NHTSA Child Occupant Portfolio 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: Focus Groups for Traffic and Motor Vehicle

Safety Programs and Activities

PURPOSE:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) authorized by the Highway Safety Act of 1966 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. NHTSA is developing a new public service campaign designed to increase the proper use of car seats, booster seats and seat belts among children between the ages of 0-14. This campaign will also reduce the injuries and deaths in motor vehicle crashes where these children are in the incorrect seat, are graduating prematurely to the next seat type, or are not utilizing any safety restraints such as car seats, booster seats, or seat belts. Parents and caregivers will be encouraged to make sure their children are in the right seat for their age and size, and wearing seat belts. In addition, the campaign will also resonate with high-risk populations including African Americans and Spanish-speaking Hispanics.

The goal of this research is to help NHTSA develop its communications strategy for the campaign. We propose conducting qualitative focus groups among parents and caregivers of children 0-14 to identify their level of awareness of existing seat belt safety messages, as well as key attitudes and behaviors surrounding safety belt use. We intend to use this research to help create a communications strategy that will be most effective in influencing the choices of parents. We will also use the research to gain insight into whether one all-encompassing message (that includes car seats and tweens) will resonate between both parents of older and younger kids. Focus groups will play an important role in gathering information because they allow for more in-depth understanding of people’s attitudes, beliefs, and motivations than do other kinds of studies. If such information is not collected, it will be more difficult for NHTSA to develop and distribute effective messages to our target audience. 

The focus groups will be conducted by The Family Room, a qualitative vendor who employs moderator that specialize in the parent target, including a specialist in the lower-acculturated Hispanic target, who will conduct interviews in Spanish, as described below. The Family Room will use their existing expertise in parent mindsets and motivations - what they call “passion points” – to help write statements, or “narratives”, that will be used to help guide the discussion among parents. The text of these narratives is attach. Talking to parents about these narratives will help The Family Room and NHTSA understand parents’ attitudes, beliefs and motivations, and which types of messages would be most effective at changing their behavior related to this issue.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Our recommended data collection method is qualitative focus groups among parents and caregivers of children 0-14. Separate groups will be conducted among parents of children of different age groups (specifically, parents of children ages 0-3; 4-6; 7-10; and 11-14), to allow us to capture the insights, attitudes and behaviors specific to the different car seat, booster seat and seat belt needs of different age children.

This will include four focus groups of less-acculturated, Hispanic parents and caregivers, who primarily consume media in Spanish, to gain insights from this high-risk population. All communication with these respondents will be in Spanish.

We recommend conducting twelve (12) focus groups. Each focus group will be 90 minutes long and conducted in two geographically diverse locations (Phoenix, AZ; Chicago, IL) and segmented by age group of child/children.

There are eight (8) participants will be recruited for each individual focus group. However, each focus group will contain a maximum of six (6) participants reflected in the burden hours below.

The breakdown is outline in the chart below.

PHOENIX, AZ 48 Total Respondents	CHICAGO, IL 48 Total Respondents
Group 1: 6 parents & caregivers of children ages 0-3	Group 7: 6 parents & caregivers of children ages 0-3
Group 2: 6 parents & caregivers of children ages 4-6	Group 8: 6 parents & caregivers of children ages 4-6
Group 3: 6 parents & caregivers of children ages 7-10	Group 9: 6 parents & caregivers of children ages 7-10
Groups 4: 6 parents & caregivers of children ages 11-14	Groups 10: 6 parents & caregivers of children ages 11-14
Group 5: 6 Hispanic less-acculturated parents & caregivers of children ages 0-3 and 4-6	Group 11: 6 Hispanic less-acculturated parents & caregivers of children ages 0-3 and 4-6
Group 6: 6 Hispanic less-acculturated parents & caregivers of children ages 7-10 and 11-14	Group 12: 6 Hispanic less-acculturated parents & caregivers of children ages 7-10 and 11-14

All respondents will be required to drive their child/children or the children they care for at least 3 times per week. Less-acculturated Hispanic respondents will be recruited by a vendor which that specialize in this demographic.

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 is provide with a $75 cash (no social security numbers will be collected) following their 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 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.

BURDEN HOURS

No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Average Burden per Response (hours)	Total Burden Hours
96 (parent/caregiver recruits)	1	10 minute phone interview (0.167 hours)	16 hours
72 (parent/caregiver participants)	1	90 minute discussion + 15 minute wait time (1.75 hours)	126 hours
			142 hours

TOTAL BURDER HOURS: 142 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $90,000

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 Family Room will work with focus group facilities in both markets (Fieldwork O’Hare in Chicago, and Fieldwork Phoenix in Phoenix) to screen and recruit participants using their own databases of participants who have signed up to be part of their database of local adults who are willing to be contacted for potential participation in focus groups. Fieldwork O’Hare and Fieldwork Phoenix will call potential respondents on the phone, and using the screener attached, will find participants and schedule their focus group times. During the focus groups, moderators from The Family Room will walk respondents through the discussion guide. The ‘narratives’ (attached) will be used to prompt conversation with parents about the reasons they would or would not practice proper safety restraint behavior with their children, and what types of approaches might be most motivating.

We will target participants based on these demographics:

• Gender (recruiting a mix)

• Not employed in industries that would make them overly knowledgeable about the topic (e.g. marketing, car seat manufacture or safety group)

• Haven’t participated in other focus groups within past 6 months (to avoid ‘professional respondents’)

• Age (recruiting a mix of age 25+)

• Parental status (must have child age 14 or younger; or care for a child that age 3+ days/week)

• Child age (recruiting a range, per screener)

• Ethnicity (Hispanic or not)

• Race (accepting multiple responses for race; recruit a mix)

• Educational attainment (recruit a mix; detail per screener)

• Acculturation (multiple questions on language use, country of origin, and media use to ascertain level of acculturation; less-acculturated Hispanic respondents to be in separate Spanish-language groups)

• Driving behavior (drive 3+ days/week; drive with child)

• Current safety belt/restraint/car seat use (rear-facing car seat; forward-facing car seat; booster seat; adult seat belt; don’t know; please see p9 in screener for full detail)

• Marital status (recruit a mix)

• Household income (recruit a mix)

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.

Please see discussion guide, screener, text of “parent narratives,” and text of “playing cards” attached.