Generic Template

DOCUMENTATION FOR THE GENERIC CLEARANCE

OF POTENTIAL ADULT COLLEGE STUDENT RESEARCH ONLINE SURVEY COLLECTIONS

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION:

(the collection that is the subject of the 10-day review request)

Potential Adult Student On-line Survey

[X] SURVEY [ ] FOCUS GROUP [ ] SOFTWARE USABILITY TESTING

DESCRIPTION OF THIS SPECIFIC COLLECTION

Following you will find:

1. intended purpose,

2. need for the collection,

3. planned use of the data,

4. date(s) and location(s),

5. collection procedures,

6. number of focus groups, surveys, usability testing sessions

7. description of respondents/participants,

Attached is a copy of the online survey questionnaire.

Purpose of the Research, Need for the Collection, and Planned Use of the Data

This online survey will identify implications and recommendations for FSA in terms of the content and delivery mechanisms that are best suited for potential adult students. The research will:

• Identify the digital habits of potential adult students

  • How do they use connected devices to socialize, spend, shop, look for information, etc.

  • What technology and devices do they most frequently use

  • What specific social networks do they predominantly use

• Determine where potential adult students look for information (online and offline) in general and more specifically about preparing and funding for college

• Assess how potential adult students prefer to get information in general and about financial aid; learn why they prefer those methods along with additional information such as:

  • Which are they most likely to pay attention to

  • Which are they most likely to take action on after seeing/reviewing

  • When would they want to get this information

  • How are they most likely to engage or interact with this information

• Determine if potential adult students have concerns around their and their family’s economic or financial situation and, specifically, if they have concerns about how to pay for college

• Identify implications and recommendations for FSA in terms of the content that it provides and the way in which it provides the content (delivery mechanisms)

Dates, Locations, and Collection Procedures

This study will be programmed and fielded July 12-August 4, 2016 via an online survey which should take participants no more than 12 minutes to complete. Invitations for the survey will be e-mailed to a sample of potential participants throughout the U.S., representative of FSA’s target audiences, with a target of 400 completed surveys.

Participants are assured anonymity of their survey responses and that results will only be reported in aggregate form.

Total Sample: 400 completed surveys (130-135 completes per segment for ages 20-29, 30-39, and 40-64)

Survey participants will be screened to ensure that they fall within the single core audience of potential adult college students.

Potential adult college students must be seriously considering enrolling in the next 12 months full-time or part-time as an undergraduate at a two-year or four-year college or university, or trade/professional/career school. They must not be a current high school student.

Demographic and general classification information will be collected in the survey. No quotas will be set for any demographic/classification segment (such as educational level, household income, etc.) but instead those segments will be represented as they occur naturally in the convenience sample of targets.

AMOUNT OF ANY PROPOSED STIPEND OR INCENTIVE

No stipend or incentive will be offered for participating in this survey.

BURDEN HOUR COMPUTATION (Number of responses (X) estimated response or participation time in minutes (/60) = annual burden hours):

The 1 hour was added to the submission as the hours are in the system and not a duplicate of the hours previously approved under 1845-0045.

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Participants completing a survey		12 minutes (average)	Hour
Screened participants*		2 minutes (average)	Hour
Total	1		1 hour

* An estimate of those who will fall outside of target segment parameters, thus not qualifying to take the survey.

STATISTICAL INFORMATION

The existing contract allows for up to 400 completed survey responses, equating to a margin of error of ±4.9% at a 95% level of confidence.

Once online data collection is complete, tabulation and analysis will be conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). SPSS has a complete tool kit of programming, statistical analysis, graphing and reporting capabilities for use in a variety of applications in commercial, academic, and government settings.

In addition to tabulating overall frequencies and descriptive statistics for each survey question, we will conduct advanced statistical analyses (where possible and appropriate) to assess any key relationships among survey items. Appropriateness is typically determined based on a minimum cell size of 30 respondents.

The statistical techniques used may include one or a combination of the following bivariate and multivariate analyses: regression, correlation, CHAID, factor, cluster, multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) or perceptual mapping. These advanced analysis techniques will identify relationships among survey items and provide further interpretation of complex multi-dimensional data that can then further guide messaging and marketing strategy, and decision making. Thematic text analysis will be also used for the open-end and “other specify” question responses to code and categorize these qualitative data.

If sample sizes are sufficient, we will also profile survey respondents by using post hoc segmentation analysis, most likely in the form of cluster analysis (one form of multivariate analysis) to look for patterns in perceptions, behaviors and/or demographics.

While complex analysis techniques are almost always interesting, they are not necessarily useful. We will apply our business and strategy background to ensure that all analyses are performed with actionable results in mind. The final analytical techniques used will be driven by the needs of the FSA team, the approved survey questions and the overall sample size.

REQUESTED APPROVAL DATE: July 8, 2016

NAME OF CONTACT PERSON: Tina Pemberton, Program Manager Federal Student Aid U.S. Department of Education, [email protected]

TELEPHONE NUMBER: 202-377-3507

MAILING LOCATION:

830 First St. NE

Washington, DC 20202

ED DEPARTMENT, OFFICE:

Federal Student Aid

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