Attachment H: Incentive Justification for Focus Group Participants

OMB Control # 0584-0524 | Expiration: 09/30/2019 |Page 1

Attachment H: Incentive Justification for Focus Group Participants

We consulted the two most recent annual surveys conducted by the website Urbansitter.org of parent members in order to estimate the average cost of hourly childcare for potential research participants. The 2016 study surveyed 15,000 parents from 9 metropolitan areas (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Chicago, Boston, New York City, Washington DC) about the hourly rates they provide babysitters for caring for one, two, and three 3 children. The 2017 study surveyed 20,000 parents from the same nine cities. As Table 2 below shows, the average rate of for just one child was $15.17 in 2016 and $15.20 in 2017. We also calculated a rough average rate across number of children for each year, creating an estimated average babysitting rate of $17.70 across the 2016 and 2017 surveys for one, two, and three children.

Table 2 - Hourly wage averages by # of children according to urbansitter.org annual member survey
	1 Child	2 Children	3 Children	Average
2016	$15.71	$18.07	$20.31	$18.03
2017	$15.20	$17.34	$19.57	$17.37
			Mean	$17.70

We also consulted Care.com, an international web-based service that matches care providers with families seeking care. Care.com has a membership of over 14 million and provides suggested hourly rates for babysitters by postal code varying by the number of children. According to their 2016 membership survey, the average hourly child care rate is $13.97, though the number of children was not specified in their survey results.

Given the range of figures provided by the available data sources, we propose using a conservative estimate of $16.25 per hour for childcare, to ensure the cost of childcare for low-income families of varying family circumstances will not prohibit parents from participating.

To provide parents with a fair reimbursement for potential travel costs, we used the accepted GSA Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Mileage Reimbursement Rate of $0.535 per mile to estimate an approximate cost as well as an approximation of travel distance. The national average for distance between a child’s home and childcare arrangement is 4.6 miles for children under 3 years of age, according to the National Survey of Early Care and Education¹. The resulting travel cost is $4.92 for a round trip.

The total amount of time parents may require childcare is estimated at 2 hours, including travel to and from the facility, participation in the 60-minute focus group, and an early arrival time. The total resulting financial burden is therefore slightly less than $40 per parent ($16.25 x 2, plus $4.92). We therefore strongly advise a $40 incentive to cover the cost of childcare and travel necessary to participate in the focus group.

1 National Survey of Early Care and Education Project Team (2016). Fact Sheet: How Far Are Early Care and Education Arrangements from Children’s Homes? OPRE Report No. 2016-10, Washington DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Available at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/research/project/national-survey-of-early-care-and-educationnsece-2010-2014.