Underage DDP Fast Track Request

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2127-0682)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Focus Groups to Develop Underage Drinking and Driving Prevention Public Service Advertising Campaign

PURPOSE:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was authorized by the Highway Safety Act of 1966 to carry out a Congressional mandate to reduce the mounting number of deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes on our Nation’s highways. In support of this mission, NHTSA is developing a new public service campaign designed to deter impaired driving among underage teens and young adults. The goal of this research is to help NHTSA develop its communications strategy for the campaign. We propose conducting qualitative focus groups among 14-20 year olds and parents of youths in this age group to identify their level of awareness of existing impaired driving messages, as well as key attitudes and behaviors about underage drinking and driving. We intend to use this research to help create a communications strategy that will be most effective in influencing the choices of teens and young adults. Focus groups will play an important role in gathering information because they allow for more in-depth understanding of young drivers’ attitudes, beliefs, and motivations than do other kinds of studies. If such information is not collected, it will be more difficult for NHTSA to develop and distribute effective messages to our target audience. 

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Our recommended data collection method is qualitative focus groups. The breakdown of focus groups includes 3 teen segments and one parent segment. Each segment will allow us to capture different insights, attitudes and behaviors surrounding impaired driving. Specifically:

• High School students, ages 14-15, to understand what younger teens think about drinking and driving as they start to share rides with older teens, and before it becomes prevalent among their peers.

• High School students, ages 16-18, to understand the target’s attitudes and behaviors surrounding drinking and driving as it becomes more prevalent among their peers.

• Teens/young adults, ages 18-20, to understand attitudes and behaviors of teens post high school graduation, as well as their hindsight perspective of their high school experiences with impaired driving. Note: this segment will include both college students and non-college students.

• Parents of teens ages 16-18, to understand their role and perspective surrounding their child’s experience with drinking and driving. Note: this segment will include a mix of tolerant parents who are more permissive about their child consuming alcohol and non-tolerant parents who have rules and regulations against consumption.

Respondents will include a fair representation of demographics including gender, race/ethnicity, and household income (parents). We recommend conducting a total of 15 focus groups—nine 90-minute focus group discussions among teens/young adults and six 90-minute triads among parents of teens ages 16-18. The focus group discussions will be conducted in three diverse geographic locations (Cincinnati, OH; and Los Angeles, CA and Dallas, TX) and will be segmented by age group and gender. The breakdown for each segment is outlined in the chart below.

DALLAS, TX 27 Total Respondents	CINCINNATI, OH 27 Total Respondents	Los Angeles, CA 27 Total Respondents
Group 1: 5 HS males, (ages 14-15)	Group 6: 5 HS males, (ages 16-18)	Group 11: 5 HS mixed gender, (ages16-18)
Group 2: 5 HS females, (ages 16-18)	Group 7: 5 HS mixed gender, (ages 14-15)	Group 12: 5 HS females, (ages 14-15)
Group 3: 5 Post HS mixed gender (ages 18-20), mix college/non-college	Group 8: 5 Post HS mixed gender (ages 18-20), mix college/non-college	Group 13: 5 Post HS mixed gender (ages 18-20), mix college/non-college
Groups 4 6 Parents of teens ages 16-18 who are more tolerant/permissive about their child drinking alcohol	Groups 9 6 Parents of teens ages 16-18 who are more tolerant/permissive about their child drinking alcohol	Groups 14 6 Parents of teens ages 16-18 who are more tolerant/permissive about their child drinking alcohol
Group 5: 6 Parents of teens ages 16-18 who are less tolerant/more strict about their child drinking alcohol	Group 10: 6 Parents of teens ages 16-18 who are less tolerant/more strict about their child drinking alcohol	Group 15: 6 Parents of teens ages 16-18 who are less tolerant/more strict about their child drinking alcohol

For the teen and young adult focus group, we will recruit six individuals to seat five per group. For parents, we will recruit eight to seat six respondents per group. To eliminate any potential social pressure, parents will be screened to ensure that they are not friendly with any other respondent in the discussion. However, to create a more comfortable setting for the other segments and mitigate socially desirable responses, each teen focus group will consist of respondents who are friends. This recruitment strategy will allow the focus group moderator to observe social dynamics between the teens and their peers while encouraging accountability and honesty. Past experience with this age group indicates that respondents who attend this type of discussion with a friend will open up and share more quickly than when they are among a group of strangers.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[X] Focus Group [ ] Other: ____________________

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: Susan McMeen, Director, Office of Consumer Information, NHTSA

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

Personally Identifiable Information:

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

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

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ X] Yes [ ] No

Each respondent will be provided with $75 following their participation in a focus group session. This amount is in line with the industry standard, relative to focus group participation by people in the target market. 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.

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Individual for screening call	102	10 minute call	17
Individual for focus group discussion	81	90 minute discussion	121.5
Total			138.5

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $72,000.

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?

Please see recruitment screener attached.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X] Telephone

[X] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

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

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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