3245-0398 OMB Submission_Justification for Creative Testing Focus Groups 06-20-18

Amended: Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3245-0398

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Small Business Administration Creative Concept Testing Focus Group

This collection of information was previously approved on January 30, 2018. SBA is resubmitting to report amendments to :(1) the methodology, including number of focus group sessions, number of targeted respondents, and the related burden hours; (2) the discussion guide- specifically the elimination of some previously approved prompt questions and the addition of new questions; and (3) minor clarifications to the invitation.

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 [ ] 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:________________________________________________

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

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Small Business Owners	81	63* minutes each	85.05
Aspiring Small Business Owners	27	63* minutes each	28.35
Totals	108		113.4

*63 minutes = 3-minute screening plus 60-minute focus group

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 twelve online group sessions up to 60-minutes in length each. We will recruit 9 respondents per group in the hope that no fewer than 6 will participate. Factoring in the participation rates of these respondents, the assumption that not all respondents will qualify and our goal of 108 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

[ ] 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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