B1. Development of Concepts, Methods, and Design
To increase the survey’s accessibility to the annuitant population, the Federal Annuitant Benefits
Survey (FABS) instrument will be available via a link posted on OPM’s website. Any annuitant will have the opportunity to participate by accessing OPM’s website and clicking on the link to the survey. To ensure we are only analyzing responses from eligible participants (annuitants), screening questions have been added to the beginning of the survey to identify the target population. This survey project will not utilize a sampling method due to lack of valid annuitant email addresses available to OPM and concerns with fairness. Specifically, this method will ensure that participation is not limited to only annuitants who have provided an email address to OPM.
B2. Collection of Data
FABS data will be collected via a link posted on OPM’s website. This method was chosen over drawing a sample of the annuitant population due to fairness concerns that the survey should be available to all annuitants and not only those who have registered an email address with OPM. This method of data collection allows for anonymous responses to be collected. Identifying information such as name, email, Social Security Number or birthdate will not be collected as part of this survey effort, and at no point will participants be linked in any way with identifying information from a personnel database.
Since the FABS will be available to any interested annuitants via a link on OPM’s website, a projected response rate cannot be calculated at this time. OPM estimates that the survey will take participants approximately 20 minutes to complete. Upon conclusion of survey administration, results will be analyzed; reports will be drafted and cleared for web posting. The results of the FABS will be available on OPM’s website. Basic survey analysis techniques will be used to interpret and explain the data provided by respondents. The results will be used to create written reports that summarize the annuitant population’s feedback about the flexibilities and benefits available to them.
B3. Processing and Editing of Data
Standard data cleaning and analysis procedures will be performed by a statistician and multiple survey and policy specialists to ensure accurate processing and interpretation of results.
B4. Production of Estimates and Projections
The FABS will not utilize a sampling procedure and weights will not be applied to the data. All results will be reported with clear communication that the results are not intended to represent the annuitant population, but rather will serve as a starting point in understanding the population’s perceptions of their health benefits and wellness.
B5. Data Analysis
Basic survey analysis techniques (e.g., calculating frequencies ) will be used to interpret and explain the data provided by respondents. The results will be used to create written reports that summarize the annuitant population’s feedback about the flexibilities and benefits available to them.
B6. Review and Evaluation Procedures
The survey tool was developed after careful review of existing surveys with similar content and purpose, as well as consultation with relevant stakeholders and subject matter experts. After development, the survey tool was reviewed by a number of relevant groups within OPM. After feedback was discussed and any changes were incorporated, the final version was submitted for formal clearance through OPM.
B7. Data Dissemination
The results of the FABS will be available on OPM’s website in the form of written reports.
Data is being collected anonymously, and respondents will not be asked to report any PII as part of the survey. Any demographic results will be reported without compromising confidentiality.
B8. Contact Person(s)
Cristin Kane
Planning and Policy Analysis
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
(202) 606-4258
Lauren Sobek
Planning and Policy Analysis
U.S. Office of Personnel Management
(202) 606-1107
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Sobek, Lauren M. |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-24 |