Request for Sub-collection Under the
Approved Generic ICR: Information Collection Through Web-based Surveys for Evaluating Act Against AIDS (AAA) Social Marketing Campaign Phases Targeting Consumers
OMB No. 0920-0920
HIV Prevention and Testing Messages for Act Against AIDS Social Marketing Campaigns Targeting Gay/Bisexual Men
Supporting Statement A
3/18/2013
Contact Person:
Jo Ellen Stryker, PhD
1600
Clifton Rd. NE
Mailstop E-49
Atlanta, GA 30329
Telephone: (404) 639-2071
Fax: (404) 639-2007
E-mail: [email protected]
TABLE OF Contents
Section Page
A.1 Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary 4
A.2 Purpose and Use of the Information Collection 5
A.3 Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction 6
A.4 Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information 6
A.5 Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities 6
A.6 Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently 6
A.7 Special Circumstances Relating to the Guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.5 6
A.8 Comments in Response to the Federal Register Notice and Efforts to Consult Outside the Agency 6
A.9 Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents 7
A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents 8
A.11 Justification for Sensitive Questions 9
A.12 Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs 10
A.13 Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record Keepers 11
A.14 Annualized Costs to the Federal Government 11
A.15 Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments 12
A.16 Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule 12
A.17 Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate 12
A.18 Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions 12
EXHIBITS
Exhibit A.1 Annualized Burden Hours 11
Exhibit A.2 Annualized Cost to Respondents 11
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1: Authorizing Legislation and Other Relevant Laws
Attachment 2: Web-based Survey Instrument
Attachment 3: Web-based Survey Screener
Attachment 4: Web-based Survey Consent Form
Attachment 5: Field-Testing Web-based Survey Reminder E-mail
HIV Prevention and Testing Messages for Act Against AIDS Social Marketing Campaigns Targeting Gay/Bisexual Men
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) requests approval for a new data collection called, “HIV Prevention and Testing Messages for Act Against AIDS Social Marketing Campaigns Targeting Gay/Bisexual Men. This is a GenIC requested under the OMB approved Generic Clearance #0920-0920; expiration date 2/28/2015, entitled “Information Collection Through Web-based Surveys for Evaluating Act Against AIDS (AAA) Social Marketing Campaign Phases Targeting Consumers”.
The CDC proposes to conduct a Web-based survey to evaluate the potential effectiveness of messages during the developmental phases of social marketing campaigns focused on HIV prevention and testing among gay/bisexual men. In the United States, gay/bisexual men account for more than half of all new HIV infections every year (CDC, 2010), although they represent only 2% of the adult population (Purcell et al., 2010). The primary messages from the campaign will promote communication among gay and bisexual men with sexual partners on risk behaviors and prevention strategies.
The messages and the way they are communicated need to be tested and verified to ensure their acceptability and effectiveness in gay/bisexual male populations. The current study will pre-test these messages with gay/bisexual men. The study will consist of conducting a Web-based survey with a total of 550 gay/bisexual men.
Information will be collected electronically. CDC will not receive any personally identifiable information, i.e. information in identifiable form (IIF). CDC and RTI International (RTI) will receive data for analysis in aggregate form, and the randomly generated numbers assigned as participant ID numbers will not link data to individuals. The survey will be delivered via the Internet and will be accessible only to participants in the survey. Web site content will not be directed to children younger than age 13. All participants will be 18 years of age or older. All electronic files will be password controlled, accessible only to fully authorized personnel, and maintained and protected to the extent allowable by law.
RTI will implement this study. The information collection activity included in this sub-collection request is a Web-based survey to evaluate potential effectiveness of campaign messages during the developmental phase of the campaign.
The participants for this project will be 550 English or Spanish speaking individuals over a 1-year period. Data will be collected from individuals residing in cities across the United States.
The proposed study will collect information on the following: message comprehension, clarity, word choice, reactions, personal relevance, credibility, practicality, and motivational appeal, as well as information on sociodemographics, sexual identity, HIV testing behaviors and prevention strategies, risk behaviors and attitudes, and perceived social norms around HIV/AIDS. A copy of the survey is attached as Attachment 2. A copy of the screening instrument is attached as Attachment 3.
This information collection does not involve Web sites or Web content directed at children under 13 years of age. The contractor will use an online panel survey firm to host the Web-based survey and the Web site hosting the survey will have controlled access.
RTI will conduct a Web-based survey to quantitatively assess the acceptance of the messages to determine and recommend which messages to further develop and implement as part of HIV prevention and testing social marketing campaigns for gay/bisexual men.
The purpose of this data collection is to evaluate the potential effectiveness of messages during the developmental phase of social marketing campaigns focused on HIV prevention among gay/bisexual men. Because Black and Latino gay and bisexual men are disproportionately affected by HIV, this study aims to over-sample these minority groups to ensure that the tested messages will resonate with the men most at-risk for acquiring HIV. This study also aims to ensure maximum representation from HIV-negative gay and bisexual men, particularly those at higher risk of acquiring HIV, and assessing key theoretical constructs (attitudes, norms, intent and behavior change) that may influence communication with their sexual partners.
RTI will conduct a 30-minute Web-based survey to quantitatively pre-test the messages with 550 gay/bisexual men. The information obtained from the proposed data collection will be used to inform CDC, policy makers, prevention practitioners and researchers about audience receptivity and the potential effects of campaign messages as they are developed, particularly for audience members with the characteristics described above. A copy of the survey instrument is provided in Attachment 2.
CDC and RTI will disseminate the study results to the public through reports prepared for/by CDC and RTI and through peer-reviewed journal articles where appropriate. All releases of information will be reviewed and approved by CDC.
The data collection will utilize a Web-based survey to be self-administered at home on personal computers. Use of the Web and an electronic survey has the advantage of being able to conveniently expose participants to messages that may be used in social marketing campaigns. It also allows participants to complete as much of the survey as desired in one sitting and to continue the survey at another time while also minimizing the possibility of participant error by electronically skipping questions that are not applicable to a particular participant, thus minimizing participant burden. The use of these technologies for data collection will also help to reduce interviewer biases and minimize social desirability. Further, a self-administered web-based survey can make respondents feel more comfortable revealing information that is intimate, private, and sensitive.
The National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) has verified that there are no other information collections that duplicate the study types included in this request.
This collection request does not involve burden to small businesses or other small entities.
The activities involve a one-time collection of data. There are no legal obstacles to reducing the burden.
This data collection request fully complies with the regulation 5 CFR 1320.5.
A 30-day Federal Register notice for the generic clearance 0920-0920 was published on April 28, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 82, pages 23818-23819). No substantive comments were received from the public
CDC convened three consultations with external experts. The first gathered experts from the fields of communication and HIV behavioral research. The goal of the consultation was to apply the latest communication research to assist in developing the next generation of HIV prevention messages targeting gay/bisexual men. The second was focused on informing the development of an HIV prevention social marketing campaign for gay/bisexual men of all races. The third was focused on the development of an HIV testing campaign for Latino gay/bisexual men. The purpose of the last two consultations was to gain insights into the campaign audiences’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about existing and emerging HIV prevention and testing strategies, as well as general factors and influences affecting the target audiences; identify potential motivators and barriers to HIV prevention and testing for the campaigns audiences (e.g., financial, emotional, cultural), as well as preferred communication channels for receiving information; discuss and identify potential additional partners in order to leverage efforts with each campaign’s audience for implementation of the campaigns; and begin to build support among key stakeholders for the campaigns.
CDC will not provide incentives to study participants. Online survey panel firms contracted to provide the sample for the study may provide points (with no cash value, but redeemable for merchandise online) as part of their pre-established agreements with their survey panelists. These points are particularly warranted to maintain their panel of gay and bisexual men, who are so difficult to reach that the survey vendor will not issue the survey without the provision of points. Of the known survey vendors, only two companies could promise the necessary sample of gay and bisexual men, and neither company was willing to issue the survey without offering points to respondents.
Gay/bisexual men, particularly gay/bisexual of color, are specialized respondents known to be difficult to identify, locate and recruit, a situation that warrants points redeemable for merchandise as means of improving the cost-effectiveness of recruitment efforts. OMB guidance justifies the use of tokens of appreciation “to improve coverage of specialized respondents, rare groups, or minority populations” and defines specialized respondents as a highly selective group (OMB, 2006). This study also requires that a substantial number of these specialized respondents belong to a minority group
An often cited, highly regarded study using an online survey targeting gay/bisexual men found that advertisements that indicated payment resulted in more than twice the number of men accessing the Welcome page over a 2-week period (Bowen, 2005). Meanwhile, Sullivan et al. (2011) found systematic underrepresentation of gay/bisexual men of color in nearly all the Internet-based HIV prevention studies published from 2004 through 2009, even though this group bears the greatest risk for HIV infection in the US.
Given the length of the survey, the specialized population, the past poor response rates, and the sensitive nature of some of the survey questions, the minimum amount the survey vendor has stated that they would need to offer the online panel tokens is one point per one minute of survey.
A.10 Assurance of Confidentiality Provided to Respondents
The Privacy Act does not apply to this information collection request. CDC and RTI will receive data for analysis in aggregate form, and the randomly generated numbers assigned as participant ID numbers will not link data to individuals. The participant ID itself will be used only to track the survey completion pattern (i.e., how many people complete a survey). IIF is not shared with CDC. This information is stored separately from the survey data file and is not linked in any way to participant responses. All participants will be assured that the IIF will be used only for the purpose of this research and will be kept private to the extent allowable by law, as detailed in the survey consent form (see Attachment 4).
Participants will be assured that their answers to screener (see Attachment 3) and survey questions (see Attachment 2) will not be shared with anyone outside the research team and that their names will not be reported with responses provided. Participants will be told that the information obtained from all of the surveys will be combined into a summary report so that details of individual questionnaires cannot be linked to a specific participant.
Once a potential participant has entered the secure Web site or begins the electronic survey, a brief introduction will inform the participant of the private and voluntary nature of the survey. After reading the informed consent, each participant must check either a box labeled “YES, I agree to participate” or “NO, I do not wish to participate.” Only participants who select “YES” will enter the survey.
Individuals who consent to participate in the survey will be able to access the survey by clicking on the link to the survey URL. A participant’s unique ID number will not change. It is possible that if a participant does not log out or close the survey a spouse, family member, roommate, or someone else could view the a participant’s responses without his knowledge, which may threaten their privacy. Participants will be reminded to properly log out and close the survey to avoid such threats of privacy.
RTI maintains restricted access to all data preparation areas (i.e., receipt and coding). All data files on multi-user systems will be under the control of a database manager, with access limited to project staff on a “need-to-know” basis only. Any online survey panel firm contracted by RTI will take the following security measures to ensure separation between participants’ identity and their survey data. First, no participant name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, or any other kind of IIF appears on the survey. The only way a survey is identified is with a digital identification number. Second, the responses from the survey are not linked to the IIF. Third, screener data will be considered part of the survey data. The online survey panel firm will provide the results of the screener questions for all participants, regardless of whether they qualify for the study. However, the firm will not retain responses to screening questions for those who are deemed ineligible for any other purpose outside the scope of this project. Fourth, the firm will retain study records for the duration of the study. Upon final delivery of data files to RTI and completion of the project, the firm will destroy all study records, including data files, upon request. Once this information is destroyed, the firm will be unable to supply or access it for any reason, even at the request of RTI. Finally, data coming directly from the survey engine are stored in a proprietary database. Although these data are not encrypted, once inside the firewall, they are stored in a relational database protected by several layers of intrusion detection and access control. Data files delivered to RTI by the firm will be sent via encrypted files.
Information will be collected electronically. CDC will not receive any personally identifiable information (IIF). All IIF collected by the survey panel firm will be unlinked or stripped from data delivered to RTI and CDC. The survey will be delivered via the Internet and will be accessible only to participants in the survey. Web site content will not be directed to children younger than age 13. All participants will be 18 years of age or older. All electronic files will be password controlled, accessible only to fully authorized personnel, and maintained and protected to the extent allowable by law.
This study entails the measurement of sensitive HIV-related questions necessary to adequately assess the topic area (see Section A.11 for more detail). All participants will be assured that the information will be used only for the purpose of this research and will be kept private to the extent allowable by law. Participants will be assured either via the computer script that their responses will not be shared with anyone outside the research team and that their names will not be reported with responses provided. Participants will be told that the information obtained from the Web-based survey will be combined into a summary report so that details of individual responses cannot be linked to a specific participant.
RTI maintains restricted access to all data preparation areas (i.e., receipt and coding). All data files on multi-user systems will be under the control of a database manager, with access limited to project staff on a “need-to-know” basis only. Any online survey panel firm utilized by RTI will take multiple security measures to ensure separation between participants’ identity and their survey data. Data coming directly from the survey engine are stored in a proprietary database. Although these data are not encrypted, once inside the firewall, they are stored in a relational database protected by several layers of intrusion detection and access control. Data files delivered to RTI by the survey firm will be sent via encrypted files.
The study asks questions of a sensitive nature including questions related to HIV risk. This measurement of sensitive HIV-related questions is necessary to ensure that messages resonate with key audience segments, including those most at risk for HIV, and that those who are HIV positive are not offended by any messages. As such, our study entails the measurement of sensitive sexual health–related questions.
To identify the intended audience, the screening instruments (see Attachment 3) will include some sensitive questions. Questions on race and ethnicity are included to ensure that minority gay and bisexual men are over-sampled. Questions on HIV testing history are included to ensure representation of men who have never been tested for HIV, men who have not been tested recently, and HIV-positive men. Since messages will be focused on communication with sexual partners, questions on sexual behavior with current main male partners and recent non-main male partners are included to exclude gay and bisexual men with no sexual partners within the past 12 months (who are not the priority audience for purposes of this campaign). Other questions will ensure representation of men in low, medium and higher risk categories. Placement into risk categories is determined by responses to multiple screening questions to assess number of sexual partners, concurrent sexual activity, serodiscordant relationship status, unprotected anal sex, and communication about HIV status. Questions about communication with sexual partners about risk and prevention topics are included to ensure representation from men with partners who are currently not communicating about these topics.
In addition to message testing, the survey (see Attachment 2) includes questions about behaviors, attitudes, norms, intent and self-efficacy related to communication with sexual partners about risk behaviors and prevention strategies. Because the focus of campaign messages will relate to partner communication, our survey includes questions about these theoretical constructs to enable us to understand the communication behaviors of our survey participants and how these constructs are associated with message receptivity. These questions are necessary to inform the development and evaluation of the messages.
All participants will be assured that the information will be used only for the purpose of this research and will be kept private to the extent allowable by law.
The total annualized response burden is estimated at 299 hours. Exhibit A.1 provides details about how this estimate was calculated. The screening instrument for the Web-based survey (n = 733) is expected to take about 2 minutes to complete. The Web-based survey (n = 550) is expected to take 30 minutes. We expect to screen a total of 733 individuals to complete 550 Web-based surveys.
Exhibit A.1 Annualized Burden Hours
Type of Respon-dent |
Form Name |
No. of Respon-dents |
No. of Responses per Respondent |
Average Burden Per Response (in Hours) |
Total Response Burden Hours |
General public |
Screener/ Web Based Survey |
733 |
1 |
2/60 |
24 |
Web Based Survey |
550 |
1 |
30/60 |
275 |
|
Total |
|
|
|
|
We do not know what the wage rate category will be for the selected respondents (or even whether they will be employed). We used the figure of $7.25 per hour as an estimate of average minimum wage across the country for the general public (United States Department of Labor, http://www.dol.gov/elaws/faq/esa/flsa/001.). The estimated annual cost to respondents based on burden hours for the collection of information will be $2,167.75.
Exhibit A.2 Annualized Cost to Respondents
Activity |
Total Burden Hours |
Hourly Wage Rate |
Total Respondent Cost |
Screener/Web Based Survey |
24 |
$7.25 |
$174 |
Web Based Survey |
275 |
$7.25 |
$1,993.75 |
Total |
299 |
|
$2,167.75 |
CDC does not anticipate providing start-up or other related costs to private entities. There are no costs to respondents or record keepers.
One CDC Technical Monitor will be responsible for obtaining CDC approvals, providing project oversight, and participating in analysis and dissemination of the results. The contractor’s costs are based on estimates provided by the contractor who will carry out the data collection activities. With the expected period of performance, the annual cost to the federal government is estimated to be $347,100 (Exhibit A.3). This is the cost estimated by the contractor, RTI, and includes the estimated cost of coordination with CDC, data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Exhibit A.3 Estimates of Annualized Cost to the Government
Expense Type |
Expense Explanation |
Annual Costs |
CDC oversight of contractor and project |
20% of FTE: GS-13 Health Communication Specialist |
$17,100 |
Recruitment, data collection, analysis, and reporting (contractor) |
Labor hours and ODCs |
$330,000 |
CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; FTE = full-time equivalent; ODC = other direct cost
Not applicable: This request is for a sub-collection under a generic approval.
The key events and reports to be prepared for this study are listed in Exhibit A.4.
Exhibit A.4 Project Time Schedule
Activity |
Time Schedule |
Conduct Web-based surveys |
1 month after OMB approval |
Data analysis |
2 months after OMB approval |
Submit report |
1 month after completion of data collection |
The OMB expiration date will be displayed.
There are no exceptions to the certification.
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| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission |
| Author | Peyton Williams |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-27 |