OMB0136_Supporting_StatementA_2020_Focus_Groups

INFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST (ICR):
SUPPORTING STATEMENT
FOCUS GROUPS – GENERIC CLEARANCE
A. Justification
1. Information to be collected and circumstances that makes the collection of
information necessary
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is an independent federal
regulatory agency that was created in 1972 by Congress in the Consumer Product Safety
Act (CPSA). In that law, Congress directed the Commission to “protect the public
against unreasonable risks of injuries and deaths associated with consumer products.”
The Commission is authorized under section 5(a) of the CPSA, 15 U.S.C. 2054(a), to
collect information, conduct research, perform studies and investigations relating to the
causes and prevention of deaths, accidents, injuries, illnesses, other health impairments,
and economic losses associated with consumer products. Section 5(b) of the CPSA, 15
U.S.C. 2054(b), further provides that the Commission may conduct research, studies and
investigations on the safety of consumer products or test consumer products and develop
product safety test methods and testing devices.
In order to better identify and evaluate the risks of product-related incidents, the
Commission staff seeks to solicit and obtain direct feedback from consumers on issues
related to product safety such as recall effectiveness, product use, and perceptions
regarding safety issues. Through participation in certain focus groups, consumers will be
able to answer questions and provide information regarding their actual experiences,
opinions and/or perceptions on various safety issues such as the use or pattern of use of a
specific product or type of product.
In the past, Commission staff has used focus groups to assess consumers’ behavior
related to product recalls. The focus groups were helpful in understanding what type of
information consumers receive and act upon when a recall personally affects them.
Information received from focus groups helps support how and what information is
presented in CPSC recall notices.
2. Use and sharing of collected information
The information collected from Consumer Focus Groups will help shape the
Commission’s evaluation of consumer products and product use by providing insight and
information into consumer perceptions and usage patterns. Such information may also
assist the Commission in its voluntary standards activities, and help staff identify areas
regarding consumer safety issues that need additional research. In addition, the
information will assist with forming new ways of providing user friendly data to
consumers through CPSC’s website and public affairs campaigns.
3. Use of information technology (IT) in information collection

The information collection may be audio and video recorded. The information will be
summarized into a final report. Focus groups may be conducted online as opposed to in
person, when necessary or appropriate.
4. Efforts to identify duplication
The intent of the focus groups is to obtain information that is not readily available
elsewhere. The information collected will not just be hypothetical consumer opinions,
but will be what consumers actually did and thought regarding a specific product issue.
The information collected will include how consumers use CPSC data and information
and how CPSC can make that information more accessible and usable.
5. Impact on small businesses
The information will not be collected from small businesses or other small entities.
Individual consumers will participate in the focus groups.
6. Consequences to Federal program or policy activities if collection is not conducted or
is conducted less frequently
If this information is not collected, the Commission may not have available certain useful
information regarding consumer experiences, opinions, and perceptions related to
specific product use, which the Commission uses, in part, in its ongoing efforts to
improve the safety of consumer products and safety information on behalf of consumers.
Currently, the Commission staff relies on their expert judgment about consumer
behavior, perceptions, and similar information related to consumer products and product
use. Not conducting the information collection activity, therefore, would not reduce the
quality of assessments currently completed by the staff. However, conducting the
information collection activity would likely provide the staff with evidence that would
focus the staff’s assessments, or could provide insight into consumer perceptions and
usage patterns that could not be anticipated by the staff. Hence, conducting the
information collection activity would likely improve the quality of the staff’s
assessments.
7. Special circumstances requiring respondents to report information more often than
quarterly or to prepare responses in fewer than 30 days
Not applicable.
8. Agency’s Federal Register (FR) Notice and related information
An FR notice announcing CPSC’s intent to request an extension of approval of
information collection requirements was published June 15, 2020. 0 comments were
received.

9. Decision to provide payment or gift
It is anticipated that a cash incentive will be provided to participants. It is standard
industry practice to provide monetary incentives to those individuals who participate in
the focus group session, along with meals, snacks and beverages prior to their focus
group. This honoraria covers the cost of transportation to and from the facility, parking,
and childcare (if necessary), as well as compensation for the time they are spending to
attend the group. Without the incentives, the cost for recruitment would increase greatly,
and would likely result in a less diverse group with a lower attendance rate.
10. Assurance of confidentiality
None of the participants will be specifically identified by their full name. To facilitate
open conversations, individual’s first names will be used during the session and therefore
may be recorded on the audio and video tapes. However, the audio and video tapes will
not be released to the public. Only demographic information will be generalized in the
final report and none of the responses in the final report will be attributed to any specific
individual.
The contractor for the focus groups will include specific guidance for the security and
privacy of the participants and their contact information. Upon completion of the
contract the Contractor will be required to return all previously provided databases and
will provide documentation demonstrating that no other copies and references to the
personal data of the potential and actual focus group participants is maintained. Upon
approval of the final report, the Contractor will provide all copies of audio/video data
collected for this contract.
11. Questions of a sensitive nature
Not applicable. The staff will not pose questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual
behavior or attitudes, religious beliefs, or other matters commonly considered private.
12. Estimate of hour burden to respondents
We estimate that CPSC will conduct seven focus groups with a total of 650 participants.
The hourly burden to these respondents will average 3 hours, for a total hourly burden of
1,950 hours. Note that CPSC previously requested a temporary increase in the burden
cap of an additional 1,950 hours and 650 participants to provide sufficient space for
additional focus groups. During this renewal cycle the agency will discontinue focus
groups that are no longer active a return its burden cap back to the original 1,950 hours
and 650 participants. The total cost in estimated hourly wage burden is 1,950 x $34.72
(U.S. Department of Labor, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,” December
2019, Total compensation of private industry workers) = $67,704.
13. Estimate of total annual cost burden to respondents

Not applicable, there are no costs to respondents beyond those listed in section 12 above.
14. Estimate of annualized costs to the Federal government
The total cost of this collection to the federal government is $155,000. This represents 9
months of staff time annually. This sum includes travel costs expended for meeting with
contractors and contracts for conducting focus groups as well as salaries and benefits
($150,318). This estimate uses an annual salary estimate of $137,491 (the equivalent of a
GS-14 Step 5 employee) which represents 68.6 percent of the employer costs for
employee compensation with the additional 31.4 percent added for the costs of benefits
(U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Employer Costs for Employee Compensation,”
December 2019, Table 1, percentage of wages and salaries for all civilian employees), for
a total annual compensation estimate of $200,424.
15. Program changes or adjustments
Burden hours and participants in this request have increased based on agency experience
for the previous three years. The number of focus groups conducted was higher than in
past periods, and the average size of the individual focus groups has also increased. Focus
groups have been and continue to be a vital part of the programs at CPSC.
16. Plans for tabulation and publication
The Commission has no plans to publish this information in a peer reviewed journal;
however, staff reports are typically posted on CPSC’s website. Such reports are
summaries of the focus groups and do not specifically identify any of the participants.
These summaries do not make statistical assertions or implications. Because CPSC does
not plan to disseminate the data collected, the requirements of the OMB and the CPSC
Information Quality Guidelines do not apply.
17. Rationale for not displaying the expiration date for OMB approval
Not applicable.
18. Exception to the certification statement
Not applicable.
B. Statistical Methods – Attached in separate document.