Board of Veterans’ Appeals Hearing Experience Surveys

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2900-0770)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

Board of Veterans’ Appeals Hearing Experience Surveys

PURPOSE:

The Hearing Experience Survey consists of approximately 9 questions for the customer telephone survey and approximately 39 questions for the eSurvey. The Board and the Contractor will survey Veterans and appellants who have testified at a hearing before a Veterans Law Judge using both a telephone survey and a follow-on eSurvey. In the telephone survey, the Board will ask respondents questions in regard to their experience and satisfaction with their requested hearing process - and what changes, if any, they would make to the overall hearing experience. The telephone survey will also ask respondents to rate the service provided by the hearing support staff, the knowledge and courtesy of the Veterans Law Judge who conducted the hearing, and their overall level of satisfaction with the hearing experience.

The follow-on eSurvey will be sent to respondents who agree to participate and will ask respondents questions such as whether they were provided information about the hearing process or guidance about the type of hearing to select prior to the hearing, whether that information was helpful, and who provided the guidance. The eSurvey will also ask respondents to rate their experiences with the application for and conduct of the hearing, including the treatment they received from hearing staff and the Veterans Law Judge who held the hearing.

The Board will use the data collected to identify problem areas and improve services in the areas of processing hearing requests and scheduling and conducting hearings.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Veterans and appellants who have testified at a hearing before a Veterans Law Judge

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [X] Other: Telephone and eSurvey

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: Cheryl L. Mason, Interim Principal Deputy Vice Chairman, Board of Veterans’ Appeals

To assist review, please provide answers to the following questions:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ X ] 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? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent: Individuals & Households	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden (÷ 60 =)
Telephone Survey	5,000	X 5 minutes = 25,000	417
eSurvey	3,000	X 10 minutes = 30,000	500
Totals	8,000	55,000	917

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $222,162.13.

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?

The targeted population of the Board hearing experience survey will be those individuals who participated in a hearing regarding their appeal. In FY 2016, the Board received 86,836 appeals, issued 52,011 decisions, and held 13,535 hearings. The Board will provide names and telephone numbers of appellants who have participated in a hearing with the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. The sample will be a census sample of the population that will be collected weekly. Telephone interviewing will be conducted on a daily basis and electronic communications (email with eSurvey link) will follow the telephone interviews.

The Contractor will reach out to appellants via telephone. A maximum of 7 attempts will be made on every phone number until the requisite number of surveys has been completed. Attempts will be made during different parts of the day so as to reach the maximum number of appellants. Appellants who agree and have an email address will receive an email invitation requesting them to participate in the research. This email invitation will include a URL and password.

To prevent duplication within the survey (i.e. calling the same appellant more than once) the call list will be de-duplicated so that an appellant is contacted only after their hearing has been conducted to obtain satisfaction rates with Board hearings, and only after their appeal is adjudicated to obtain satisfaction rates with the overall appeals process. Appellants will not be contacted more than two times in a six-month time period for the same survey (i.e., once for the Hearing Experience telephone/eSurvey and once for the Veteran Experience telephone/eSurvey), and appellants who appear in the sample list multiple times will only receive one invitation to take the survey

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ X ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ X ] Telephone

[ ] 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.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

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. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

Submit all instruments, instructions, and scripts with the request.

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