hold waiting for an agent;

• How the caller would rate the service provided by the agent, including courtesy, job knowledge level, helpfulness, and clarity of explanations;

• If the caller was unable to complete all business during the 800 number call, which modality they used to do so;

• The caller’s overall rating of the 800 number service;

• The caller’s service preferences for future business, including a series of questions on the use of the Internet.

• Whether the caller need special accommodations to do business with SSA because of a medical condition, what those special accommodations are, and their satisfaction with how well SSA meets their needs.

Attached is a copy of the survey script that is almost identical to last year’s survey. We changed the order in which we present some questions, expanded the questions on Internet use, and added a few questions about the need for special accommodations.

Statistical Information

Sample Selection

SSA draws the sample for the 800 Number Caller Survey from the automatic number identifier (ANI) detail data supplied by the contractor for SSA’s national 800 number telephone network. During the four‑week sample selection period, we process ANI data to identify completed calls that represent individuals who “got through” to the 800 number. We select individuals who have used automated services and/or spoken to a representative, or hung up while waiting.

SSA’s 800 number receives about 60 million calls each year. Based on this volume, we anticipate that over the four-week period of the survey the 800 number will receive approximately 5 million calls. From this universe, we will randomly select 4,000 unique telephone numbers via a random generator program that uses selected digits of the current date and time. We will use these originating numbers to attempt to contact and interview the individuals who placed the sample calls. During the initial contact, we will screen out calls that originate from a public or business telephone, since we cannot usually identify individuals who call from such locations.

Methodology

As we mentioned above, SSA-approved contractors will conduct this survey by telephone and translate the survey questionnaire into computer-assisted interviewing (CATI) software so that interviewing and data input of the individual’s responses occur simultaneously. The CATI software also ensures that we ask only questions pertinent to the individual’s circumstances, allowing for complicated question paths while still minimizing response burden.

Response Rate

To maximize the response rate for this survey SSA will:

• Select samples twice a week (to minimize the time between the customers’ service experience and the survey);

• Transmit sample listings to the contractor within a week of the 800 number call;

• Have the contractor arrange call attempts for daytime, evening, and weekend hours;

• Have the contractor arrange callbacks and leave messages for the sampled individual as necessary, and provide a toll-free number for return calls to encourage participation;

• Provide Spanish-speaking interviewers as necessary.

In the past few years, using this methodology with similar populations, we typically achieved response rates around 50 percent. Considering the telephone number is the only contact information available to the contractor, this response rate is remarkably good. We routinely review the information recorded by the contractor each year to monitor any significant trends in the reasons for non-response and to ensure the contractor makes adequate efforts to achieve a good response rate.

Sampling Variability

In the FY 2010 800 Number Caller Survey, the overall satisfaction with 800 number telephone service was 73 percent excellent, very good or good. For FY 2011, our proposed sample size of 4,000 is large enough to allow for the screening of business calls and, assuming a 50 percent response rate from the remaining sample, provide a sampling variability at the 95‑percent confidence level of +/‑2.1 percent for this key indicator of satisfaction.

SSA’s Office of Quality Performance will perform all sampling and data analysis. Dan Zabronsky, Director, Division of Modeling, Office of Quality Data Management, SSA, will provide statistical support. OMB can reach him at (410) 965-5953.

IF FOCUS GROUP MEMBERS WILL RECEIVE A PAYMENT, INDICATE AMOUNT (No more than $25 can be authorized under OMB rules):

We will not compensate participants in this survey.

USE OF SURVEY RESULTS:

SSA will use the results of this study to assess customer satisfaction with the 800 number service and to evaluate and improve various aspects of its 800 number service. We will also combine the results of the 800 number survey with the findings from the Field Office Caller and Office Visitor and Internet Report Card surveys to report a combined performance measure for the Agency each year: “percent of the people doing business with SSA who rate overall service excellent, very good or good.”

BURDEN HOUR COMPUTATION (Number of responses (X) estimated response time (/60) = annual burden hours):

Number of Responses: 4,000.

Estimated Response Time: 15 minutes

Annual Burden Hours: 1,000 hours.

NAME OF CONTACT PERSON: Debbie Larwood

TELEPHONE NUMBER: 410-966-6135

Generic Clearance 800 Number Caller Survey

November 2011