State Agencies

APPENDIX C: SCRIPT FOR SURVEY TELEPHONE INTERVIEW

Form Approved

OMB No.____________

Exp. Date____________

The OMB Control Number for this information collection is <insert number> and the expiration date is <insert date>.

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, persons are not required to respond to this collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number and expiration date. Responding to this survey is voluntary. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 70 minutes per response, including time for reviewing instructions and gathering materials that may be needed to support survey responses. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information to Rosemarie Downer at [email protected].

IDENTIFYING PROGRAM COMPONENTS AND PRACTICES THAT INFLUENCE SNAP APPLICATION PROCESSING TIMELINESS RATES

SNAP TIMELINESS STUDY

SCRIPT FOR SURVEY TELEPHONE INTERVIEW

SNAP Timeliness Study

Survey of SNAP Application Processing Procedures

Script for Survey Telephone Interview

Introduction:

Hello, my name is ____________________________________. I am a study coordinator with [WRMA or IMPAQ International] on the SNAP Timeliness Study. I will be assisting you today to complete the study’s survey via telephone interview. Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study.

As you may recall reading in the Study Information Sheet, the SNAP Timeliness Study is conducting a comprehensive in-depth review of program components and practices of State and local SNAP offices to identify specific policies and practices associated with better application timeliness or APT outcomes. The primary goal of this study is to determine best practices for facilitating high APT rates, and to identify State policy and procedural practices that facilitate and hinder APT application timeliness rates.

The survey may take approximately 70 minutes to complete, including any time you may need to gather materials to support your responses. Participation is completely voluntary. There are no penalties if you do not participate in part or in full. The information you provide will be kept private and will not be maintained or disclosed in any identifiable form to anyone outside the study team, except as otherwise required by law. By agreeing to this call and answering the survey questions, you indicate consent to participate.

Most questions in the survey refer to your office’s administration of the SNAP program from 2012 through 2015, unless otherwise specified. Please report about policies, procedures, or other activities that were in operation during this timeframe only. This includes policies, procedures, or other activities that may have been implemented earlier, but were still in operation in 2012.

I will be reading to you each of the survey questions and the list of responses that you can choose from. If you choose, you may follow along in the copy of the survey instrument we provided to you earlier. Please try to answer every question to the best of your ability. If you cannot answer a question, you can select the response, “Don’t Know”. If you choose not to answer a question, you may tell me to skip it and we can move on to the next question.

It may be helpful in responding to the survey questions to have ready access to demonstration project documents, policy documents, policy updates, information about State options, policy implementation memos, and application processing timeliness reports. Do you need to get any of these materials before we get started?

Do you have any questions before we begin?

[Interviewer reads questions and responses, and records responses in the online survey instrument. Interviewer repeats interviewee’s response to each survey question for confirmation.]

Conclusion

Thank you for your time and for completing the survey. The information you have provided will help FNS identify efficient SNAP application processing practices and provide guidance to State SNAP agencies and their staff looking for good alternatives to improve SNAP application processing timeliness. If you have any questions about this survey or this study, please feel free to contact me via email or telephone [provide contact information]. Good luck to you and have a good day.

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