SSB - Prog Supp GenIC - OAW Survey of Resettled Afghans

OAW Survey of Resettled Afghans

Formative Data Collections for Program Support

0970 – 0531

Supporting Statement

Part B – Statistical Methods

March 2022

Submitted By:

Office of Refugee Resettlement

Administration for Children and Families

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

4^th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building

330 C Street, SW

Washington, D.C. 20201

Project Officers:

Ken Tota, Deputy Director

Office of Refugee Resettlement

B1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods

The respondent universe of data collection is 25,483 Principal Applicants (PA), age 18 and older, of Afghan families who have been resettled into local communities under OAW since August 2021 and as of March 1, 2023.

Respondents are not sampled. All 20,150 PAs age 18 and older who have contact information in the Refugee Arrival Data System (RADS), representing about 80% of all Afghan families resettled into the communities, will be invited to participate in the online survey. See section B3 for information about expected response rates.

B2. Procedures for Collection of Information

ORR will send online survey links to all PAs age 18 and older who have contact information on HB through SMS, email, and/or WhatsApp message in respondents’ preferred language (Pashto, Dari, or English). Respondents will then be able to select the survey language and provide their consent to survey participation before they can start the survey. Respondents will be informed of planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private. The survey will be open for one week and a maximum of 3 reminders will be sent if no response is received before the survey closes (Please see Appendix for survey invite and reminder).

B3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with Nonresponse

Expected Response Rates

Very few surveys are comparable to this specific respondent universe with the proposed online survey mode. ORR expects response rates to be around 10%, based on a survey conducted by Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and Immigration Policy Lab which delivered a survey to refugees’ mobile phones through WhatsApp.

Dealing with Nonresponse

Analysis of survey- and item-level non-response bias will be part of the production of analytic files, survey weights, and data documentation. ORR will use administrative data (HB) on the universe of resettled Afghan families to assess non-response bias on observable characteristics. Analytic weights will be used to correct for differential non-response across demographic subgroups, to align the data to known population distributions taken from HB administrative data, and to produce statistically valid point estimates and calculate statistical uncertainty.

Maximizing Response Rates

Survey invites and reminders will be sent in identified native languages of the respondents. SMS and emails will be sent at a culturally appropriate date and time (for example, no survey invitation or reminder will be sent on Fridays). Respondents are able to choose their preferred survey language (Pashto, Dari, and English). Survey questionnaire has been reviewed by internal and external Afghan experts to ensure the questions are linguistically and culturally appropriate, trauma-informed, and gender appropriate. ORR will use multiple venues to disseminate the survey information to increase Afghan evacuees’ awareness of the upcoming survey and to ease any potential concerns on the survey legitimacy when intended PAs receive their survey link through SMS, email, and/or WhatsApp. Information about the survey (such as purpose and timeframe) will be campaigned through venues such as official USG websites, popular social media apps like Facebook or Instagram, CDC provided phones, local WhatsApp groups for Afghan evacuees.

B4. Tests of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken

Test of the procedures and online survey programming will be conducted internally with ORR staff and 2 external Afghan experts. Following OMB approval, we will randomly invite 100 PAs to participate in the survey prior to sending to all PAs to identify any potential major technical glitches.

B5. Individual(s) Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data

Individuals consulted on the statistical aspects of the design

• Claire Adida, PhD

• Daniel Creed, PhD

• Xiayun Tan, PhD

• Joseph Wantz, PhD

Individuals who will collect and analyze the data

• Claire Adida, PhD

• Daniel Creed, PhD

• Iulia Kramar, M.S.

• Xiayun Tan, PhD

• Sara Tompkins, JD

• Joseph Wantz, PhD

• Elizabeth Wojnar, MALD

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