Appendix Q. Survey reminder call scripts_revision2_clean

Appendix Q. Survey reminder call scripts

OMB No. 0584-[NEW]

Survey of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training (E&T) Case Management

June 25, 2021

Project Officer: Kristen Corey

Office of Policy Support

Food and Nutrition Service

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1320 Braddock Place

Alexandria, VA 22314

survey of snap E&T case Management

Survey reminder call scripts

Call to SNAP director when introductory section is incomplete: Suggested text to collect missing survey information

Hello, my name is _____________________. I’m calling from Mathematica, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, to follow up on an email sent to [State/territory SNAP director name] about the Survey of SNAP Employment & Training, or E&T, Case Management. Could I speak to [State/territory SNAP Director name]?

IF SNAP DIRECTOR UNAVAILABLE: Okay, what is your name? When is the best time to reach [SNAP director name]? Is this the best number to call? May I leave a voice message?

IF LEAVING A MESSAGE: This is ­­­­­______________. I’m calling from Mathematica, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, to follow up on an email you received about the Survey of SNAP Employment & Training Case Management. We want to remind you to please complete the introductory section of the survey as soon as possible. It will take less than 10 minutes. The survey asks you to identify which [State/territory] agency staff will complete the survey sections on case management, assessments, and participant reimbursements and support services, if you prefer to assign other staff. Once you do, we can follow up with those staff directly. The link to the survey is in an email from [study email address]. Or, you can call me back to complete the survey over the phone or ask me any questions about the survey or study. My name again is _________ and my phone number is [fill study toll free number]. Thank you for your help with this important survey!

IF CONNECTED TO SNAP DIRECTOR: This is ­­­­­______________. I’m calling from Mathematica, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, or FNS, to follow up on an email you were sent about the Survey of SNAP E&T Case Management. We have been trying to reach you about this survey since [fill month initial email sent]. If you have not received our emails, I can resend to a correct address.

Public Burden Statement

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-xxxx. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 5 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the following address: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, Alexandria, VA 22314, ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx). Do not return the completed form to this address.

COLLECT UPDATED EMAIL ADDRESS/CONFIRM EMAIL ADDRESS. CONTINUE TO MORE DETAIL.

MORE DETAIL: FNS is sponsoring a new study to better understand how SNAP agencies are providing case management in their SNAP E&T programs, conducting assessments, and delivering participant reimbursements and other supports after participants are referred to E&T. FNS has contracted with Mathematica to conduct a survey of all 53 SNAP agencies. The information you provide in the survey will be used to inform best practices and support SNAP E&T programs across the country. It will also be included in a [State/territory name] profile as part of the study’s final report.

As a reminder, participation in this study is voluntary. Be assured that there will be no penalties if you decide not to respond, either to the information collection as a whole or to any particular questions. The information you provide will be private and will not be maintained or disclosed in identifiable form to anyone, except as otherwise required by law.

To participate, we are asking you to complete a 45-minute online survey. The survey includes four sections. When you complete the introductory section, you may assign other staff to complete sections 1, 2, and 3. Section 1 asks about case management, Section 2 asks about assessments, and Section 3 asks about participant reimbursements and support services. You may complete those sections yourself, if you prefer. We ask you to please complete at least the introductory section as soon as possible.

Would you like me to ask you the questions from the introductory section now, as we’re already on the phone? It will only take a few minutes.

IF YES: Great! Give me one moment to pull up your survey. For quality assurance purposes, do you mind if I record the interview?

IF RECORDING OKAY: Okay, I’m going to place you on hold briefly to set up the recording. [Instructions: In Jabber window, click Meet Now icon. Have WebEx meeting call you. Join the meeting by pressing 1. In your Jabber window, click the three dots, then select Merge and the caller name/number. After the calls are merged, click record.]

IF RECORDING NOT OKAY: Okay, I understand.

OPEN DATA ENTRY SURVEY URL FOR STATE/TERRITORY AND ADMINISTER ASSIGNED SECTION(S) OVER THE PHONE. IF SNAP DIRECTOR ASSIGNS SECTION 1, 2, OR 3 TO HIM OR HERSELF, ATTEMPT TO COMPLETE THOSE SECTIONS ON THE CALL AS WELL.

CLOSING IF SOME SECTIONS ASSIGNED TO OTHER STAFF: Thank you so much for completing your part of the survey! We will email the other staff you named to give them the link to the survey and ask them to complete their section. It would be great if you could let them know to expect an email from us. We would like them to complete their section of the survey within the next two weeks. After we complete our data collection, we will create a short profile for [State/territory name], which we will share with you for review before the report is final. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you, and thank you again!

CLOSING IF ALL SECTIONS (FULL SURVEY) COMPLETED OVER THE PHONE: Thank you so much for completing [State/territory name]’s survey! For the final report, we will create a short profile for [State/territory name], which we will share with you for review before the report is final. The final thing the study team would like to ask of you now is to provide us with one initial assessment tool commonly used in [STATE NAME] to assess E&T participants’ needs or work readiness, after they are referred to the program. We understand that you might need to reach out to an E&T provider for a copy of an assessment tool. We’d like you to email us this tool as a PDF or Word document. In your email, please tell us how the assessment is used, who administers it, and when in the process it’s administered. I will email you these instructions now. Do you have any questions about this while we’re on the phone? [ANSWER QUESTIONS AS NEEDED.] It’s been a pleasure speaking with you, and thank you again!

IF NO: Okay. The link to the survey is included in the emails we’ve sent you. I’ll resend the link to you now. If you’d like, we can schedule a time for me to call you back to complete the introductory section over the phone.

CONFIRM EMAIL ADDRESS AND RESEND SURVEY URL. ATTEMPT TO CONFIRM RECEIPT WHILE STILL ON PHONE. SCHEDULE CALLBACK TIME (INCLUDING BEST PHONE NUMBER), IF REQUESTED.

CLOSING: It’s been nice speaking with you, and thank you so much for your help with this survey. FNS is really looking forward to seeing the results so that it can better support case management in SNAP E&T. Please try to complete the introductory section of the web survey within the next week. After you do, we will email any staff you designate to complete the other survey sections. It would be helpful if you could let them know that you’re assigning them to complete the survey sections and that they should expect an email from us. We’ll plan to call again in a week if you have not had a chance to complete the introductory section of the survey by then. If you or they have any questions or would rather do any part of the survey over the phone, you can give us a call at [toll-free study number]. After we complete data collection, we will create a short profile for [State/territory name], which we will share with you for review before the report is final. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you, and thank you again!

Call to respondent when assigned section incomplete: Suggested text

Hello, my name is _____________________. I’m calling from Mathematica, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, FNS, to follow up on an email we sent to [respondent name] about the Survey of SNAP Employment & Training, or E&T, Case Management. Could I speak to [respondent name]?

IF RESPONDENT UNAVAILABLE: Okay, what is your name? When is the best time to reach [respondent name]? Is this the best number to call? May I leave a voice message?

IF LEAVING A MESSAGE: This is ­­­­­______________. I’m calling from Mathematica, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, to follow up on an email you received about the Survey of SNAP Employment & Training Case Management. [State/territory SNAP director name] assigned you to complete the section(s) on [case management/assessments/participant reimbursements and support services]. We want to remind you to please complete your section(s) of the survey as soon as possible. It will only take about 13 minutes per section. The link to the survey is in an email from [study email address]. Or, you can call me back to complete the survey over the phone, or to ask me any questions. My name again is _________ and my phone number is [fill study toll-free number]. Thank you for your help with this important survey!

IF CONNECTED TO RESPONDENT: This is ­­­­­______________. I’m calling from Mathematica, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, or FNS, to follow up about the Survey of SNAP Employment & Training, or E&T, Case Management. [State/territory SNAP director name] assigned you to complete the section(s) on [case management/assessments/participant reimbursements and support services]. We have been trying to reach you about this survey since [fill month initial email sent].

FNS is sponsoring a new study to better understand how SNAP agencies are providing case management in their SNAP E&T programs, conducting assessments, and delivering participant reimbursements and other supports after participants are referred to E&T. FNS has contracted with Mathematica to conduct a survey of all 53 SNAP agencies. The information you provide in the survey will be used to inform best practices and lessons learned to support SNAP E&T programs across the country. It will also be included in a [State/territory name] profile as part of the study’s final report.

To participate, we are asking you to complete an online survey. [SNAP director name] has already started the survey and asked that you complete the section(s) about [case management/assessments/participant reimbursements and support services]. Each section takes about 13 minutes. We want to ask you to please complete your assigned section(s) as soon as possible.

Would you like me to ask you the questions from your section(s) now, as we’re already on the phone? It will only take a few minutes.

IF YES: Great! Give me one moment to pull up your survey. For quality assurance purposes, do you mind if I record the interview?

IF RECORDING OKAY: Okay, I’m going to place you on hold briefly to set up the recording. [Instructions: In Jabber window, click Meet Now icon. Have WebEx meeting call you. Join the meeting by pressing 1. In your Jabber window, click the three dots, then select Merge and the caller name/number. After the calls are merged, click record.]

IF RECORDING NOT OKAY: Okay, I understand.

OPEN DATA ENTRY SURVEY URL FOR STATE/TERRITORY AND ADMINISTER ASSIGNED SECTION(S) OVER THE PHONE.

CLOSING IF ASSIGNED SECTION(S) COMPLETED OVER THE PHONE: Thank you so much for completing your part of the survey! [IF ASSESSMENT SECTION COMPLETED: The final thing the study team would like to ask of you now is to provide us with one initial assessment tool commonly used in [STATE NAME] to assess E&T participants’ needs or work readiness, after they are referred to the program. We understand that you might need to reach out to an E&T provider for a copy of an assessment tool. We’d like you to email us this tool as a PDF or Word document. In your email, please tell us how the assessment is used, who administers it, and when in the process it’s administered. I will email you these instructions now.

CONFIRM EMAIL ADDRESS AND SEND ASSESSMENT SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS. ATTEMPT TO CONFIRM RECEIPT WHILE STILL ON PHONE.

Do you have any questions about this while we’re on the phone? [ANSWER QUESTIONS AS NEEDED.]] It’s been a pleasure speaking with you, and thank you again!

IF NO: Okay. The link to the survey is included in the emails we’ve sent you. I’ll resend it to you now. If you’d prefer, we can schedule a time for me to call you back to complete your section(s) over the phone.

CONFIRM EMAIL ADDRESS AND RESEND SURVEY URL. ATTEMPT TO CONFIRM RECEIPT WHILE STILL ON PHONE. SCHEDULE CALLBACK TIME (INCLUDING BEST PHONE NUMBER) IF REQUESTED.

CLOSING: It’s been nice speaking with you, and thank you so much for your help with this survey. FNS is really looking forward to seeing the results so that it can better support the implementation of case management in SNAP E&T. Please try to complete your section(s) of the web survey within the next week. We’ll plan to call again in a week if you have not had a chance to complete the introductory section of the survey by then. If you have any questions or would rather do any part of the survey over the phone, you can call us at [toll-free study number]. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you, and thank you again!