OMB Clearance 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: Creative Assessments Focus Groups for

2015 Seat Belt Enforcement and Social Norming Campaigns

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 seat belt-focused communications campaign to be launched in 2015. One portion of the campaign will be in conjunction with NHTSA’s “Click It or Ticket” enforcement efforts in various states. Another portion of the campaign will disseminate social norming messages urging seat belt use, which can be used widely during time periods when short-term enforcement mobilizations are not in place.

Data collected by the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) reported that 10,335 fatalities occurred in 2012 in which the victims were confirmed to not be wearing seat belts. Even though seat belt use nationwide has increased to a record-high level of 87 percent of all drivers, more than half of all states (28) have use percentages below this national average. Further, of the total fatalities in highway crashes in the U.S. in 2012 in which restraint use could be confirmed, 52 percent of those fatalities were drivers or passengers not wearing seat belts. In other words, only 13 percent of drivers or passengers accounted for more than half of the total fatalities. A disproportionate number of these unrestrained fatalities were suffered by male drivers ages 18 to 34. Conversely, seat belts, when used, have been calculated by NHTSA to reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and light-truck occupants by 60%. Seat belts saved an estimated 12,174 lives among passenger vehicle occupants age 5 and older in 2012.

Over many years, NHTSA has sought to increase the national seat belt use rate, and its multi-faceted efforts (including communications campaigns) are evidence of steady progress. Nonetheless, the 13 percent of unrestrained drivers/passengers are indicative that more work still needs to be done. NHTSA’s current communications materials have been supported by a creative concept developed in 2012. After three years of use, this concept is in need of change. In light of this, four new creative approaches have been developed. In order to assess these approaches’ relative strengths and weaknesses, NHTSA seeks to use focus group research. For NHTSA campaign development in the past, focus groups have provided an important role in gathering valuable qualitative insights and feedback because they allow for a more in-depth understanding of drivers’ attitudes, beliefs, motivations, and feelings than do quantitative/statistical studies. They provide the means of collecting both verbal remarks, as well as often-insightful non-verbal “responses.” Focus groups serve the narrowly defined need for direct and informal opinion on a specific topic (in this project, that topic being seat belts).

NHTSA proposes conducting ten focus groups among men ages 18 to 34 who are licensed drivers and who self-report non-use or only part-time use of seat belts. Groups will be conducted in (1) states that have primary seat belt laws and higher than national average use rates, and (2) states with secondary laws and lower than national average use rates, as well as fines of $25 or less. Of the ten groups, participants in four will consist of male drivers ages 18 to 34 who express (in the recruiting stage) generally negative perceptions about local police departments, relative to traffic safety enforcement. For these “law enforcement sensitive” groups, the ethnic mix of participants will be adjusted to include more African-Americans or Latinos (contingent on location) than the other six groups. This adjustment is planned, in part, due to recent issues and situations that have given rise to levels of mistrust between particular racial groups and police departments.

Focus groups will be a helpful means for assessing the creative concepts and gathering additional informative insights because this method of research allows for more in-depth understanding of people’s attitudes, beliefs, and motivations, compared to other methods of inquiry. If such assessments are not collected among members of the target audience, it will be more difficult for NHTSA to ascertain the most effective messaging and communications approaches.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Focus group respondents will consist of men ages 18 to 34 who self-report non-use or part-time use of seat belts when they drive. As noted above, in four groups participants will consist of people who will have expressed somewhat negative perceptions about their local police departments. In the other six groups, the screening and recruiting process will not address the “law enforcement sensitive” perceptions; as such, participants in these six groups may or may not include recruits known in advance to be “law enforcement sensitive.” In each group, seven to nine pre-screened individuals will be seated. However, in keeping with conventional focus group recruiting standards, twelve individuals will be recruited for each group in anticipation of seven to nine actually arriving. Should more than nine arrive on time, only nine will be seated in the group, and the others will be released (as well as paid their promised incentives).

Each group is projected to take 90 minutes of participants’ time: an “arrive early” window of 15 minutes, plus 75 minutes for the actual focus group discussion.

Groups will be conducted in these communities:

Atlanta, Georgia

• 3 groups (not uniquely “law enforcement sensitive”)

• 1 group (uniquely “law enforcement sensitive”)

Houston, Texas

• 1 group (not uniquely “law enforcement sensitive”)

• 1 group (uniquely “law enforcement sensitive”)

Phoenix, Arizona

• 1 group (not uniquely “law enforcement sensitive”)

• 1 group (uniquely “law enforcement sensitive”)

Richmond, Virginia

• 1 group (not uniquely “law enforcement sensitive”)

• 1 group (uniquely “law enforcement sensitive”)

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:____Mike Joyce____________________________________________

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 up to $75 following his 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. As noted earlier, pre-screened and invited respondents who arrive on time but are released prior to the group will also be awarded their stipends (also in keeping with marketing research industry standards).

BURDEN HOURS

No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (hours)	Total Burden Hours
120 (recruits)	1	10 minutes (1/6-hours) phone interview	20
90 (participants)	1	90 minutes (1-and-1/2-hours) pre-group arrival plus discussion	135
30 (recruits arriving, but released prior to participation)	1	15 minutes (1/4-hours) pre-group arrival	7.5
		Total hours:	162.5 hours

TOTAL BURDER HOURS: 162.5 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $69,400.

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 included with this package.)

Each focus group facility in each city does the recruiting on NHTSA’s behalf, per the screener NHTSA provides.  The facility’s recruiting staff works primarily from a pool within their proprietary database of people in that particular marketplace who have previously submitted demographic, lifestyle and product preference information.  So based on submission of NHTSA’s screener, the recruitment manager will filter the database to search for potential male respondents in the project’s 18-34 year-old age group (and any other relevant specs if the facility happens to have one or more of those other criteria established in the database).  Then the recruiters will place telephone calls to those potential respondents to administer the full screener.

 

If there is more than one person in a household who is age 18-34, the recruiter will screen only the first one willing to be screened.  This will prevent multiple respondents from the same household.

 

After going through the database, if the recruiters can't fill the project’s total numbers and/or quotas, the secondary step is the facility procuring sample from any of numerous national sample providers of names, addresses and phone numbers.  The recruiters then make phone calls to this list until the recruiting is completed.

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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