Generic-3 Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of
Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3245-YYYY)
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Small Business Administration Creative
Concept Testing Focus Group
PURPOSE:
The purpose of these online focus groups is to test creative concepts for the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA). Focus groups are a useful and efficient research tool for obtaining
immediate audience input into an overall creative concept. These focus groups will help us test
draft creative concepts for the SBA such as logos and printed marketing materials.
DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:
Small business owners and aspiring small business owners.
TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)
[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form
[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software
[X] Focus Group

[ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey
[ ] Small Discussion 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:________________________________________________
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, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the
Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No
3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No
Gifts or Payments:
Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to
participants? [X] Yes [] No

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BURDEN HOURS
Category of Respondent

No. of
Participation
Respondents Time
70
63 minutes
each
20
63 minutes
each
90

Small Business Owners
Aspiring Small Business Owners
Totals

Burden
73.5
21
94.5

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $79,650, which is
attributed to the contractor that will be conducting and evaluating the focus group sessions.
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?
Response:
Creative testing will be conducted on behalf of the U.S. Small Business Administration by
contractor Marketing Maven and its subcontractor ThinkNow Research. Participants will be
recruited for the online focus groups by professional recruiters who have large databases of
potential respondents who have been pre-screened and have expressed a willingness to
participate in focus groups or surveys. Depending on the target audience for a particular study
(e.g., business owners), certain respondents can be targeted based on information they have
provided about themselves. In our case, we will be targeting respondents who have previously
indicated they are a business owner or aspire to be one. These respondents will be called and/or
sent an email invitation to answer the screener questions. Respondents who qualify as a business
owner or aspiring business owner will be invited to participate in an online focus group at a
specific day and time.
The contractor will execute nine online group sessions up to 60-minutes in length each. We will
recruit 12 respondents per group in the hope that 10 will participate. Factoring in the
participation rates of these respondents, the assumption that not all respondents will qualify and
our goal of 90 total respondents across the focus groups, we estimate reaching out to 300-500
potential respondents on a national level. All participants will need to answer a screener to
qualify for participation in the focus group.
Administration of the Instrument
1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media
[X] Telephone

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[ ] In-person
[ ] 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.
Attachments:
• Draft email invitation
• Draft script for telephone invitation
• Screener Questionnaire
• Discussion Guide

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