NCER-NPSAS Grant Study - Financial Aid Nudges 2017 Focus Groups

National Center for Education Statistics

Attachments I through VI

NCER- NPSAS Grant Study – Financial Aid Nudges 2017 Focus Groups

OMB# 1850-0803 v.183

December 2016

Attachments:

Attachment I - Recruitment Procedures

Attachment II - Consent to Participate in Research

Attachment III - Focus Group Confirmation Email or Text

Attachment IV - Pre-Focus Group Review of Text Messages

Attachment V - Focus Group Protocol

Attachment VI - Intervention Text Messages

Attachment I

Recruitment Procedures

The focus group participants will be selected by an instructor at a public 2-year institution in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The instructor will describe the purpose of the focus group and details of participation, including the time commitment, incentive for participation, and contact information. The instructor will be very clear that participation in the focus group is entirely voluntary and that the choice to participate will have no impact on students’ classes or other college services. Eligible participants will be those determined by the instructor to be low-income and first-generation college students. Up to 12 students will be recruited per focus group, for up to four focus groups.

Attachment II

Consent to Participate in Research

Title of Research: Financial Aid Nudges 2017 – Focus Group

Introduction and Purpose

You are being asked to participate in a focus group being conducted by Noreen Siddiqui for a project being sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), part of the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the focus group is to bring together students to discuss intervention text messages that are part of the Financial Aid Nudges 2017 study. The results of the focus group discussion will be used to simplify terminology and improve student understanding of the text messages to be used in the study.

Procedures

You are one of a small number of individuals who have been invited to participate in a focus group to discuss your understanding and reaction to the study’s intervention text messages.

The focus group will not be audio recorded, but notes will be taken to help us write a report summarizing the results of the group discussions. Your name will never be used in the report that we write. Although we will ask participants not to reveal anything about others in the group, we cannot guarantee this.

Study Duration

Your participation in the focus group will take about 90 minutes.

Possible Risks or Discomforts

We do not anticipate that any of the discussion topics will make you uncomfortable or upset. However you may refuse to answer any question or take a break at any time.

Benefits

Your Benefits You will receive $20 in cash at the end of this session, as a token of thanks for your participation in this study.

Benefits for Other People We hope that this focus group will help us improve students’ understanding of our intervention text messages.

Confidentiality

Noreen Siddiqui is conducting this focus group for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education. This study is authorized by law under the Education Sciences Reform Act (20 U.S.C., § 9543). All responses that relate to or describe identifiable characteristics of individuals may be used only for research purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S.C., § 9573).

Future Contacts

We will not contact you in the future as part of this focus group study.

Your Rights

Your decision to take part in this research study is completely voluntary. You can refuse any part of the study and you can stop participating at any time.

Your Questions

If you have any questions about the study, you may call XXXX.

YOU WILL BE GIVEN A COPY OF THIS CONSENT FORM TO KEEP.

Your signature below indicates that you have read the information provided above, have received answers to your questions, and have freely decided to participate in this study. By agreeing to participate in this study, you are not giving up any of your legal rights.

________________ Date _____________________________________ _ Signature of Participant

____________________________________ __

Printed Name of Participant

I certify that the nature and purpose, the potential benefits, and possible risks associated with participating in this study have been explained to the above-named individual.

______________ Date _____________________________________ _ Signature of Person Obtaining Consent

____________________________________ __

Printed Name of Person Obtaining Consent

Attachment III

Focus Group Confirmation Email or Text

Greetings,

Thank you for agreeing to participate in the focus group.

The focus group will be held on December X, 2016 in room XXX.

It will begin at XXX and will last approximately 90 minutes.

Prior to the focus group, please review the attached document and be ready to discuss it at the focus group.

The topic of the focus group is to get your feedback on text messages used in a study to increase financial aid application completion and satisfactory academic progress.

As a token of our appreciation, you will receive $20 at the completion of the focus group.

Your participation is completely voluntary. Please contact me at XXX if you have any questions.

Thank you again,

[NAME]

Attachment IV

Pre-Focus Group Review of Text Messages

For each text message, address the following questions:

What was the message trying to convey?

Did you understand the message?

How did the message make you feel?

Were there any words that were unclear?

How would you phrase this text message to appeal to students like you?

If you received this message, what do you think you would do in response?

Attachment V

Focus Group Protocol

Introduction and Welcome

Hello, my name is Noreen Siddiqui and I will lead our discussion today. We are developing text messages that will provide financial aid information, reminders, and advising to college students to increase completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and compliance with the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements of the Pell grant program. Also, information will be provided on the availability of additional financial resources and benefits available to students, and the benefit of making use of campus-based support resources.

We are conducting this focus group as a part of our overall study. It will last around 90 minutes. We are particularly interested today in learning how you comprehend these text messages and how you suggest we might improve them.

We will be taking notes so that we can review your ideas and comments after this meeting is over. We will prepare a report that does not single out any one person, but instead summarizes what we heard from the group as a whole. No names will be mentioned in the report. Before we begin, I would like to go over the format for our discussion this afternoon (or evening).

Interview Format

• I ask that you talk, one at a time, and in a voice at least as loud as mine.

• Although each person does not have to comment on every question, I would like to hear from everyone about some of the issues.

• In commenting, you can speak to me in response to a question or you can talk with another person in the group regarding his or her comments.

• There are no right or wrong answers

• It is very important that we talk one at a time, and that we do not have any side conversations.

• Because it is important that we cover all of the questions, ________ will act as our timekeeper. If we are spending too much time on one topic, he/she may ask us to move along to the next question.

• Your experiences and opinions are important to us, and we hope that you will feel free to share them openly.

• I would like to remind you that our report will not identify any names of persons participating in this group discussion and your name will not be associated with what you say.

• You will receive $20 at the end of this meeting as a token of our appreciation.

We will begin by asking each of you to introduce yourself and say what you are studying. If there are no objections, we will start now.

Examples of General Probes

• What did you think the text message was saying?

• How would you rephrase the message in your own words?

• How would you respond to it?

• What were you thinking when trying to respond?

• What was the reason for that comment?

• How easy or difficult was it to understand the message?

• Probe for examples.

• Are there any changes that you would suggest to the text message?

• Do you think that text messages similar to this would work to motivate students to complete their financial aid paperwork? [Probe for ideas about how to better appeal to students.]

• Has anyone here ever forgotten to turn in financial aid paperwork?  Or do you know someone who has?  Could you talk a little bit about that, and what happened? [Follow up if there are positives: Do you think that getting text message reminders might have helped in that instance?  And do you think getting these or similar text messages would have helped?] How did you feel when reading the messages?

• Could you explain what you understand by this term?

• Can you tell me more about that?

• You seemed to hesitate/take a moment before giving/entering your response. Can you tell me what you were thinking about?

• What do you mean by…?

• Is there any additional information that we should have provided to help you understand the message?

• Does this term/question sound OK to you, or would you prefer something different?

Closing

This concludes our discussion questions for this session. We really appreciate your involvement in this process. Your comments will be very helpful as we prepare recommendations for improving the text messages. Please check out with ______________ for your $20 token of appreciation.

Attachment VI

Intervention Text Messages