Change Request Memo-Student Followup Survey Screenshots

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Program Contact: Andra Tharp, PhD

Submission Date: June, 2 2014

Circumstances of Change Request for OMB 0920-0941

This is a change request for OMB# 0920-0941, which received approval through May 2016 for the multi-site evaluation of Dating Matters. The current request aims to amend the available administration formats for the student follow-up survey for the participating youth as they matriculate from middle school into high school, and to introduce participant gifts for the completion of the student follow-up survey by high school youth. The follow-up survey was approved for high school youth in a previous change request (September 2013); however, over the past year, the study team has become increasing concerned about our ability to follow participating youth once they enter high school, given the high risk nature of our sample. We believe that response rates would be greatly enhanced by using additional survey formats and by providing incentives. Response rates for the follow-up survey were anticipated to be 90%, however, in the first administration of the survey in 2012/2013, within school year (e.g., Fall to Spring) follow-up with the middle school students proved challenging due to community characteristics - such as high mobility - and as a result we achieved an overall response rate of 73%. Rates were particularly low among the oldest youth (56.3%), who will be the first cohort to enter high school. Efforts to improve response rates for middle school youth are underway, however, we have particular concerns for youth who matriculate from middle school to high school, as they will be in different school buildings and their schools will no longer be participating in the programmatic components of the Dating Matters initiative. Therefore, we propose 1) to amend the available administration formats for the student follow-up survey for the participating youth as they matriculate into high school, and 2) to use of incentives for those students who will matriculate from middle school into high school in order to bolster response rates.

The current change request has two aims:

1) To amend the available administration formats for the student follow-up survey for the participating youth as they matriculate into high school.

In the 2013-2014 school year, the first cohort of youth, who will be followed as part of the Dating Matters evaluation, will matriculate into high school. In the currently approved protocol, the students are provided surveys for data collection using a scannable paper-and-pencil format. We are requesting approval to conduct the student follow-up survey online, via telephone, or in-person home visits, in addition to the currently approved paper and pencil formats for those middle school students matriculating into high school in order to optimize student participation. Online administration will only be used for youth 13 years of age or older. The screen shots for the high school follow-up survey are found in Attachment E1.

2) To propose the use of incentives for the high-school student follow-up survey.

To maintain robust response rates and data quality we are requesting to provide a nominal non-monetary gift to middle school students matriculating into high school – this non-monetary gift will be in an amount up to $15. Given the challenges in following these high school youth, additional measures, including non-monetary gifts, will be necessary to engage them in the survey to achieve our target response rate. Please note that the requested student incentive is completely separate from the currently approved parent incentive. The parent incentive is for parent completion of the parent survey. The student incentive is for study participants once they enter high school and complete the student follow-up survey each year in high school. Please note that the samples for the high school follow-up and parent surveys are different - parents are not surveyed as their middle schoolers enter high school.

No modifications are being made to attachments. The burden table below remains unchanged.

	Total Burden Hours	Total Burden Cost
Approved	28,814	$380,848.84
Proposed	28,814	$380,848.84
Difference	0	0