NHTSA Tween Passenger Safety Generic Clearance

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 for Traffic and Motor Vehicle

Safety Programs and Activities

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 increase the proper use of seat belts among “tweens”, categorized here as children between the ages of 8-14, and to reduce the injuries and deaths in motor vehicle crashes where these tweens were not wearing seat belts. Tweens will be reminded of why it’s important to buckle up and parents and caregivers will be encouraged to make sure their children are properly wearing seat belts. In addition, the campaign will also resonate with high-risk populations including African Americans and Hispanics. The goal of this research is to help NHTSA develop its communications strategy for the campaign. We propose conducting qualitative focus groups among 8-14 year olds and parents and caregivers of youths in this age group to identify their level of awareness of existing seat belt safety messages, as well as key attitudes and behaviors surrounding seat belt use. We intend to use this research to help create a communications strategy that will be most effective in influencing the choices of tweens. Focus groups will play an important role in gathering information because they allow for more in-depth understanding of people’s 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 8 tween segments and 5 parent/caregiver segments. Each segment will allow us to capture different insights, attitudes and behaviors surrounding seat belt use. Specifically:

• Tweens, ages 8-11, to understand what younger tweens think about seat belt use as they are starting to graduate to seat belt use and are typically still under their parent’s or caregiver’s influence.

• Tweens, ages 12-14, to understand what older tweens think about seat belt use, as they start becoming more independent and have greater likelihood for peer influence.

• Parents and caregivers of tweens ages 8-14, to understand their perspective and role in their child’s use of seat belts.

This segment will include two focus groups of low-mid acculturated Hispanic parents and caregivers in order to gain insights from this high-risk population. All communication with these respondents will be in Spanish. We recommend conducting a total of 13 focus groups—eight 90-minute focus group discussions among tweens and five 120-minute focus group discussions among parents and caregivers of tweens ages 8-14. The focus group discussions will be conducted in three diverse geographic locations (Los Angeles, CA; Dallas, TX; Chicago, IL) and will be segmented by age group and gender. The breakdown for each segment is outlined in the chart below.

LOS ANGELES, CA 32 Total Respondents	DALLAS, TX 22 Total Respondents	CHICAGO, IL 16 Total Respondents
Group 1: 6 Low-mid acculturated Hispanic Parents & Caregivers (Spanish)	Group 7: 6 Low-mid acculturated Hispanic Parents & Caregivers (Spanish)	Group 11: 6 Parents & Caregivers
Group 2: 6 Parents & Caregivers	Group 8: 6 Parents & Caregivers	Group 12: 5 Female Tweens, ages 12-14
Group 3: 5 Female Tweens, ages 8-11 (Primarily Hispanic)	Group 9: 5 Male Tweens, ages 12-14 (Primarily Hispanic)	Group 13: 5 Male Tweens, ages 8-11
Groups 4: 5 Male Tweens, ages 8-11	Groups 10: 5 Female Tweens, ages 8-11
Group 5: 5 Female Tweens, ages 12-14
Group 6: 5 Male Tweens, ages 12-14

For the tween focus group, we will recruit six individuals to seat five per group. For parents and caregivers, we will recruit eight to seat six respondents. To eliminate any potential social pressure, parents and caregivers 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 tween 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____________________________________________

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

No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (hours)	Total Burden Hours
40 (parent/caregiver recruits)	1	10 minutes (1/6-hours) phone interview	6.7
30 (parent/caregiver participants)	1	120 minutes (2 hour) discussion	60
			66.7 hours
48 (child recruits)	1	10 minutes (1/6-hours) phone interview	8
40 (child participants)	1	90 minutes (1.5 hour) discussion	60
			68 hours

TOTAL BURDER HOURS: 134.7 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $55,000.

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

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