Survey Description TTW EN Customer Satisfaction Survey

DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE

OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Ticket to Work (TTW) Employment Network (EN) Customer Satisfaction Survey

SSA SUB-NUMBER: B-01

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY (give purpose of activity, provide specific information; i.e., date(s) of survey, number of focus groups, locations, etc.):

Background

Ticket to Work (TTW) is a Social Security Administration (SSA) program that offers adults receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits or disability/blindness-related Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments choices for receiving employment services. Under this program, SSA issues tickets to eligible recipients, who in turn, may choose to assign those tickets to an Employment Network (EN) or to their State vocational rehabilitation agency (SVRA) to obtain employment services, vocational rehabilitation services, or other support services necessary to achieve a vocational (work) goal. The EN or SVRA coordinates and provides appropriate services to help recipients find and maintain employment.

To ensure that ENs are providing effective and quality service, SSA needs to assess SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients’ satisfaction with EN services. In this survey, SSA will conduct a customer satisfaction assessment of select recipients who are currently participating in the TTW program and have assigned their tickets with a specific EN for three months or longer. The survey will serve two purposes: 1) it will assess EN satisfaction for the participants, and 2) will provide data about how average customer satisfaction with individual ENs compares to statewide EN customer satisfaction. The survey asks recipients to rate the services provided by SSA-contracted ENs in their role as employment support providers under the TTW program.

Description of Survey

We are planning to survey approximately 27,000 SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients who assigned their tickets to ENs (excluding SRVR agencies acting as an EN) as of September 1, 2012. Only the clients of ENs with 35 or more tickets assigned for at least three months will receive the survey. We will mail the survey questionnaire to the clients of each of the selected ENs about a week after we send the advance letter announcing the survey. We will conduct this survey by mail. In order to obtain at least 25 respondents per EN (for validity), non-respondents of the mail survey assigned to the smallest ENs will also receive telephone-call reminders. The survey will additionally be available online for SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients who choose to respond electronically. An explanation of the survey follows.

This proposed survey will be a quantitative survey. Our SSA-approved contractor will mail the surveys within one month of receiving OMB approval.

The 2012 TTW EN Customer Satisfaction Survey is a follow-up to a survey of the same population SSA conducted in 2011. We have updated the 2012 survey and have tasked our agency-approved contractor to improve the validity of the “satisfaction” measurement and to solicit new information from SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients. To ensure comparability wherever possible, the 2012 questionnaire uses essentially the same language in the satisfaction items as the 2011 survey.

The survey items cover a variety of topics related to satisfaction with an EN, areas of strength and weakness of the EN, service expectations, service needs, service fulfillment, the respondents’ current employment situation and an open-ended item examining areas for program improvement.

USE OF SURVEY RESULTS:

Social Security will use the results of the study to monitor and evaluate beneficiaries’ satisfaction with their EN’s performance. Prospective participants in the TTW program will use the information to help them choose an EN. Social Security will also incorporate customer satisfaction information derived from the survey into the EN Report Card, which is an online resource guide that contains performance-related data about all ENs.

BURDEN HOUR COMPUTATION

Number of Responses: 27,000.

Estimated Response Time: 10 minutes.

Annual Burden hours: 4,500 hours.

NAME OF CONTACT PERSON: Debbie Larwood, 410-966-6135

Quantitative Surveys:

A. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any sampling or other respondent selection method to be used. Provide, in tabular form, data on 1) the number of entities in the universe covered by the collection, 2) the corresponding sample for the universe as a whole, and 3) each of the strata in the proposed sample. Indicate expected response rates for the collection as a whole. If you have conducted the collection previously, include the actual response rate achieved during the last collection.

The sampling universe is all SSDI and SSI recipients served by ENs having thirty-five or more ticket holders under the TTW program for at least three months. A mixed sampling method is proposed; we will survey (1) all ticket holders served by all ENs meeting these criteria who have 500 or fewer ticket holders, and (2) a randomly selected 500 ticket holders from all ENs meeting these criteria who have more than 500 ticket holders assigned to them.

	N (approximate)
Number of Entities in the Universe	315,582
Sample	27,000
Strata	Not applicable

The expected response rate is 29 percent, the typical for this type of survey. While the research plan includes some elements shown to increase return rate, i.e., multiple formats for completion, advance notice, follow-up (mail and phone), and postage-paid, addressed envelopes; it does not include incentives (e.g., money) for respondent participation. Our prior experience last year surveying TTW SSI recipients, SSDI beneficiaries and their representative payees, yielded a 28 percent response rate.

B. Describe the procedures for the collection of information:

The evaluation uses postcards in an enclosed envelope and mailed surveys with postage-paid envelopes. We are also providing an online response option with a personal identification number (PIN) for the online version included in the mailing. We will estimate means for all respondents from each State, and for individual ENs based on the survey responses received.

The data collection process will be mix-mode. First, we will mail to respondents a postcard in an enclosed envelope one week prior to mailing of the paper survey. The postcard will contain the web address and an individualized password to the web version of the survey. We will mail the paper survey to all invited respondents who do not complete the questionnaire online within 10 days of receiving the advance postcard. The survey mailing will include an introductory letter, which explains the objectives of the study and invites the individual either to complete the survey questionnaire enclosed in the mailing and return the paper survey in a postage-paid envelope provided or, to complete the survey online. Invited respondents who do not respond to the pre-survey postcard or to the first mailing of the survey will receive a second survey mailing identical to the first. We will send the second survey mailing approximately 2-3 weeks after the initial mailing.

Approximately 3 weeks into the data collection, we will identify any invited respondents who did not complete the survey online or by paper, as well as any other invited respondents whom we were unable to contact. Of these non-respondents, we will identify approximately 1,900 of them and contact them by telephone via trained computer-assisted telephone interviewing personnel. We will use the telephone contacts to encourage the completion of the paper or web-based surveys. The interviewers will assist any respondents who prefer to complete the survey by phone. We will make up to three attempts to contact these respondents by telephone.

C. Describe methods to maximize response rates and to deal with the issues of non-response.

We will make multiple efforts to maximize response rates. We will mail potential recipients an advance survey notice in an enclosed envelope explaining the purpose of the survey and encouraging them to participate online. We will also mail a paper version of the survey with a pre-addressed, postage-paid envelope, as well as the URL and PIN for an online response option for the survey.

Within two to three weeks of the original mailing, we will mail non-respondents a reminder letter, another copy of the survey, a postage-paid envelope, URL and PIN for optional online completion.

We will mail surveys in the language of preference (Spanish or English) we have on record.

We will follow up by telephone with non-respondents of smaller ENs who have not responded to the three previous mailings to increase the number of ENs with at least 25 respondents. We will make the phone calls in the language of preference (Spanish or English) on record at SSA.

We will analyze survey data for each EN, by State, and nationally for non-response issues. We will merge survey responses by PIN number with demographic and earnings information in SSA’s database, and from the Annual Performance and Outcome Report (APOR). A missing data variable will be added, coded 1 for survey respondents and 0 for missing data.

We will compare respondents to the population on demographic and EN variables (e.g., demographics, disability type, length of time receiving Social Security benefits, type of disability program participation, and EN). This will explain satisfaction and other measures by beneficiary attributes (disability type), program participation (SSDI or SSI), EN, EN attributes (size, location, services offered), and outcome (employment, length of employment, whether employment is attributed to an EN, wages, hours worked per week). We will test demographic and EN variables for significant relationships with consumer satisfaction and outcome. If we detect a non-response bias, we will report such bias and control for it as possible through the construction of sampling weights.

D. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. When possible, OMB encourages testing of procedures as an effective means of refining collections of information to minimize burden and improve utility. However, this is not always necessary.

EurekaFacts, the SSA-approved contractor administering last year’s survey, has revised this year’s survey to better address customer satisfaction with ENs. Individuals with expertise with the TTW program, including contractor staff supporting the program, and SSA staff have reviewed the survey. Prior to deployment of the survey, EurekaFacts conducted nine formative in-person interviews with the general population to pre-test the survey questionnaire and revise the survey instrument.

E. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals you consulted on statistical aspects of the design. If you are using a contractor who will actually collect and/or analyze the data, provide their name as well.

Consulted on statistical aspects of the design and to collect and analyze the data:

Jorge Restrepo (240) 403-1636

Joanne Arnold (240) 403-1644

Djass Mbangdadji (240) 403-1640

Tony Romero (240) 403-4800

EurekaFacts, LLC (Subcontractor to Booz Allen Hamilton)

Consulted on statistical aspects of the design:

Michael Greenberg (240) 207-6497

Booz Allen Hamilton

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