Request for Approval

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0920-0974)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Public health laboratory interview feedback on DLS professional development service offerings

PURPOSE:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) seeks to obtain Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval to collect feedback about the Division of Laboratory Systems (DLS) training and professional development service offerings. DLS provides a variety of training and professional development offerings for laboratory professionals. The purpose of this data collection is to understand the effectiveness of DLS offerings in helping public health laboratories support staff professional development, identify gaps in DLS’ existing offerings, and understand facilitators and barriers associated with staff using DLS training and professional development resources. The data will be used to inform the design and prioritization of new training and professional development offerings, as well as the modification of existing offerings, to better meet the needs of the laboratory workforce.

Qualitative data will be collected using individual interviews conducted via telephone and/or in-person. Prior to the interview, a questionnaire will be used to collect certain demographic information of the participants. Thematic analysis using NVivo software will be used for transcribed interview content. All participant information (names, email addresses, and phone numbers) and transcripts will be managed by Booz Allen Hamilton (external contractor) and purged following data analysis. All results will be delivered by the contractor to CDC in aggregate form, without attribution, to preserve the anonymity of respondents.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Up to 24 non-federal individuals who work as leaders (e.g., Directors and other Senior-level Management) within state, local, or tribal government public health laboratories, have direct experience with or are future users of DLS’ professional development resources, and have expressed interest in participating in the individual interviews in response to a general call for volunteers from CDC or the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), will be invited to participate in an interview. Prior to interviews, a questionnaire, which should take no more than 5 minutes to complete, will be sent to the 24 individuals to collect demographic information in order to ensure participants fit within the desired respondent category (public health laboratory leadership). Completion of the questionnaire and participation in the one-time individual interview are both voluntary. Interviews will take place primarily via telephone, although some in-person interviews may be offered if it is more convenient for participants. Each interview will last no more than 60 minutes.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[] Focus Group [X] Other: Individual interviews

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 might have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Renee Ned-Sykes

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, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No (Not applicable)

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Individuals and households	0
Private sector	0
State, local, tribal government	24	65/60	26
Federal government	0
Totals	24	65/60	26

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is _$3,000___________

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

Respondents will be public health laboratory leadership who have direct experience with or who are future users of DLS’ professional development resources and who have volunteered to participate in the individual interviews via previous email communication using various DLS and Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) membership listservs. Volunteers for interviews will be asked to complete a pre-interview demographic information questionnaire to ensure participants fit within the desired respondent category (public health laboratory leadership).

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

CDC will use an experienced contractor (from Booz Allen Hamilton) to conduct all individual interviews. Data will be delivered to CDC in aggregate form without attribution to preserve the privacy of individual participants. All participant information (names, email addresses, and phone numbers) and audio files will be managed by Booz Allen Hamilton in a secure location and purged following completion of data analysis.

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