CIOT Generic Clearance

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2127-0682)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

OMB Control No: 2127-0682:

Focus Groups for Assessment of Creative Concepts Supporting a

National Communications Campaign to Increase Seat Belt Use

PURPOSE:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was established by the Highway Safety Act of 1970 (23 U.S.C. 101) to carry out a Congressional mandate to reduce the mounting number of deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes on our Nation’s highways. In support of this mission, NHTSA proposes to conduct information collections to assess the public’s attitudes, understandings and perceptions about advertising ideas to encourage use of seat belts.

According to statistics published by NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis (source: National Center for Statistics and Analysis. (2017, October). 2016 Fatal Motor Vehicle Crashes: Overview. (Traffic Safety Facts Research Note. Report No. DOT HS 812 456). Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration):

• In 2016, unrestrained deaths (10,428 fatalities) increased by 4.6 percent.

• Although seat belt use increased from 88.5 percent in 2015 to 90.1 percent in 2016, one in ten drivers and/or passengers are unrestrained.

• In 2016, 48 percent of passenger vehicle occupants aged 8 to 12 years old killed in traffic crashes were unrestrained, an increase from 2015 (42 percent).

• The percentage of unrestrained fatalities during the daytime increased from 40 percent in 2015 to 41 percent in 2016.

• The percentage of unrestrained fatalities during the nighttime decreased from 57 percent in 2015 to 56 percent in 2016. 

An integral part of NHTSA’s plan is development of a public communications campaign to remind people that driving while not wearing a seat belt is against the law (which is the case in all states except New Hampshire). To that end, NHTSA intends to implement use of its Click It or Ticket campaign, which will support law enforcement agencies across the nation as they step up enforcement of seat belt laws. NHTSA is directing the development of new creative concepts for the advertising for this campaign. In order to assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of creative concept alternatives, NHTSA seeks to use a qualitative research methodology in the form of focus groups. For past NHTSA campaigns, market research findings in the form of focus groups have been important in gathering feedback because they allow a more in-depth understanding of drivers’ attitudes, beliefs, motivations, and feelings than do quantitative studies. Focus groups serve the narrowly defined need for direct and informal opinion on a specific topic.

NHTSA proposes conducting four focus groups among male drivers who are ages 18 to 34 and who self-report non-use of seat belts either all the time or much of the time. Males ages 18 to 34 account for a disproportionately high share of fatal unrestrained-driving crashes. For the focus groups, two groups will be conducted in each of two cities: Denver and Louisville. While unrestrained driving is prevalent in every city of the nation, these two cities provide geographic dispersion, sufficiently large populations to accommodate the recruiting specifications, and locally-based, research industry-accredited resources for efficient recruiting and facilitation of focus groups. Further, Kentucky is in a state with a primary-enforcement seat belt law, and Colorado is in a state with a secondary-enforcement law.

Focus groups will play an important role in gathering this information because they allow for more in-depth understanding of people’s attitudes, understandings, and motivations than do other kinds of studies. If such information is not collected, it will be more difficult and less cost-effective for NHTSA to develop and distribute potentially life-saving messages to its target audience. 

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Focus group participants will correspond to the campaign’s target audience: Male drivers ages 18 to 34 who self-report non-use of seat belts either all the time or much of the time. Four groups will be conducted, each composed of seven to nine pre-screened individuals matching the desired target profile. Each group is projected to last 90 minutes in duration. (This total time is a combination of an “arrive early” window of 15 minutes plus 75-minute focus group session). Although no more than nine participants will be seated for each group, more than nine per group will be recruited. Given the target market profile for this effort, twelve people will be recruited for each group in anticipation of at least nine showing. Even with advance confirmations from qualified recruits, behavioral characteristics (that is, failure to show up, even after confirmation) of this younger male demographic cohort necessitates the higher number of recruits. Should more than nine arrive on time, only nine will be seated in the group, and the others will be released, as well as paid their promised incentives. For the four groups, two cities will be used, with two groups per city. Each proposed city has a population base large enough to provide a sufficient recruiting pool and has marketing research industry-accredited focus group facilities available:

• Louisville (Kentucky is a state with a primary seat belt enforcement law)

• Denver (Colorado is a state with a secondary seat belt enforcement law)

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[X] Focus Group [ ] Other: ____________________

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: ___Susan McMeen __________________________________________

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

Personally Identifiable Information:

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

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

Each respondent will be provided with $75 following his participation in a focus group session. This amount is in line with the industry standard, relative to focus group participation by people in the target market. These industry-standard stipends help to ensure that respondents can be recruited efficiently and ensure their arrival and participation in the groups. These standards exist to provide fair compensation for costs incurred by participants while attending groups, based on the location of and expenses in each market. As noted earlier, pre-screened and invited respondents who arrive on time but are released prior to the group will also be awarded their stipends (also in keeping with marketing research industry standards).

BURDEN HOURS

No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (hours)	Total Burden Hours
48 (recruits for screening purposes)	1	6 minutes (1/10-hours) phone interview	4.8
36 (participants)	1	90 minutes (1-and-1/2-hours) pre-group arrival plus discussion	54.0
12 (recruits arriving, but released prior to participation)	1	15 minutes (1/4-hours) pre-group arrival only, subsequently released	3.0
			61.8 hours

TOTAL BURDEN HOURS: 61.8 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $41,100.

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?

Each focus group facility in each city does the recruiting on behalf of NHTSA and NHTSA’s contractor, The Tombras Group, as described in the screener.  The facility’s recruiting staff works primarily from a pool within its proprietary database of people in that marketplace who have previously submitted demographic, lifestyle and product preference information.  Upon receipt of a screener such as the one for this project, the recruitment manager at the focus group facility will filter the database to search for potential respondents in the designated age group (and any other relevant specs if the firm happens to have one or more of those other criteria established in the database).  Then the recruiters will use telephone calls to those potential respondents to administer the full screener.

 

In any given household, only one person will be screened and confirmed.

 

After going through the database, if the recruiters can't fill the specified total numbers and/or quotas, the secondary step is procuring sample from any of numerous national sample providers of names, addresses and phone numbers.  The recruiters will then make phone calls to this list until the recruiting is completed.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X] Telephone

[X] 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.