Office of the Chief Information Officer
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Movement of Household Goods: Customer Satisfaction In-Depth Interviews
INTRODUCTION
This is to request the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) approval for a one-time information collection entitled “Movement of Household Goods: Customer Satisfaction In-Depth Interviews,” under the OMB Control Number 2126-0061, “Generic Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys,” information collection request (ICR).
Part A. Justification
CIRCUMSTANCES
THAT MAKE THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION NECESSARY
Executive
Order 12862, “Setting Customer Service Standards,”
September 11, 1993 (Attachment A) directs Federal agencies to
provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best
service available in the private sector. In order to work
continuously to ensure that our programs are effective and meet our
customers’ needs, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration (FMCSA) seeks to obtain OMB approval of a generic
clearance to collect feedback on our service delivery.
Utilizing in-depth interviews with consumers, the FMCSA seeks to identify what consumers think of FMCSA communications, why they hold those specific thoughts and how FMCSA can utilize the findings to better communicate with its target audience. Because this highly specific information does not exist anywhere else, it is necessary to conduct primary research to gain these insights. FMCSA’s authority to regulate household goods transportation is found in 49 CFR 1.86.
A key part of FMCSA’s mission is to educate consumers on the process of interstate moving and avoiding mover fraud. By improving communication to its key target audience (consumers), FMCSA, will be in a position to maximize its strategic outreach to ensure the message is heard and understood by consumers and its mission is more fully achieved. As a result, this information collection supports the agency’s goal of Organizational Excellence.
HOW,
BY WHOM, AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE IS THE INFORMATION USED
Through
in-depth interviews (IDIs) with consumers, the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration (FMCSA) seeks to identify optimal messaging
strategies and reveal key insights that can be utilized to make the
FMCSA Protect Your Move website and other digital and non-digital
FMCSA sources the pre-eminent set of integrated resources for
consumer information on the prevention of moving fraud.
The research results will be reported as overall percentages (80% of respondents said…), and no individual responses will be revealed. The insights gathered from the results will be utilized by FMCSA to make modifications and improvements to existing marketing materials or create new communications that will resonate with consumers. The primary objective of this research is to identify current knowledge levels of consumers in regard to FMCSA and identify ways to improve communications with this key target audience in an effort to improve their aptitude on the topics of interstate moving and mover fraud.
EXTENT
OF AUTOMATED INFORMATION COLLECTION
Potential
research participants will be asked to complete the following items
over the course of the study:
Online screener
First 30-minute Phone Interview
Completion of Persona and Emotion sheet template (created in Microsoft Word)
Second 30-minute Phone Interview
The online screener will contain approximately four questions related to previous moving experience and five demographic questions and should be completed in less than five minutes.
The first phone and second interviews will be setup by FMCSA contractors and respondents will be required to provide verbal responses. All notes and responses will be recorded by the contractor.
In between the interviews, respondents will be sent two worksheets which should not require more than 10 minutes complete. The worksheets will be created in a template format (in Microsoft Word) and sent and returned via email.
For each step requiring consumer input, every effort has been made to ensure response can be provided online, in a template or verbally to ensure minimal effort and no submission of paperwork on the part of the consumer. Aside from the time required to complete the interviews, the burden to collect information rests entirely on the contractor based on the current structure of the survey methodology. FMCSA estimate that 50% of the responses will be provided electronically.
EFFORTS
TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION
Because FMCSA specifically seeks to measure the impact of its communications on consumers, it is not possible to utilize existing research as a proxy. There is not current research that examines the topic of what consumers think of FMCSA communications, why they hold those specific thoughts and how FMCSA can utilize the findings to better communicate with its target audience. Furthermore, there are no studies that explore user ease-of-use and satisfaction with specific areas of the FMCSA Protect Your Move website (as well as overall site impression and likability) or that identify prototypical moving “stories” into which FMCSA content and delivery channels can be designed to fit.
Given the very specific and unique objectives of this research, it would be nearly impossible to find secondary research that was a duplication of this effort.
EFFORTS
TO MINIMIZE THE BURDEN ON SMALL BUSINESSES
Not applicable.
IMPACT
OF LESS FREQUENT COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
Without this data collection, FMCSA will be unable to gain critical input from consumers on the efficacy of its communications programs. Although FMCSA has some baseline quantitative data indicating some if it’s messaging is making inroads that data does not explain why the communications are working or how they can be leveraged to make greater advances toward realizing the Agency’s mission. With the collection, FMCSA will continue moving forward without full visibility of consumer attitudes and without the benefit of their input as the Agency attempts to improve its efforts to communicate with its key target audience.
Conducting the collection less frequently could lead to cost overruns as the timing of the research will necessarily be elongated. Additionally, research participant recruitment would become more difficult and costly as the pool of participants would have to be refreshed more frequently as attrition would become more common if collection (by way of interviews) was more intermittent.
SPECIAL
CIRCUMSTANCES
There are no special circumstances.
COMPLIANCE
WITH 5 CFR 1320.8:
The FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register (79 FR 51639) with a 60-day public comment period to announce this proposed information collection on August 29, 2014 (see Attachment B). The agency received no comments in response to that notice.
The FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register (79 FR 74158) with a 30-day public comment period that announced this information would be sent to OMB for approval on December 15, 2014 (see Attachment C).
PAYMENTS
OR GIFTS TO RESPONDENTS
For this qualitative effort, a sample of 60 individuals who have indicated a willingness to participate in a series of two 30 minute in-depth interviews (60 minutes total) will be obtained through the use of a screener. Individuals will be informed during the screening process that they will receive a $70 incentive if they are selected and complete both in-depth interviews.
The use of incentives in consumer research has a demonstrated history of improving response rates. Given the participation time requirement for IDIs, and the possibility of cell phone usage for respondents, there is an inherent potential monetary cost to each respondent for time spent participating in this research.
Using incentives introduces the possibility of bias to the research. That is, respondents participating to receive the monetary incentive and thus not providing useful or truthful data. However, the use of incentives is not only supported by international industry practice, but also from collaterally related studies conducted primarily in the field of Behavioral Economics; an area of psychology that studies the role and use of incentives in supporting and modifying behavior.
A study conducted by Daniel Ariely, the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University concluded in his book Predictably Irrational1, that most of ‘us’ tend to steal ‘things’ (pencils, rubber bands, staplers from work, etc.) rather than these objects’ cash equivalent, because of a natural aversion most of us have to stealing money. An intuitive conclusion can easily be drawn from this that people tend to perceive actual money as more or less sacrosanct (and particularly as compared with what this money can purchase). If this demonstrates the quantum of respect we have for money, it would not seem to be counter-intuitive that paying someone money to answer questions would tend to motivate respectful (read: ‘truthful’) answers.
ASSURANCE
OF CONFIDENTIALITY
The
information that you provide will be protected to the extent allowed
by law.
Prior to the first interview, the moderator will read from a script the following statement to ensure participants confidentiality:
“I am an independent researcher and have no practical or financial interest in any of the information you provide whether it be positive or negative. Information you provide will be used strictly for the purposes of this study. We will not gather nor share any personal information during the interview process.”
During the interview appointment process, it is possible that appointment setters and even the moderator may use the full name of the research participant as a way of identifying that person. However, once the interview has started, the moderator will only use the participant’s first name and any notes will only feature that individual’s first name as well. For the most part, the first name is primarily used as a “filing system” for interview notes as the study is being conducted.
As results are being analyzed and developed, all names are stripped from the notes when they are compiled into a summation. As such, the results become completely confidential and no finding or insight can be attributed to a specific person.
JUSTIFICATION
FOR COLLECTION OF SENSITIVE INFORMATION
No questions will be asked that are of a personal or sensitive nature.
12.
ESTIMATE OF BURDEN HOURS FOR INFORMATION REQUESTED
For this qualitative effort, a sample of 60 individuals who have indicated a willingness to participate in a series of two 30 minute in-depth interviews (60 minutes total) will be obtained through the use of a screener. Individuals will be informed during the screening process that they will receive a $70 incentive if they are selected and complete both in-depth interviews. The sample will include 30 individuals who meet the Recent Mover criterion (those who were the primary decision maker for hiring a professional mover, to conduct an interstate move, completed within 12 months) and 30 who meet the Pre-Mover criterion (those who are currently the primary decision maker for planning an upcoming move with a professional mover, to conduct an interstate mover in the next 6 months).
Although a sample of 60 individuals will be obtained, a total of 30 interviews will be completed. A total of 15 interviews will be completed with individuals who meet the Recent Mover criterion and a total of 15 interviews will be conducted with individuals who meet the Pre-Mover criterion. Despite the fact that participants have been prescreened for the proper experiential and voluntary prerequisites, a total of 60 participants will be recruited to ensure completion of 30 interviews in an effort to account for potential non-participation or disqualification from the interview process.
There will be a total of 30 respondents who will complete approximately 75 minutes of participation time. Each of the two interviews will last approximately 30 minutes and participants will be asked to complete a 15-minute Persona and Emotion Sheet exercise. Because there is only one option (online or via phone) to participate in the research, the time burden will remain constant throughout the study. As a result, there will be a total of 37.5 burden hours (30 respondents x 75 minutes = 2,250 minutes/60 = 37.5 hours). Using U.S. Department of Labor statistics, it was determined that the hourly wage of employees on private non-farm payrolls is $23.87 (as of April 2013). Using that as a proxy for the value of a participant’s time, we come up with a total cost of $895.13 (37.5 hours x $23.87 = $895.13).
BURDEN HOURS
Table 1: Burden Hours |
|||
Category of Respondent / Activity |
No. of Respondents |
Participation Time |
Burden Hours |
FMCSA Customer Universe: Interview 1 |
30 |
30 minutes |
15 |
FMCSA Customer Universe: Persona and Emotion Sheets |
30 |
15 minutes |
7.5 |
FMCSA Customer Universe: Interview 2 |
30 |
30 minutes |
15 |
|
No. of Respondents |
Burden Hours |
Cost |
TOTAL ANNUALIZED Cost to Respondents |
30 |
37.5 |
$895.131 |
Estimated Annual Number of Respondents: 30
Estimated Annual Number of Responses: 90 responses [30 responses for Interview 1 + 30 responses for Persona and Emotion Sheets + 30 responses for Interview 2 = 90]
Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 38 hours [30 respondents x 30 minutes Interview 1 x 15 minutes Persona and Emotion Sheets x 30 minutes Interview 2 = 37.5 rounded to 38
ESTIMATE
OF TOTAL ANNUAL COSTS TO RESPONDENTS
No costs are anticipated.
ESTIMATE
OF COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The estimated cost to the federal government is $56,250.00 under a firm-fixed price contract.
EXPLANATION
OF PROGRAM CHANGES OR ADJUSTMENTS
This program change increase of an estimated 38 annual burden hours is due to a new IC.
PUBLICATION
OF RESULTS OF DATA COLLECTION
The results of the information collection will not be published.
APPROVAL
FOR NOT DISPLAYING THE EXPIRATION DATE OF OMB APPROVAL
No approval is being sought.
EXCEPTIONS TO CERTIFICATION STATEMENTS:
No exceptions are being requested.
1 Daniel Ariely. James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics, Duke University. Predictably Irrational. Harper Perennial; 1 Exp Rev edition (April 27, 2010). pps. 217-230
1 U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average hourly wage of employees on private nonfarm payrolls: $23.87 for April 2013. Accessed from the following website as of May 2013: http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cesbtab3.htm
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | AKENNEDY |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-25 |