Omnibus Survey Supporting Statement

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0420-0545)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Omnibus Survey on Awareness and Perceptions of Volunteer Organizations

PURPOSE:

• To gather awareness levels and perceptions of the Peace Corps and other volunteer organizations from the general public

• To compare awareness and perceptions across generational subgroups

The omnibus survey is formative research in advance of a qualitative and quantitative research project for the Peace Corps. The project goal is to understand what messages will most appeal to Millennials to interest them in joining the Peace Corps. The omnibus research will identify what the American public knows and understands about the Peace Corps and other volunteer organizations. By exploring differences in perception and knowledge among Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers, and Millennials, we hope to better understand what messages will best resonate with Millennials. These messages can then be captured in strategy statements for further testing in focus groups, online bulletin boards and surveys.

This survey is designed to understand perceptions of the Peace Corps among our target audience, with the goal of shaping Agency messaging to better resonate with this audience. The ultimate goal of these messaging changes is to increase the number of volunteer applicants, in order to effectively reach the goals and objectives defined in the Peace Corps mission.

The questions that will be asked are in a separate document attached.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

The target group for the omnibus questions is a nationally representative sample of American adults, 18+.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[] Focus Group [X] Other: Omnibus Survey

The omnibus survey is an online survey instrument that is administered daily by Ipsos, our contracted research firm. The survey measures the attitudes and opinions of 1,000 adults across the United States, and is a tool that can be used by multiple clients.

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Denora Miller, FOIA/Privacy Act Officer

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ X] Yes [ ] No

In order to conduct demographic analysis, Ipsos routinely collects the following types of personally identifiable information from both iSay Panelists and respondents intercepted on the Internet:

• Year and month of birth

• Gender

• Country of Residence

• ZIP Code

• Industry of Employment for self and household members

• Educational level

• Race/ethnicity

• Household Income

This information is used to divide responses into groups. It is not used to identify individuals for later contact or sales targeting. Please note that the omnibus is a shared-cost survey. The demographic questions are gathered regardless of whether the Peace Corps has questions on the survey. The demographics may be of interest to other clients on the omnibus. Of interest to the Peace Corps is year of birth, so respondents can be divided into their generational cohorts (e.g., Millennials, Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, etc.). Gender is also of interest as the Peace Corps is interested in encouraging more males to volunteer. This information is needed to appropriately shape Agency messaging, which is the reason the research is being conducted.

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ X] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ X] No

The information that will be collected will not be recorded in an Agency system of records. The Agency will never access data that is traceable back to any particular individual.

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [X ] Yes [] No Respondents may be given “points” for participating. Respondents who are intercepted on the Internet, for example, while playing certain video games (e.g., solitaire) may be given “points” towards the game as an incentive to participate in the survey. Panelists are also incentivized using a point structure with accumulated points used to select gifts from a catalog. The award of “points” is a standard and effective procedure for encouraging people to participate in online surveys.

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals who are iSay panelists or who were intercepted online for survey participation	1,000	4 minutes	67 hours
Totals	1,000	4 minutes	67 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $ $4,906. This is the final cost to the government and includes all contractor costs.

Category	Hours	Cost
Contractor (survey + support)		$3610
Incentives		$1,200
Internal survey results analysis	3 (FP4=$32/hr)	$96
Total		$4,906

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [X] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

The Peace Corps currently has a contract with Ipsos to conduct market research for the Agency. The contract was awarded January 2014, and will end January 2015. The Ipsos panel, iSay, includes over one million individuals. These are people who have agreed to participate in research studies for Ipsos. They will be randomly selected to participate in the omnibus survey. To best ensure representation of the US public, the iSay panel will be supplemented with “river sampling” of online passersby who are intercepted while they are online.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ X ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X ] No

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