Change Request for 2014 Survey

07-07-2014
Justification for Non-material/Non-substantive Change
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Information Collection Request
Annual Awareness Survey
OMB No. 3170-0034

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is submitting this memorandum to outline
proposed changes to a survey associated with information collection titled, Annual Awareness
Survey, approved by OMB on 03/27/2013. The proposed revisions derive from the previouslyapproved information collection media and do not represent a new collection instrument. Plain
language format, contextual clarifications, and removal of extraneous language comprise the
majority of revisions.
User-Friendly, Plain Language Revisions
The guiding principle in development of awareness surveys has been plain language. In order
to gather valuable information with a limited burden, this user-friendly design is an important
consideration. There will be no burden increase as a result of these revisions.
The non-material revisions to Q1 are as follows:
• Added “such as” to option one parenthetical
• Replaced “Photo uploading/storing” with “Uploading/sharing photos or videos” in
option seven
• Added “watches” to option nine
• Replaced “and getting” with “or looking for” in option ten
The non-material revisions to Q4 are as follows:
• Replaced “Friends/Family” with “Friends or Family”
• Expanded option J parenthetical to “such as Federal Trade Commission, Federal
Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, etc.”
The non-material revisions to Q5 are as follows:
• Replaced “wanted to submit a” with “had a problem or”
• Replaced “about” with “with”
• Replaced “institution service” with “institution’s products or services”
• Replaced “where would you turn” with “which of the following actions would you take”
Contextual Clarification Revisions
The contextual changes below have been made to increase the consistency of interpretation
and relevance of items. In a number of cases, this involved providing more specific language
about a financial product, while in others it involves providing a more concrete timeframe."
There will be no burden increase as a result of these revisions.
The non-material additions to the introductory displays are as follows:
• Added “Responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The
reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not
associate responses with a specific organization or individual. We will not provide
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information that identifies you or your affiliation to anyone outside the study team,
except as required by law.”
• Added “Many of the questions in this survey refer to information about financial topics.
In this study, when we say ‘information about financial topics’ we are referring
information on financial markets, financial risks to consumers, comparisons of different
financial products and services (for example, investments, debt consolidation, applying
for a mortgage or other types of credit/loans, financial planning, retirement planning),
as well as information about consumer rights and protections.”
• Replaced “your use of the Internet” with “your media use”
The non-material revision to Q1 is as follows:
• Replaced “What activities do you participate in online?” with “In the past 30 days, have
you done any the following activities while using the Internet? Please consider time
spent on the internet from any computer or mobile device at home, work or any other
location (Select all that apply)”
The non-material revision to Q1a is as follows:
• Replaced with “In the past 30 days, about how often have you used the following
resources to find information about financial topics?”
• Broadened to include other types of media
The non-material revisions to Q2 are as follows:
• Inclusion of options “Planning for retirement” and “Submitting a complaint about a
financial institution or service”
• Reversed scale to provide consistency with remainder of survey
The non-material revisions to Q5 are as follows:
• Added “Contact” to option a
• Added “Submit a complaint through the” to option b
• Expanded option c to “Submit a complaint through a social media site”
• Added “Submit a complaint through the” to option e
• Added “Contact my” to option f
• Added “Contact” to option g
The non-material revision to Q6 is as follows:
• Added option “Not sure”
The non-material revisions to Q7 are as follows:
• Replaced “News article” with “News media”
• Added option “Advertising”
The non-material revisions to Q14 are as follows:
• Included “in 2008”
• Added context “CFPB makes financial information regarding a variety of financial topics
available primarily through its website.”
• Added context “from the CFPB”
The non-material revisions to Q19 are as follows”
• Clarified question as “If you wanted to get financial information from CFPB, which of the
following methods of communication would you prefer?”
• Added option “CFPB website”
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The non-material revision to Q23a is as follows:
• Added “about mortgages” to option f
The non-material revision to Q23b is as follows:
• Added “about car loans” to option f
The non-material revision to Q23c is as follows:
• Added “about student loans” to option f
The non-material revision to Q23d is as follows:
• Added “about credit cards” to option f
Removal of Extraneous Language
Through past surveys, it has been found that some questions or response options are
redundant and/or extraneous in nature and therefore provided limited value. In order to
further reduce burden, we are requesting the removal of whole or partial questions and items.
Historically OMB has allowed for these types of removals through the 83-c process. There will
be no burden increase as a result of this revision.
The revisions are as follows:
• Removal of Items SA-S4
• Removal of Questions 15-17, 24, 27-38

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