Survey Description TTW EN Beneficiary Satisfaction Survey

DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE

OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: 2013 Ticket to Work (TTW) Employment Network (EN) Beneficiary 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 their ENs’ services. In this survey, SSA proposes to 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.

Description of Survey

We are planning to survey approximately 27,000 SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients or their representative payees who assigned their tickets to ENs as of October 31, 2013. The purpose of the EN beneficiary satisfaction survey is to 1) collect information from SSDI beneficiaries and SSI recipients who participate in the TTW program with regard to their satisfaction with their ENs; and 2) to collect feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the EN’s operation, staff, and the services they provide, as perceived by their consumers.

The 2013 TTW EN beneficiary satisfaction survey is a follow-up to a survey of the same population we conducted in 2012. We have updated the 2013 survey, and have tasked our agency-approved contractor to improve the validity of the “satisfaction” measurement, and to solicit new information from respondents. To ensure comparability, the 2013 questionnaire uses essentially the same language in the satisfaction items as the 2012 survey.

The survey questionnaire covers 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 EN improvement.

The data collection is a mixed-mode process. First, we will mail a postcard in an enclosed envelope to the entire sample. The postcard will contain the web address and an individualized password/link to the web version of the survey. We will mail a paper (e.g., self-administered) copy of the survey to all invited respondents who do not complete the questionnaire online within 10 days of receiving the initial postcard mailing. We will include in the survey mailing an introductory letter communicating the objectives of the study and inviting the individual to complete the survey questionnaire enclosed in the mailing and return it in the postage-paid envelope included in the mailing or to complete the survey online. Approximately two weeks later, we will mail a second survey, identical to the first, to those invited respondents who did not respond to the pre-survey postcard or to the first mailing of the survey.

To obtain at least 25 respondents per EN, we will place telephone call reminders to non-respondents of the mail surveys assigned to ENs which are close to, but haven’t achieved 25 completed responses (the threshold for individual EN-level reporting). We anticipate the size of the telephone follow-up reminder call sample at approximately 2,000 non-respondents. We will use the phone contacts primarily to encourage respondent completion of the paper or web-based surveys. Interviewers will administer the survey telephonically if a respondent prefers to complete the survey by phone. We will make up to three attempts to contact respondents. Following the telephone outreach effort, we will make a third mailing of the self-administered survey to individuals we contacted by phone and who did not complete the survey online or return the survey as part of the second self-administered survey mailing. As noted above, we are conducting this directed follow-up effort to respondents in EN’s which are close to the reporting threshold of 25 completed cases with the sole purpose of increasing the number of “reportable” ENs.

SSA’s agency-approved contractor will initiate the data collection within one month of receiving OMB approval.

The survey responses will be strictly voluntary and anonymous. We will not provide a stipend to participants.

USE OF SURVEY RESULTS:

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

BURDEN HOUR COMPUTATION (Number of responses (X) estimated response time

(/60) = annual burden hours):

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:

For quantitative surveys, you will need to complete the questions below.

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 beneficiaries and SSI recipients served by ENs under the TTW program for at least three months. We purpose a mixed sampling method; we will survey (1) all beneficiaries and recipients served by all ENs meeting criteria who have 500 or fewer beneficiaries/recipients; and (2) a randomly selected 500 beneficiaries/recipients from all ENs meeting these criteria who have more than 500 beneficiaries/recipients assigned to them.

	N (approximate)
Number of TTW beneficiaries/recipients	315,582
Sample	27,000
Strata	By EN size. We will divide the sample into 3 strata based on grouping ENs by number of beneficiaries with assigned tickets. The first strata will consist of large ENs defined as those with 200 beneficiaries or more. The second strata, mid-sized ENs, are defined as having between 51 and 200 beneficiaries, the third strata, small ENs, consist of those with 50 beneficiaries or less. At the strata-level we will sample a sufficient number of beneficiaries from the large ENs to ensure that we are able to report on the maximum number of ENs in which the reporting threshold of 25 completed surveys can be met. Samples of approximately 8,000 and 7,000 beneficiaries, respectively, will then be selected from the second and third strata (mid-sized and small ENs). This will allow a sufficient number of completed cases to make-group level (i.e. sized-based comparisons) in levels of satisfaction across large, mid-sized and small ENs.

In addition, the respondent universe will include the following segments:

1. Beneficiaries/recipients without representative payees listed in the sample

2. Beneficiaries/recipients with representative payees in the sample

3. Representative payees on behalf of beneficiaries/recipients

The expected response rate is 32 percent, which is typical for this type of survey and is based on the number of completed surveys yielded during the 2012 data collection. 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 any incentives for respondent participation.

B. Describe the procedures for the collection of information:

The evaluation uses a mixed-mode; multi-stage approach to data collection that draws on the Dillman Tailored Design Method. Respondents will receive an initial pre-notification post-card contained within a sealed envelope to ensure that the information contained on the post-card (respondent’s EN name and PIN and link to online survey administration option) is maintained confidential for the intended recipient. All invited respondents who do not complete the questionnaire online within 10 days of receiving the advance postcard will be mailed the paper (self-administered) survey. The self-administered survey mailing will include an introductory letter which will communicate the objectives of the study and invite the individual to either complete the survey questionnaire enclosed in the mailing and return the paper survey in a postage-paid envelope that will be provided or, to complete the survey online. Those 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. The second survey mailing will be sent approximately 2-3 weeks after the initial mailing.

A sub-sample of the larger non-respondent population will receive additional outreach in the form of a telephone out-reach effort and a third mailing of the self-administered survey. This effort will assist in increasing the total number of reportable ENs (e.g. those with a minimum of 25 responses which has been determined as the threshold for Social Security to incorporate individual-EN level customer satisfaction data derived from the survey into the EN Profile, an online resource guide that contains performance-related data about all ENs.)

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

There are multiple efforts to maximize response rates. As noted above, we will mail potential recipients a pre-notification postcard in an enclosed envelope explaining the purpose of the survey and encouraging them to participate online. To those who did not complete the survey online, we will also mail a paper version of the survey with an 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 all surveys in the language of preference (Spanish or English) on record with Social Security.

In addition, to boost response rates in ENs which are near, but below, the required 25 completed response threshold needed for “breakout” reporting of satisfaction rates by individual EN, we will follow-up the second mailing of the self-administered survey with a telephone reminder/outreach effort to be followed by a third mailing of the self-administered questionnaire. The phone contacts will primarily be used to encourage completion of the paper or web-based surveys, but respondents will be provided the option to complete the survey by phone. Up to three attempts will be made to contact respondents.

We will follow up by telephone with non-respondents of mid-sized/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 with Social Security.

There are no unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures. The research plan proposes annual data collection.

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, a Social Security subcontractor which administered last year’s survey, has revised last year’s survey to better address participants’ satisfaction with ENs. The current survey has been reviewed by individuals with expertise with the TTW program, including contractor staff who are supporting the TTW program, and Social Security staff. Prior to deployment of the survey, EurekaFacts conducted nine formative in-person interviews with the population who have assigned their ticket to a TTW employment service provider to pre-test the survey questionnaire and make any revisions to 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

Christine Horak (240) 403-1638

Michael Greenberg (240) 207-3467 - Booz Allen Hamilton

Djass Mbangdadji (240) 403-1640 - EurekaFacts, LLC (Subcontractor to Booz Allen Hamilton)

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