CSUN Conference Questions

Script, In Accordance with PRA, for Information Collection
At CSUN Conference on Disabilities

Description of Coupons

CSUN Conference attendees who volunteer to provide information (“Participants”) about tactile features will be presented with sample coupons. The sample coupons have the same size and feel as U.S. paper currency, but are either printed with generic images or unprinted and include clear, transparent, raised tactile features that the BEP is considering for incorporation into future currency designs.

Each Participant will be presented with a series of sample coupons. Each coupon will have a unique, proprietary material applied on a portion of the coupon’s surface, creating a tactile feature that can be sensed by touch.

Demonstration Coupon

The first coupon to be presented to the Participant will be used to demonstrate the style and position of the raised tactile features being presented. The Demonstration Coupon will have a number of rectangular shaped raised, tactile symbol, located in the upper right portion of the coupon, as well as a raised, tactile numeral located on the left hand portion of the coupon.

Sample Coupon Set 1

After the Demonstration Coupon is presented to the Participant, he or she will be provided a set of sample coupons to feel. This first set of sample coupons is referred to as Sample Coupon Set 1. Coupons in Sample Coupon Set 1 will have a number of rectangular shaped raised, tactile symbols, located in the upper right portion of the coupon, as well as a raised, tactile numeral located on the left hand portion of the coupon. The number of symbols on the upper right portion of the coupon will represent the denomination specified by the numeral located on the left hand portion of the coupon.

Sample Coupon Set 2

After all of the coupons in Sample Coupon Set 1 are presented to the Participant, he or she will be provided another set of sample coupons to feel. This second set of sample coupons is referred to as Sample Coupon Set 2. Coupons in Sample Coupon Set 2 will be similar to the coupons in Sample Coupon Set 1 except that they will have a number of rectangular shaped raised, tactile symbols on the upper left hand portion of the coupon and a raised, tactile numeral on the right hand portion of the coupon corresponding to the denomination being represented. These raised tactile features are made from a different material than that used to make the tactile features on the coupons in Sample Coupon Set 1.

Remaining Sample Coupons

After all the sample coupons in Sample Coupon Set 2 are presented to the Participant, he or she will be provided a final sample coupon to feel. This final sample coupon will differ from the coupons in Sample Coupon Sets 1 and 2 because the raised tactile feature will be a number of groups of vertical lines located along both the top and bottom edges of the coupon, and there is no tactile numeral on this sample.

[BEP is preparing between 15 – 20 sample coupons in total. The BEP will let a Participant feel and answer questions about as many sample coupons as possible during the estimated timeframe (between 10 and 15 minutes).]

Questions

Following is a script of the questions that will be asked of Participants who provide information about tactile features at the CSUN Conference.

Introductory Question

1. Hello, would you like to answer questions about tactile features to be incorporated in currency? The process should take between 10 and 15 minutes.
   [Assuming the Participant agrees to answer questions about tactile features to be incorporated in U.S. paper currency, the BEP representative will begin asking the series of questions below.]

Paperwork Reduction Act Notifications

2. Before I begin asking you questions about tactile features, I have to provide you a few notifications required under the Paperwork Reduction Act. Please be informed that the questions asked and your responses constitute a collection of information that is subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

3. The purpose of this information collection is to determine what tactile features may be most effective in providing a means of assisting blind and visually impaired people in denominating United States paper currency.

4. The information provided during this collection of information will be reviewed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank, and the United States Secret Service. The information will help these agencies analyze and collaborate on what types of tactile features most effectively help blind and visually impaired persons denominate United States paper currency.

5. We estimate it will take between 10 and 15 minutes for you to answer the questions asked today.

6. You are advised that your responses to these questions are completely voluntary and there is no obligation for you to provide responses.

7. The BEP is not going to collect any personally identifiable information from you today. You will not be asked to provide your name, address, phone number, social security number, or any other information that could be used to personally identify you.

8. BEP will do its best to maintain your answers to its questions as nonpublic information. In other words, BEP will not publicize the individual results of this information collection to the general public. The BEP may, however, share the results of this information collection with the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank, the United States Secret Service, other federal agencies, or other interested parties for purposes of tactile feature development. Further, BEP is obligated to provide records in response to requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act. If your responses to these questions are included in the scope of a Freedom of Information Act request, then they will be produced by BEP. Again, please note that no information that can identify you personally will be collected today.

9. BEP is obligated to inform you that this information collection is being conducted under a valid control number issued by the Office of Management and Budget.
   
   [If the OMB Control Number is available, the number will be provided. If the OMB Control Number is not available, the following will be communicated.]
   
   The information collection being conducted today has been approved by the Office of Management and Budge pursuant to a fast-tracked approval process. The fast-track nature of the process means BEP does not yet have an OMB Control Number to provide. Once the number is available, it will be posted to the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Information Collection Review Dashboard, available at www.reginfo.gov.

10. Unless you have any questions about the notices concerning this information collection, I will proceed to the information collection itself.
    
    [Note and answer any questions posed by Participant.]

Information Collection

11. Today I will be asking you to feel a series of up to twenty (20) coupons. A coupon is a sheet of paper similar in shape, size, and feel to United States paper currency. The coupon, however, is not actual United States paper currency. Each coupon that is provided to you will have included somewhere on it one or more tactile features. A tactile feature is a raised element that can be felt via touch. You will be asked to provide general comments about the tactile features you feel on each of the coupons you are provided.
    
    

12. I am now providing you with a demonstration coupon. This coupon is intended solely for you to get a sense of the general style and position of the raised tactile features you will be feeling in the first set of sampl coupons.

[Give Demonstration Coupon to Participant to feel.]

13. Please find the series of raised tactile symbols in the upper right hand section of the coupon.
    
    

14. Now find the raised tactile numeral on the left hand side of the coupon.
    
    

15. Please tell me if you have any trouble identifying the presence of the tactile features on the demonstration coupon.

Questions About Sample Coupon Set 1

16. I am now providing you with the first sample coupon in Sample Coupon Set 1.
    
    [Give first coupon from Sample Coupon Set 1 to Participant to feel.]

17. Please locate and determine the number of raised tactile elements present on the first coupon from Sample Coupon Set 1? After you have done so, please tell me the number of symbols you found on the coupon.
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

18. Was it ‘very easy’, ‘easy’, or ‘difficult’ for you to find and count the symbols?

19. Describe to me what you believe to be good or bad about this sample.

[Record the answer provided.]

20. How confident you are that you identified the correct number of symbols and the numeral that are present on the sample coupon; ‘not very confident’, ‘confident’, or ‘very confident’?
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

21. Please explain to me what made you feel as confident as you do.
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

Questions About Remaining Sample Coupons in Sample Coupon Set 1

[The set of questions for the first coupon in Sample Coupon Set 1 will be repeated for each of the 10 sample coupons in the set.]

22. I am now providing you with a demonstration coupon from the Sample Coupon Set 2. This coupon is intended solely for you to get a sense of the general style and position of the raised tactile features you will be feeling in the second set of samples.
    
    [Give Demonstration Coupon to Participant to feel.]

23. Please find the series of raised tactile symbols in the upper left hand section of the coupon.

24. Now find the raised tactile numeral on the right hand side of the coupon.
    
    

25. Please tell me if you have any trouble identifying the presence of a tactile feature on the demonstration coupon.

Questions About the Second Set of Sample Coupons

26. I am now providing you with the first sample coupon in Sample Coupon Set 2.
    
    [Give first sample coupon from Sample Coupon Set 2 to Participant to feel.]

27. Can you please locate and determine the number of raised tactile elements present on this first sample coupon? After you have done so, please tell me the number of symbols you found on the coupon.
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

28. Was it ‘very easy’, ‘easy’, or ‘difficult’ for you to find and count the symbols?

29. Describe to me what you believe to be good or bad about this sample.

[Record the answer provided.]

30. How confident you are that you identified the correct number of symbols and the numeral that are present on the sample coupon; ‘not very confident’, ‘confident’, or ‘very confident’?
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

31. Please explain to me what made you feel as confident as you do.
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

Questions About Remaining Sample Coupons in the Second Set

[The set of questions for the second set of 5 Sample Coupons will be repeated for each sample coupon in set #2 provided to the Participant.]

32. I am now providing you with the Final Sample Coupon. Note that the raised tactile symbols are located along both the top and bottom edge of the coupon. There is no raised tactile numeral on this sample coupon.
    
    [Give Final Sample Coupon to Participant to feel.]

33. Please find the series of raised tactile symbols along both the top and bottom edges of the coupon.

Questions About the Final Sample Coupon

34. Please count the number of raised tactile elements present on either the top or bottom edge of the Sample Coupon. After you have done so, please tell me the number of symbols you found on the coupon.
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

35. Was it ‘very easy’, ‘easy’, or ‘difficult’ for you to find and count the symbols?

36. Describe to me what you believe to be good or bad about this sample.

[Record the answer provided.]

37. How confident you are that you identified the correct number of symbols and the numeral that are present on the sample coupon; ‘not very confident’, ‘confident’, or ‘very confident’?
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

38. Please explain to me what made you feel as confident as you do.
    
    [Record the answer provided.]

39. Now I will place all three demonstration coupons in front of you, one each from Sample Sets 1 and 2, and the Final Sample Coupon. Please feel all three and tell me which of the three is easiest for you to find and count the raised tactile features.

[Record the answer provided.]

Conclusion of Information Collection

40. This concludes the collection of information. Thank you very much for spending some time answering my questions.
    
    

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