Generic Clearance Request

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 2127-0682)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Focus Groups for Assessment of Creative Concepts Supporting a National Communications Campaign to Avoid Driving after Drinking

PURPOSE:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was established by the Highway Safety Act of 1970 (23 U.S.C. 101) to carry out a Congressional mandate to reduce the mounting number of deaths, injuries and economic losses resulting from motor vehicle crashes on our nation’s highways. In support of this mission, NHTSA proposes to conduct information collections to assess the public’s attitudes, understandings and perceptions about advertising ideas to avoid driving after consuming alcholic beverages.

Drunk driving is one of the most significant dangers on our nation’s roadways. According to data collected by the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA), in 2018 alone there were more than 10,000 fatalities in motor vehicle crashes involving drivers with blood alcohol concentration (BACs) of .08 g/dL or higher. To put this in perspective, that was 29% of all total traffic fatalities for the year. Another way to say it is that one person died every 50 minutes in 2018 as a result of alcohol-impaired driving.

NHTSA is dedicated to eliminating risky behaviors on our nation’s roads. Through research, public awareness campaigns, and state safety grant programs, NHTSA demonstrates its commitment to eliminating drunk driving. These programs have consistently reduced alcohol-related crash fatalities and NHTSA plans to continue until there are zero drunk-driving crashes on our roadways.

NHTSA created Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over to remind drunk drivers they will be caught by law enforcement, arrested, and charged with a DUI as a result of their poor decision making. Every year, NHTSA organizes and funds two High Visibility Enforcement public awareness campaigns to deliver this message to those most at risk to die in drunk driving related crashes. The campaigns are centered around the Labor Day and December holiday periods. In addition to raising public awareness of this message, there is coordinated state and local enforcement of alcohol-impaired driving laws across the country. According to NHTSA’s countermeasures that work, DUI checkpoints and active/visible law enforcement reduce the prevalence of drunk driving. In fact, the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) systematic review of 15 high-quality studies found that checkpoints reduce alcohol-related fatal crashes by nine percent. Additionally, a demonstration program in Michigan found that saturation patrols can be effective in reducing alcohol-related fatal crashes when accompanied by extensive publicity.

NHTSA is seeking approval of an information collection effort to evaluate concepts for seven TV advertisements, 4 english and 3 spanish, designed to educate those most at risk of law enforcement-related consequences of drunk driving. Knowledge gained from this research will improve the Agency’s ability to deliver effective communications that clearly convey the personal costs (physical and emotional) of driving drunk (tickets/points, physical injury or death of self or others, emotional injury to loved ones, etc.) and promote awareness of visible enforcement by police during these time periods.

Focus groups will play an important role in gathering this information because they allow for more in-depth understanding of people’s attitudes, understandings and motivations than do other kinds of studies. If such information is not collected, it will be more difficult and less cost-effective for NHTSA to develop and distribute potentially life-saving messages to its target audience.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Focus group respondents will align with the primary demographic target for the creative campaign and will include U.S. males ages 21-34 years old, who drive regularly and consume alcohol regularly. This group was selected as the primary target because they are overrepresented in fatal impaired-driving crashes according to NCSA. In addition, participants will be screened to ensure a good mix of key demographic criteria (race/ethnicity and employment status) as well as specific socioeconomic factors (household income and education).

To ensure we are sampling a diverse set of regional perspectives, as well as gathering information from residents of states with different enforcement laws in place, the focus group sessions will be held in four locations across the contiguous United States. Recommended markets are Alexandria, Virginia (offers a mid-Atlantic state); Austin, Texas (offers access to a college market, has a higher rate of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities relative to the rest of the country and is a state where checkpoints have been ruled unconstitutional by the state supreme court); Detroit, Michigan (offers a mid-western state where checkpoints are held to be illegal); and Boston, Massachusetts (offers a northeastern state that has above-average levels of alcohol impaired driving fatalities).

 

In addition to the general market groups, we propose conducting two additional focus groups among Spanish-speaking male, foreign-born drivers between the ages of 21-34, in Rockville, MD. Rockville will allow us to recruit throughout the Washington, DC metro area, representing a diverse market from various countries of origin, as well as more recent immigrants who are Spanish-reliant.

The focus groups will recruit 12 participants per group with the intention to seat nine. There will be two groups per market and up to five markets overall, four general market locations and one Spanish-reliant Hispanic market location. Assuming research is conducted in all five markets we will recruit a total of 120 participants to seat 90. The table below shows our expected recruits per market, per group.

	Location 1 Alexandria, VA	Location 2 Austin, TX	Location 3 Detroit, MI	Location 4 Boston, MA	Location 5* Rockville, MD	TOTAL
6pm Group	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 60 to seat 45
8pm Group	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 12 to seat 9	Recruit 60 to seat 45
Total	Recruit 24 to seat 18	Recruit 24 to seat 18	Recruit 24 to seat 18	Recruit 24 to seat 18	Recruit 24 to seat 18	Recruit 120 to seat 90

*Rockville, MD will be our Spanish-language location

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[X] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________

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 may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Susan McMeen

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [X] Yes [ ] No

The third-party vendor collects information from the research participants in order to provide them with the incentive. No PII is reported to NHTSA. No responses will be connected to individual respondents; only aggregate data will be reported.

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

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [X] No

Gifts or Payments:

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

Each respondent will be provided with $75 following their participation in a focus group session. This amount is in line with the industry standard, relative to focus group participation by people in the target market. It is standard practice to provide a basic incentive in order to avoid bias of receiving responses only from individuals generally predisposed to be helpful. These industry-standard stipends help to ensure that respondents can be recruited efficiently and ensure their arrival and participation in the groups. Pre-screened and invited respondents who arrive on time but are released prior to the group will also be awarded their stipends (also in keeping with marketing research industry standards).

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Pre-screen completes (Individuals / Households) (Initial outreach from facility to find potential respondents interested in participating in research and meet screening requirements – estimated 24% incidence)	500	3.5 minutes	29.2 hours
Validation screener (Individuals / Households) (Follow-up among those who qualify, and fit quota targets for screening)	120	1.5 minutes	3 hours
Seated Respondents (Individuals / Households) (execution of the groups among those who are interested, qualify and are available the date/time of the groups)	90	75 minutes	112.5 hours
GRAND TOTAL BURDEN HOURS			144.7 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $160,000.

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

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

NHTSA plans to work with existing contractor, Stratacomm, who will hire professional focus group facilities (third-party vendors) to recruit individuals that meet the criteria for each audience. Each facility maintains a database of potential participants in the local area that will serve as the sample frames for this research. Convenience samples of research participants from the focus group facilities will be screened and recruited to reflect the target audience.

Recruitment will take place using seasoned recruiters from each facility who will make calls to prospective participants within their respective operating area. After being pre-screened on the telephone, an email invitation and reminder will be sent to individual qualified participants, followed by additional instructions with expected start and arrival times and facility directions. Recruitment will be monitored to ensure screening requirements are met and that respondents include a mixture of race/ethnicity, employment, income, and education. Participants will complete a short validation screener at the facility prior to being seated at the focus group.

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 (pre-screening)

[X] In-person (validation screening at facility & participant discussion)

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [X] Yes [ ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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