Supporting Statement A_BASE

Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE)

OMB Information Collection Request

New Collection

Supporting Statement

Part A

JULY 2023

Submitted By:

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation

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 Officer: Ann Rivera

Part A

Executive Summary

• Type of Request: This Information Collection Request is for a New Collection. We are requesting 18 months (or 1.5 years) of approval.

• Description of Request: Through this project, the Administration for Children and Families Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation is conducting a study of two statewide center-based and home-based pilot initiatives in Colorado that aim to improve the compensation of the child care and early education (CCEE) workforce. This request is for three categories of data collection. The first category is survey data with CCEE staff to understand the effects of two workforce development initiatives aimed at improving the wages of CCEE workers on their employment, economic, and well-being outcomes. The second category is interviews with a sample of participating workers to understand the operations required to implement these initiatives successfully. Finally, CCEE setting-level costs will be collected in order to understand the costs associated with implementing these initiatives. We do not intend for this information to be used as the principal basis for public policy decisions. The data collected from this study is not meant to be generalized to a broader population.

• Time Sensitivity:

The statewide center-based initiative in Colorado was launched in September 2022. In order to understand the implementation, costs, and interim impacts of this workforce support strategy, it is important to begin collecting information about a year of the launch of the initiative.

A1. Necessity for Collection

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks approval for data collection of surveys, interviews, and cost information to study two pilot initiatives that aim to improve the compensation of child care and early education (CCEE) educators in Colorado, as part of the Building and Sustaining the Child Care and Early Education Workforce (BASE) project. Colorado’s CCEE educators have higher poverty rates than workers from other industries and often rely on public assistance or take a second job to help make ends meet.¹ Low pay also makes it challenging to recruit qualified individuals and to encourage them to stay in CCEE jobs, both of which affect the quality of care and continuity of care provided to children.²

While there is widespread support for increasing compensation for the CCEE workforce, to date, there is no causal evidence that stabilizing or increasing wages of the CCEE workforce can lead to improvements in the recruitment, retention, advancement, and well-being of the CCEE workforce. Further, there is limited empirical information available about the costs and implementation opportunities and challenges of such initiatives to help guide policy and practice and to develop and design scalable initiatives that can effectively support the CCEE workforce.

At the same time, although home-based child care (HBCC), or child care and early education (CCEE) offered in a provider’s or child’s home, is used by millions of families with children in the United States, research on these settings, the individuals who work in these settings, and strategies to support these educators is extremely limited, especially compared to center-based CCEE.³ Educators in HBCC settings face challenges that are different from their peers working in center-based settings. For example, the vast majority of workers in HBCC settings are both providing direct care, alone, and managing their child care business. Furthermore, initiatives to strengthen or sustain HBCC educators must consider that their experiences differ substantially from center-based workers and they have much less access to formal supports.⁴ Therefore, initiatives to increase compensation and retention of HBCC providers require approaches tailored to their experiences.

The Colorado Department of Early Childhood (CDEC) is conducting a livable wage pilot for center-based child care teachers serving children birth through age five (the “center-based pilot initiative”), specifically designed to improve the compensation of lead and assistant teachers in center-based child care settings. Home-based child care settings will be eligible for a different pilot initiative (the “home-based pilot initiative”), specifically designed to improve the compensation of owners and caregivers in those settings. The two Colorado pilot initiatives provide increased monetary resources to eligible CCEE center-based and home-based child care settings that are earmarked for educators’ compensation. In turn, these settings will allocate these resources to CCEE educators’ wages. The two Colorado pilot initiatives provide unique opportunities to build the evidence base about strategies aimed at recruiting, retaining, and advancing the CCEE workforce by improving their compensation and economic well-being. ACF proposes to collect much needed information about costs, implementation, and outcomes to evaluate the effects of a center-based pilot initiative and to improve understanding of implementation and experiences of the initiatives for center- and home-based settings, administrators, teachers, owners, and caregivers. This information will help to inform federal, state, and local policy and practice decisions and the design and implementation of scalable initiatives to support the CCEE workforce.

There are no legal or administrative requirements that necessitate this collection. ACF is undertaking the collection at the discretion of the agency.

A2. Purpose

Purpose and Use

The BASE project aims to study the effects, implementation, and costs of strategies that improve CCEE workforce compensation. Specifically, the project seeks to estimate the impacts of the center-based pilot initiative that aims to improve compensation on employment, economic, and well-being outcomes for lead and assistant teachers in center-based child care settings, and to describe how the home-based pilot initiative targeting home-based child care settings is experienced by owners and caregivers. The BASE project will do so in two ways. First, the BASE project will be leveraging these two pilot initiatives being implemented in Colorado that will randomly select child care center-based and home-based settings to receive additional funding and supports to improve the compensation of teachers, owners, and caregivers. Second, the BASE project will be collecting data about CCEE settings, center directors, center lead and assistant teachers, and home-based owners and caregivers who do and do not receive these initiatives over time to address research questions about CCEE workforce supports, working conditions, and worker experiences, and to measure hypothesized inputs, activities, outputs, and short- and longer-term outcomes in line with the underlying theory of change of the pilot initiatives (see Appendix A).

Implementation and cost data will also be collected to inform the mechanisms and operations of settings that are participating in the pilot initiatives, so that they can be sustained, improved, and potentially scaled and replicated. This information can also help inform federal, state, and local CCEE system policy makers and administrators interested in exploring similar approaches.

The findings will inform ACF efforts to promote and implement workforce development strategies that effectively support the CCEE workforce and will inform future research agendas concerning the recruitment, development and sustainability of the CCEE workforce. More generally, the results from the impact, descriptive, implementation, and cost data are meant to contribute to a body of knowledge about workforce development initiatives that can support the CCEE workforce. The results are not meant to be used as the sole source of information for decision-making about such workforce initiatives, but may help to inform federal, state, and local CCEE system policymakers and administrators interested in exploring, designing, and implementing similar approaches to support the CCEE workforce. 

Impact Study Research Questions about Center-based Settings

This study addresses the following impact research questions in center-based settings:   

• What are the characteristics of settings and teachers that are participating in the center-based pilot initiative? Do the applicants differ from settings and educators that did not elect to apply or receive the center-based pilot initiative?

• What are the effects of the center-based pilot initiative on teachers’ retention, turnover, perceptions of job demands and supports, economic well-being, and psychological well-being? 

• What is the impact of additional funding and supports that aim to improve teachers’ wages on CCEE center-based settings’ staffing configurations, staff retention, stability, and functioning?

• Do the effects of the center-based pilot initiative appear to vary for teachers in different roles and by sociodemographic characteristics in center-based settings?

Descriptive Study Research Questions about Home-based Settings

This study addresses the following descriptive research questions in home-based settings:  

• What are the characteristics of home-based settings, owners, and caregivers that are participating in the home-based pilot initiative?

• How do the characteristics and experiences of home-based settings, owners, and caregivers appear to differ from the center-based settings and educators?

• How does participation in the home-based pilot initiative appear to link with home-based owners and caregivers’ retention, turnover, perceptions of job demands and supports, economic well-being, and psychological well-being?

• How does participation in the home-based pilot initiative appear to link with home-based settings’ staffing configurations, stability, functioning, and working conditions?

Implementation Study Research Questions about Center- and Home-based Settings

Participant Reach and Engagement: How do eligible settings and participants take-up, engage with, and experience the pilot initiatives?

• What is take-up of the pilot initiatives by eligible center-based and home-based settings? What are the experiences of eligible center-based and home-based settings with the recruitment, application, and enrollment activities of the pilot initiatives?

• How do participating settings experience the monthly reporting and monitoring activities of the pilot initiatives? What are the barriers and facilitators associated with the monthly reporting and monitoring activities?

• Among center-based and home-based settings that successfully complete the application process and are selected to receive the pilot initiatives, what is the participation rate of educators in the pilot initiatives? What are the characteristics of settings that apply or do not apply for the pilot initiatives?

• What are the characteristics of educators who opt in or out of the pilot initiatives? How do eligible educators make decisions to opt in and out of the pilot initiatives?

• How do participating educators experience the pilot initiatives over time?

System and Infrastructure Framework: What are the system and infrastructure features that inform the design, start-up, and implementation of the pilot initiatives?

• What are the implementation infrastructures for the pilot initiatives? How is it financed and staffed? What administrative procedures, staff selection, training, staff development, data infrastructures and monitoring procedures are in place?

• What are the inter-agency collaborations and characteristics of the implementing agency(ies) (e.g., organizational staffing and management structures and inter-agency/provider collaborations)? How does the agency(ies) link with other CCEE state, local, provider oversight agencies (e.g., QRIS, child care licensing)?

• What are the challenges and facilitators to implementing the pilot initiatives successfully?

Context: What are the local- and setting-level contextual features that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiatives, and how are the pilot initiatives experienced by educators?

• What are the features of local- and setting-level contexts where the pilot initiatives are being examined (e.g., multi-level factors, such as labor market opportunities in and outside of the CCEE field, density of child care, cost of living, characteristics of population of children and families being served locally and in the settings, working conditions in the setting, etc.)?

• What are the political, social, and economic contexts and setting-level characteristics that support or hinder the viability and implementation of the pilot initiatives?

• What do the pilot initiatives bring in terms of added value, above and beyond existing services and supports in the community and that are offered in the settings?

• How do the pilot initiatives appear to shape other features of the CCEE setting and other surrounding CCEE settings, educators, education settings, and businesses in the local communities?

Cost Study Research Question

• What are the costs associated with delivering the salary increase initiative, including costs to the implementing agency, CCEE settings, and CCEE educators, compared with services as usual?

• Does the implementation of the pilot initiatives lead to any fully or partially offset costs or financial savings when compared to services as usual? What is the economic value of these savings?

Study Design

The CDEC plans to use a lottery process to randomly determine which child care center-based and home-based settings will receive additional funding and supports through the pilot initiatives (intervention condition) and which will not (control condition). Participation in the pilot initiatives will be voluntary. Eligible home-based and center-based settings must apply for the pilot initiatives. Eligible settings include all licensed child care centers and home-based settings with rating levels of 3 to 5 according to the state’s quality rating and improvement system (QRIS), Colorado Shines, and at least 40 percent of children enrolled in the center receive child care subsidies from the Colorado Child Care Program Assistance Program (CCCAP), which helps families living at or near poverty with child care financial assistance. All lead and assistant teachers in infant, toddler, and preschool classrooms who are working at least 16 hours or more in selected centers will be able to take part in the center-based pilot initiative. All owners and caregivers in home-based child care settings are eligible to take part in the home-based pilot initiative.

If selected through the lottery process into the intervention condition, centers will receive additional monthly resources that are earmarked for compensation that are to be paid out by the centers to lead and assistant teachers in the setting. Likewise, if selected through the lottery process into the intervention condition, home-based child care settings will receive additional resources to help improve compensation for home-based child care owners and caregivers. These selected center-based and home-based child care settings will be required by CDEC to complete monthly updates about the staff on payroll and the hours they worked.

The BASE project will collect cost, implementation, and outcome data for center-based and home-based settings and CCEE workers who do and do not receive the pilot initiatives. The number of center-based child care settings participating in the lottery process and selected to receive the center-based pilot initiative will be sufficiently large to allow for rigorously studying the effects of the resources and supports on setting and teacher outcomes over a longitudinal follow-up period. A smaller number of home-based child care settings are expected to be eligible for the home-based pilot initiative. Because of this, the potential sizes of the groups of home-based child care settings selected to receive the pilot initiative or not will not be sufficient to allow for rigorously estimating the effects of the home-based pilot initiative, but can be leveraged to describe how the pilot initiative is experienced and associated with caregiver outcomes over a longitudinal follow-up period. The results of this study will help inform whether and how initiatives aimed at improving the compensation of center-based lead and assistant teachers and home-based owners and caregivers can affect or are linked with their recruitment, retention, and economic and psychological well-being.

Proposed data collection activities and instruments are as follows:

Impact Study: Follow-up Surveys (Instrument 1 and 2) of center directors and lead and assistant teachers across research conditions will be fielded approximately 9 and 18 months after the start of the center-based pilot initiative (i.e., in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024). The sampling frame for the follow-up surveys is expected to be all center directors and lead and assistant teachers across research conditions in centers that completed the applications and were randomly assigned. As described in Section B3, the surveys will be collected across research conditions. The surveys aim to capture economic and psychological wellbeing outcomes, as well as job-related outcomes for center directors and lead and assistant teachers that are hypothesized to be affected by the center-based pilot initiative in line with the theory of change. The surveys also aim to capture the contextual features of settings and work experiences in these settings that might shape the impacts of the center-based pilot initiative across research conditions. For those in the intervention condition, the surveys will also aim to capture the implementation experiences with the pilot initiative.

Descriptive Study: Follow-up Survey (Instrument 3) of home-based child care owners and caregivers across research conditions will be fielded approximately 9 and 18 months after the start of the home-based pilot initiative (i.e., in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024). The sampling frame for the follow-up survey is expected to be all owners and caregivers in home-based settings across research conditions that completed the applications and were randomly assigned. As described in Section B3, this survey aims to capture economic and psychological wellbeing and job-related outcomes for settings, owners, and caregivers that are hypothesized to be affected by the home-based pilot initiative in line with the theory of change. The survey also aims to capture contextual features of settings and work experiences in these settings that might shape the influence of the pilot initiative across research conditions. For the intervention condition, the survey will also aim to capture the implementation experiences with the home-based pilot initiative and contextual features of settings that may inhibit or facilitate the viability and implementation of the home-based pilot initiative.

Implementation Study: Interview Protocols (Instruments 4 and 5) with a sample of center directors and lead and assistant teachers in the intervention condition will be fielded approximately 9 months after the start of the center-based pilot initiative (i.e., Fall 2023). The sampling frame for the implementation study protocols is all center directors and lead and assistant teachers in centers that were randomly assigned to the intervention condition. To identify this sample, a subset of center directors and lead and assistant teachers will be selected based on county, center size, and engagement in the center-based pilot initiative. As described in Section B3, this one-on-one interview is meant to capture implementation experiences with the pilot initiative, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs about the pilot initiative, and how the setting features may shape the viability, implementation, and experiences with the initiative. In addition, a small number of center directors who started, but did not complete the application for the pilot initiative, and teachers who opted out of the pilot initiative, will also be selected for the interviews. This interview protocol will also focus on reasons why some center directors did not apply for the pilot initiative and the reasons why some lead and assistant teachers opted out of the pilot initiative.

Implementation Study: Interview Protocols (Instrument 6) with a sample of home-based care owners and caregivers in the intervention condition will be fielded approximately 9 months after the start of the home-based pilot initiative (i.e., Fall 2023). The sampling frame for the implementation study protocols is all owners and caregivers in home-based settings that were randomly assigned to the intervention condition. To identify this sample, a subset of home-based care owners and caregivers will be selected based on county, home-based setting size, and engagement in the home-based pilot initiative. As described in Section B3, this one-on-one interview is meant to capture implementation experiences with the pilot initiative, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs about the pilot initiative, and how the setting features may shape the viability, implementation, and experiences with the pilot initiative. In addition, a small number of home-based care owners who started, but did not complete the application for the pilot initiative, will also be selected for the interviews. This interview protocol will also focus on reasons why some home-based child care owners did not apply for the pilot initiative and the reasons why some caregivers decided to opt out of the pilot initiative.

Implementation Study: Interview Protocol (Instrument 7) with a sample of key informants in Colorado implementing agencies in the design, implementation, and monitoring of the center-based and home-based pilot initiatives will be fielded approximately 9 months after the start of the pilot initiatives (i.e., Fall 2023). The sample will be selected based on referrals from the Colorado Department of Early Childhood, Early Childhood/Child Care Workforce Department of state-level staff or partnering organizations who contributed to the design, implementation, and monitoring of the pilot initiatives. As described in Section B3, this one-on-one interview is meant to capture the state and local political, social, and economic contextual features and implementing agency features and experiences in development, start-up, and implementation of the pilot initiatives.

Cost Study: Cost Workbook (Instrument 8) with a sample of center-based directors or administrators across research conditions will be fielded approximately 9 months after the start of the center-based pilot initiative (i.e., Fall 2023). The sampling frame for the cost workbook is all centers that were randomly assigned. To identify this sample, a subset of center directors or administrators will be selected based on county and center size. As described in Section B3, this workbook aims to detail the costs associated with teacher recruitment and turnover when operating a child care center-based setting and delivering its services.

The surveys, interviews, and cost workbook are not intended to be generalizable to all CCEE settings in the U.S. or even in the state of Colorado. The sample and data collected are intended to be representative of CCEE center-based and home-based settings with a 3- to 5-star Colorado Shines rating with 40 percent or more of children enrolled receiving child care subsidies in Colorado. The sample of lead and assistant teachers is sufficiently large to estimate the impacts of the center-based pilot initiative at the educator level. At the center-based setting level, however, the sample is not large enough to draw rigorous evidence. For home-based settings, owners, and caregivers, the samples are also not large enough to calculate reliable estimates of impact. The results at the center-based and home-based setting levels and at the level of home-based owners and caregivers should therefore be considered descriptive and exploratory, as mentioned in Section B1. The interviews and cost workbook will only be conducted with a subsample of study participants to reduce participant burden. As such, these results should also only be considered exploratory and not generalizable. These shortcomings of the research will be explicitly detailed in any publications that may come from this project.

Approval is requested for 8 data collection instruments, detailed in Exhibit A2.1.

Exhibit A2.1. Data Collection Instruments

Study Phase	Instruments	Respondent, Content, Purpose of Collection	Mode and Duration
Impact study	Instrument 1: Follow-up Center Director Survey	Respondents: Center directors across research conditions Content: Questions cover sociodemographic characteristics, mental and economic well-being, professional background, various work-related measures such as position and role, job demands and supports, working conditions, professional development, turnover, and workplace culture/climate, and experiences with the pilot initiative (asked of respondents in the intervention condition) Purpose: To describe contextual characteristics that may shape the viability and implementation of the center-based pilot initiative, to describe implementation experiences with the pilot initiative (in the intervention condition), and to measure setting-level outcomes to rigorously assess the impacts of the pilot initiative	Mode: Online, Phone, or In-person Duration: 45 minutes
Impact study	Instrument 2: Follow-up Lead and Assistant Teacher Survey	Respondents: Center-based lead and assistant teachers across research conditions Content: Questions cover sociodemographic characteristics, mental and economic well-being, professional background, various work-related measures such as position and role, job demands and supports, working conditions, professional development, turnover, and workplace culture/climate, and experiences with the center-based pilot initiative (asked of respondents in the intervention condition) Purpose: To describe contextual characteristics that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiative, to describe implementation experiences with the pilot initiative (in the intervention condition), and to measure setting-level outcomes to rigorously assess the impacts of the pilot initiative	Mode: Online, Phone, or In-person Duration: 45 minutes
Descriptive study	Instrument 3: Follow-up Home-Based Owner and Caregiver Survey	Respondents: Home-based owners and caregivers across research conditions Content: Questions cover sociodemographic characteristics, mental and economic well-being, professional background, various work-related measures such as position and role, job demands and supports, working conditions, professional development, turnover, and workplace culture/climate, and experiences with the home-based pilot initiative (asked of respondents in the intervention condition) Purpose: To describe contextual setting information that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiative, to describe implementation experiences with the pilot initiative (in the intervention condition), and to measure educator-level outcomes to assess the exploratory impacts of the pilot initiative	Mode: Online, Phone, or In-person Duration: 45 minutes
Implementation study	Instrument 4: One-on-One Center Director Interview	Respondents: Center directors in the intervention condition and who did not apply for the center-based pilot initiative Content: Protocol covers implementation experiences with the intervention, contextual information that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiative, perceptions about the pilot initiative, attitudes, beliefs and expectations about the pilot initiative and CCEE Purpose: To describe contextual characteristics that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiative, to describe implementation experiences, expectations, and alignment of the pilot initiative with the needs and strengths of the CCEE workforce and settings	Mode: Phone/ Videoconference Duration: 1.0 hour
Implementation study	Instrument 5: One-on-One Lead and Assistant Teacher Interview	Respondents: Center-based lead and assistant teachers in the intervention condition who did and did not opt out of the center-based pilot initiative Content: Protocol covers implementation experiences with the pilot initiative, contextual information that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiative, perceptions about the pilot initiative, attitudes, beliefs and expectations about the pilot initiative and CCEE Purpose: To describe contextual characteristics that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiative, to describe implementation experiences, expectations, and alignment of the pilot initiative with the needs and strengths of the CCEE workforce and settings	Mode: Phone/ Videoconference Duration: 1.0 hour
Implementation study	Instrument 6: One-on-One Home-Based Owner and Caregiver Interview	Respondents: Home-based child care owners and caregivers in the intervention condition and owners who did not apply for the home-based pilot initiative and caregivers who did and did not opt out of the pilot initiative Content: Protocol covers implementation experiences and costs associated with home-based pilot initiative, contextual information that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiative, perceptions about the pilot initiative, attitudes, beliefs and expectations about the pilot initiative and CCEE Purpose: To describe contextual characteristics that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiative, to describe implementation experiences, expectations, and alignment of the pilot initiative with the needs and strengths of the CCEE workforce and settings	Mode: Phone/ Videoconference Duration: 1.5 hours
Implementation Study	Instrument 7: One-on-One Key Informant Interviews	Respondents: Staff in implementing agencies Content: Protocol covers implementation experiences with the center- and home-based pilot initiatives, state and local political, social, and economic contextual features and implementing agency features and experiences in development, start-up, and implementation of the pilot initiatives Purpose: To describe contextual characteristics that may shape the viability and implementation of the pilot initiatives, to describe implementation experiences, and to identify barriers and facilitators of implementation	Mode: Phone/ Videoconference Duration: 1.0 hour
Cost study	Instrument 8: Center-based Setting Costs Workbook	Respondents: Center-based directors or administrators across research conditions Content: Protocols will focus on gathering information and providing technical assistance to support administrators in using the cost workbook. Cost workbook questions center around materials and time, and costs associated with implementing the center-based pilot initiative (asked of respondents in the intervention condition); staff recruitment, training, and vacancies; staff salaries; and other possible costs that it takes to address teacher vacancies Purpose: To collect information about setting costs associated with implementing the pilot initiative, as well as to collect information about the operating costs associated with teacher and assistant teacher recruitment, retention, and turnover in center-based settings to describe how these costs may differ across research conditions	Mode: Videoconference/ Online Duration: 5 hours

Other Data Sources and Uses of Information

The state of Colorado already has administrative data via the Linked Information Network of Colorado (LINC) Early Care and Education Workforce Project, which links data sources from four state agencies: the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS), the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE), the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE), and the Colorado Department of Education (CDE) to provide comprehensive data on the CCEE workforce (LeBoeuf and Kennedy, 2020).⁵ The LINC data includes the following information, along with LINC-created identifiers for individuals and employers:

ECE Professionals Data is compiled from multiple administrative sources, including the Colorado Shines Professional Development Information System (PDIS), Background Investigation Unit (BIU) data, and the Colorado Shines Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) data system.

Setting Type Data is created from monthly QRIS data on service type, providers quality rating, and county-level location of all licensed child care settings in Colorado.

Postsecondary Degrees Data includes all students who have received a certificate, degree, or formal award approved by the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE).

Postsecondary Enrollment Data includes end-of-term enrollment data on all students enrolled in Colorado public, postsecondary education institutions and participating private institutions.

Unemployment Insurance Wage Data identify quarterly wages paid by employers that are required to report to the state.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) data to identify SNAP receipt and benefit amounts.

The CDEC is also collecting specific information as part of the implementation of the center-based and home-based pilot initiatives, which will also be included in the LINC Early Care and Education Workforce Project. This includes:

1. Application forms collected by the CDEC from eligible center-based and home-based settings to determine eligibility for the pilot initiatives, including information about which eligible centers and home-based settings partially completed or did not start an application;

2. Surveys from center directors, home-based owners, lead and assistant teachers, and home-based caregivers in eligible child care settings prior to conducting the lottery process to select settings to receive the pilot initiatives;

3. Monthly updates about the staffing configurations from center-based and home-based settings participating in the pilot initiatives, including information on which teachers or caregivers opted in or out of the pilot initiatives; and

4. Exit interviews with teachers that leave intervention centers.

As part of the BASE project, cost information will also be collected from state-level implementing agencies and from local home-based child care owners that capture the costs associated with implementing the pilot initiatives and other possible costs associated with operating home-based child care settings. This information will be collected with two different protocols by interviewing fewer than 9 people with each protocol. Through this process, the same information will not be requested from more than 9 people, and therefore the activity is not subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The existing data described above available via the LINC Early Care and Education Workforce Project will be used to describe the study sample, to identify centers and home-based child care settings that did not complete an application, to identify teachers and caregivers that opt-out of the pilot initiative, to define key subgroups of interest, and as covariates in analyses of the effects of the pilot initiatives on outcomes of interest. The implementation data (i.e., monthly updates, exit interviews) that the CDEC collects as part of the delivery of the pilot initiatives will also be leveraged to inform participation rates and levels of engagement in the pilot initiatives by eligible child care settings and educators. The longitudinal administrative data will supplement the survey data for the estimation of impacts of the initiative. For example, the UI wage records will capture quarterly earnings over the follow-up period for employment in UI-covered jobs. However, those data do not capture hourly wages or hours worked per week, as will be captured in the survey. SNAP data will be used to assess impacts on SNAP receipt and benefit amounts over the follow-up period. PDIS data will provide information on teacher retention for all teachers within a setting, but will not provide any information on working conditions in those settings. This will complement information collected under the BASE project to assess the impacts, implementation, and the costs of the pilot initiatives.

A3. Use of Information Technology to Reduce Burden

With the exception of the implementation interviews, all of the impact and cost surveys can be completed online or electronically, which allows for skip logic and validated responses to ensure accuracy of data, as well as allows participants to complete the instruments on their own time when it is convenient for them. The interviews will occur by phone or videoconference, but will also use technology to aid in data collection, such as through the use of audio recordings to allow for a more natural, expedited interview that is not interrupted by notetaking.

A4. Use of Existing Data: Efforts to reduce duplication, minimize burden, and increase utility and government efficiency

The research team will use the quantitative data collected through LINC Early Care and Education Workforce Project to reduce the amount of data collected from participants during the follow-up surveys. See Section A2, Other Data Sources and Uses of Information for additional information.

To date, no study has systematically tested the effects of an initiative that aims to improve compensation of the CCEE workforce in center-based child care settings via random assignment, nor have implementation studies and cost studies about these types of strategies in CCEE settings been conducted. There is also no study to date of an initiative in home-based child care settings that aims to improve the compensation of the CCEE workforce. The data collection proposed here represents an effort to merge together federal, state, and local shared interests in recruiting, retaining, and advancing the CCEE workforce. As aforementioned in Section A2, CDEC is implementing the pilot initiatives irrespective of this data collection, thus it would be economical to build on this opportunity to evaluate the pilot initiatives given their relevance to federal and state interests in approaches that help to reduce high turnover rates in CCEE. Additionally, by utilizing the LINC data (detailed in Section A2), we are relying on existing data and have ensured our measures do not request duplicate information that can be gleaned from the administrative data.

A5. Impact on Small Businesses

The data collection efforts outlined here will involve small businesses, such as center-based and home-based child care settings that are independently operated. Efforts will be taken to minimize the burden on these small businesses, such as scheduling in-person/videoconference data collection at a convenient time for them, as well as offering online surveys (and costs workbook) as the main impact and cost analyses, which can be completed on their own time with breaks in between, if needed.

A6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

With the exception of the follow-up surveys of center directors, home-based owners, lead and assistant teachers, and home-based caregivers, this is a one-time data collection. The follow-up surveys are anticipated to be collected at two points in time to understand the longitudinal effects of the pilot initiatives about 9 and 18 months after the pilot initiatives are launched. The information cannot be collected with less frequent data collection.

A7. Now subsumed under 2(b) above and 10 (below)

A8. Consultation

Federal Register Notice and Comments

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), ACF published a notice in the Federal Register announcing the agency’s intention to request an OMB review of this information collection activity. This notice was published on May 15, 2023, Volume 88, Number 93, page 30,979, and provided a sixty-day period for public comment. During the notice and comment period, we did not receive comments.

Consultation with Experts Outside of the Study

Academic experts and practice and policy experts who provided valuable feedback to inform the design, sampling strategy, and data collection protocols are listed in Table A8.1. These individuals were consulted in separate small group or one-on-one discussions with the research team members. Each of the discussions focused on different topics and were anchored by different sets of questions.

Table A8.1. Names of Experts Consulted Outside of the Study

Name	Position & Affiliation	Areas of Expertise
Lea Austin	Executive Director, Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkely	U.S. early care and education system and its workforce; workforce compensation, preparation, working conditions, and racial equity; the effects of COVID-19 on the child care workforce
Angela Ben-Zekry	Early Care and Education Recruitment and Retention Manager, Colorado Department of Early Childhood	Colorado child care and early care and education policies, programs, workforce, and workforce development strategies
Allyson Dean	Executive Director, EarlyEdU Alliance at the University of Washington (formerly at Zero to Three)	Training and technical assistance; applied research in CCEE; evaluation of early childhood systems
Harriet Dichter	Consulting Director of Early Education Services, ICF	Early childhood policy, strategy, and partnership
Kerry-Ann Escayg	Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska Omaha	Anti-racism in early childhood education; children and race
Linda Espinosa	Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri, Columbia	Early childhood education; dual language learners
Stephenie Hickman	Early Childhood/Child Care Workforce Manager, Colorado Department of Early Childhood	Colorado child care and early care and education policies, programs, workforce, and workforce development strategies
Whitney LeBoeuf	Director of Data Integration and Analytics and Linked Information Network Colorado, Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab, University of Denver	Social policy research and data sharing to inform policy and program improvement
Alexandra MacCarty	Grant Program Supervisor, MetrixIQ	Colorado early care and education grant program implementation and monitoring processes
Kristi Resler	Grants Program Manager, Colorado Department of Early Childhood	Colorado early care and education program implementation and monitoring processes
Diana Schaack	Assistant Professor, University of Colorado, Denver	Early childhood education policy and workforce issues
Holli Tonyan	Professor, California State University, Northridge	In-home non-parental child care; mixed-methods, observational methods, and exploratory/graphic data analysis
Noreen Yazejian	Senior Research Scientist, Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina	Early childhood program evaluation; large-scale, multi-site research

A9. Tokens of Appreciation

Monetary tokens of appreciation for research participants are a commonly used method across research studies to show appreciation to research participants, to facilitate recruitment, and to meet sample size goals.⁶ We propose offering tokens of appreciation to maximize responses to the follow-up surveys by center directors and lead and assistant teachers in center-based settings to ensure that the responding sample and resulting data are representative of the randomized sample. Minimizing nonresponse is critically important for impact studies like the center-based pilot initiative. To produce internally valid estimates of the center-based pilot initiative’s impact, it is important to secure participation from as many lead and assistant teachers as possible, including those employed by centers in the intervention group and those in the control group. We propose also providing this token of appreciation to the center directors, so that all respondents within the same center have the potential to receive the same token of appreciation amount. The tokens are intended to offset costs of participation in the study, such as childcare, technology costs, or other expenses. Data collection activities may occur outside of work hours. The tokens are intended to help ensure against non-response bias by supporting the participation of individuals with more constraints on their ability to participate.

Specifically, we propose that respondents that complete the survey via the web-based format within the first two weeks of data collection and prior to the start of out bound outreach via email or mail, will receive a $10 “early bird” token of appreciation in addition to an honorarium (see Exhibit A.13.1). Respondents that have not completed the survey with only two weeks of data collection remaining in the fielding window will be offered a $10 “late bird” token of appreciation for completing the survey prior to the end of the data collection period. Thus, respondents that complete the survey during the first two weeks or the last two weeks of data collection will receive $10 total as tokens of appreciation. Tokens of appreciation such as these have been shown to be effective in boosting initial response rates and thus reducing costs as fewer cases require phone and field follow-up.⁷

A10. Privacy: Procedures to protect privacy of information, while maximizing data sharing

Personally Identifiable Information

The following Personally Identifiable Information (PII) will be collected. This information is necessary to follow-up with the sample members and to understand some basic demographic information about the sample.

Center-based directors, center-based lead and assistant teachers, and home-based owners and caregivers: name, phone number (work or personal), email address and home address will be collected to capture contact information for data collection activities. Age, gender, and race/ethnicity will also be collected to understand the demographic characteristics of participants. Survey files including both PII and survey responses will be stripped of the PII after the data collection. If needed, the survey responses will be linked to the contact information file using a unique, randomly generated ID. The individual will also be able to provide whatever email they want to receive their honoraria.

Staff at implementing agencies: name, work phone number, and work email address will be collected to capture contact information for the key informant interview data collection.

Assurances of Privacy

Information collected will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Respondents will be informed of all planned uses of data, that their participation is voluntary, and that their information will be kept private to the extent permitted by law. Audio recordings from interviews will only be obtained with the participants’ expressed permission before the interview begins. They may revoke this permission at any time. As specified in the contract, the Contractor will comply with all Federal and Departmental regulations for private information.

At least some of the information collected under this ICR will likely be retrieved by an individual’s personal identifier in a way that triggers the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended (5 U.S.C. 552a). The

system of records notice (SORN) for this collection will be OPRE Research and Evaluation Project Records, 09-80-0361. Each individual will be provided with information that complies with 552a(e)(3) prior to requesting information that will be placed into that system of records. This means respondents will receive information about the authority, the purposes for use, the routine uses, that the request is voluntary, and any effects of not providing the requested information.

Due to the sensitive nature of this research (see A.11 for more information), the evaluation has obtained a Certificate of Confidentiality. The Certificate of Confidentiality helps to assure participants that their information will be kept private to the fullest extent permitted by law.

Data Security and Monitoring

As specified in the contract, the Contractor shall protect respondent privacy to the extent permitted by law and will comply with all Federal and Departmental regulations for private information. The Contractor is developing a Data Safety and Monitoring Plan that assesses all protections of respondents’ PII. The Contractor shall ensure that all of its employees, subcontractors (at all tiers), and employees of each subcontractor, who perform work under this contract/subcontract, are trained on data privacy issues and comply with the above requirements. 

As specified in the evaluator’s contract, the Contractor shall use Federal Information Processing Standard compliant encryption (Security Requirements for Cryptographic Module, as amended) to protect all instances of sensitive information during storage and transmission. The Contractor shall securely generate and manage encryption keys to prevent unauthorized decryption of information, in accordance with the Federal Processing Standard.  The Contractor shall: ensure that this standard is incorporated into the Contractor’s property management/control system; establish a procedure to account for all laptop computers, desktop computers, and other mobile devices and portable media that store or process sensitive information. Any data stored electronically will be secured in accordance with the most current National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requirements and other applicable Federal and Departmental regulations. In addition, the Contractor must submit a plan for minimizing to the extent possible the inclusion of sensitive information on paper records and for the protection of any paper records, field notes, or other documents that contain sensitive or PII that ensures secure storage and limits on access.  

A11. Sensitive Information ⁸

In line with the pilot initiatives’ theories of change, a few pieces of sensitive information plan to be collected as part of this data collection effort, namely information regarding income, public assistance receipt, psychological well-being, perceptions of working conditions, and experiences with discrimination in the workplace settings. These questions will be answered in a self-administered format to the extent possible, which should minimize discomfort. The introductions to each survey will state that their participation is voluntary, they may skip any questions they do not wish to answer, their answers will be protected to the extent permitted by law, and that their responses will not affect their job. Because a goal of the pilot initiatives is to improve the economic well-being of CCEE educators, ascertaining whether educators need to rely on public assistance is one way of understanding how the pilot initiatives shape their sources of income and economic well-being. If there are significantly lower rates in the proportion of educators who use some form of public assistance in the sample of educators in the intervention condition compared with the control condition, that is an important finding about how the pilot initiatives shape the economic well-being of educators.

Psychological well-being is also an important construct to consider with respect to the pilot initiatives, because wages and satisfaction with one’s job are extremely connected to things like depression and burnout, so these sensitive aspects of well-being are important to understand if they change with a change in wages. If wages positively affect economic well-being but turnover still occurs at high rates, it is essential to know whether unchanged psychological well-being is the culprit for the persistent turnover rates, as it would indicate wages alone are insufficient at preventing turnover.

In line with OMB’s guidance,⁹ the gender identity of center-based teachers and home-based owners and caregivers is also an important construct to capture in order to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of the CCEE workforce. This information will be collected to describe the sample of center-based teachers and home-based owners and caregivers participating in the pilot initiatives and in the study sample.

Finally, racial discrimination and trauma are certainly sensitive topics, however they represent a factor that can influence workforce dynamics in ways that might alter the effect of the pilot initiatives on retention. For instance, if the pilot initiative is implemented, but educators are experiencing racial discrimination, an improvement in compensation may not have much of an effect on retention because it does not affect the larger issue of discrimination that could be driving turnover.

The BASE project and the impact, descriptive, implementation, and costs studies have received IRB approval (see Appendix C). The finalized instruments will be submitted for IRB approval prior to the collection of these data.

A12. Burden

Explanation of Burden Estimates

This information collection request covers a period of 1.5 years.  

 

The estimated annual burden for respondents is shown in Table A12.1. We estimated burden for the surveys by considering the number and type of items and by including some time for respondents to review the consent form. For the interviews, we estimated burden by considering the number and type of questions and by including some time to allow for respondents to ask questions. The costs workbook assumes time for respondents to complete the workbook, as well as time necessary to identify the appropriate respondent for the cost workbook. This includes time to review instructions, to find and review documentation to respond to cost-related questions, complete the workbook, and to participate in an approximately 30-minute technical assistance call to meet with a cost study team member to review their responses. The numbers of respondents listed in Table A12.1 assume full responses from all eligible participants to ensure that burden is not underestimated.

Estimated Annualized Cost to Respondents

The estimated annual cost for respondents is shown in Exhibit A12.1. The source for the mean hourly wage information for each respondent type is the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2022. In instances where respondents with different wages are provided with the same instrument, the average across the two hourly wages was utilized.

• For center directors, the mean hourly wage of $29.15 was used, based on the wage for education and childcare administrators in preschool and child care centers and programs in Colorado (11-9031 Education and Childcare Administrators, Preschool and Daycare; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_co.htm#25-0000).

• For lead and assistant teachers in center-based care, the mean hourly wage of $18.20 was used, based on the average between the mean hourly wage for preschool teachers in Colorado ($19.56) (25-2011 Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_co.htm#25-0000) and the mean hourly wage for child care workers in Colorado ($16.84) (39-9011 Childcare Workers; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_co.htm#25-0000).

• For home-based owners and caregivers, the mean hourly wage of $16.84 was used, based on the wage for child care workers in Colorado (39-9011 Childcare Workers; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_co.htm#25-0000).

• For the state-level implementers, which consists of a variety of roles within the state government, the mean hourly wage of $40.39 was used, based on the average between the mean hourly wage of educational advisors in Colorado ($29.23) (21-1012 Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors; https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_co.htm#25-0000 ), as well as the mean hourly wage of $51.54 for general and operations managers within the state government industry (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics4_999200.htm#11-0000).

Table A12.1 Annual Burden and Cost Estimates 

Instrument	No. of Respondents (total over request period)	No. of Responses per Respondent (total over request period)	Avg. Burden per Response (in hours)	Total Burden (in hours)	Annual Burden (in hours)	Average Hourly Wage Rate	Total Annual Respondent Cost
1. Follow-up center director survey	75	2	0.75	112.5	75	$29.15	$2186.25
2. Follow-up lead and assistant teacher survey	1000	2	0.75	1500	1000	$18.20	$18200.00
3. Follow-up home-based owner and caregiver survey	95	2	0.75	142.5	95	$16.84	$1599.80
4. One-on-one center director interview	15	1	1	15	10	$29.15	$291.50
5. One-on-one lead and assistant teacher interview	25	1	1	25	17	$18.20	$309.40
6. One-on-one home-based owner and caregiver interview	25	1	1.5	37.5	25	$16.84	$421.00
7. One-on-one key informant interview	5	1	1	5	3	$40.39	$121.17
8. Center-based setting costs workbook	16	1	5	80	53	$29.15	$1544.95
Totals				1917.5	1278		24,674.07

A13. Costs

The information collection will ask participating staff to provide their professional expertise for this study. To recognize their time and professional expertise, we propose honoraria for all professional staff – center-based directors, home-based owners, lead and assistant teachers, and home-based caregivers – who participate in the planned information collection activities. These honoraria are in addition to the tokens of appreciation described above and are intended to recognize staff efforts to support a timely and high-quality data collection. We are aware that CCEE staff are the targets of numerous requests to complete data collection instruments on a wide variety of topics from state and district offices, independent researchers, and education departments. High response rates are needed to make the study measures reliable and offering honoraria for staff and teachers will help ensure high response rates. In fact, the importance of providing data collection honoraria in federal studies has been described by other researchers, given the recognized burden and need for high response rates.¹⁰

Proposed honoraria are shown in Exhibit A.13.1 below. For surveys, CDEC will provide 1 professional development credit per respondent for completion of a survey. If the CCEE center allows, honoraria also will be provided in the form of a gift code by email. For surveys, we propose offering a gift code valued at $40 for each completion.

For the interviews, we propose offering a gift code valued at $50 for each completion, and for the center-based setting costs workbook, we propose a gift code valued at $250 for the center.

Table A13.1. Proposed Honoraria for Respondents  

Research Activity	Length	Honoraria Amounts	Timing
1. Follow-up Center Director Survey (Instrument 1)	45 minutes	One professional development credit and $40 per survey	Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
2. Follow-up Lead and Assistant Teacher Survey (Instrument 2)	45 minutes	One professional development credit and $40 per survey	Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
3. Follow-up Home-based Owner and Caregiver Survey (Instrument 3)	45 minutes	One professional development credit and $40 per survey	Fall 2023 and Spring 2024
4. One-on-One Center Director Interview (Instrument 4)	1.0 hours	$50 per interview	Fall/Winter 2023
5. One-on-One Lead and Assistant Teacher Interview (Instrument 5)	1.0 hours	$50 per interview	Fall/Winter 2023
6. One-on-One Home-based Owner and Caregiver Interview (Instrument 6)	1.5 hours	$50 per interview	Fall/Winter 2023
7. One-on-One Key Informant Interview (Instrument 7)	1.0 hours	N/A	Fall 2023
8. Center-based Setting Costs Workbook (Instrument 8)	5 hours	$250 per workbook	Fall/Winter 2023

A14. Estimated Annualized Costs to the Federal Government

The annual estimated costs for data collection activities under this request will be $1,193,333.33. These costs include labor costs for staff associated with field work/data collection, data processing and analysis, publications and dissemination, as well as other expenses, such as software for supporting the administration of the instruments, printing of instruments, which would not have been incurred without this collection of the instruments. See Exhibit A14.1 for details regarding these estimated costs.

Exhibit A14.1 Estimated Costs to the Federal Government

Cost Category	Estimated Costs
Field Work	1,200,000
Analysis	$330,000
Publications/Dissemination	$260,000
Total costs over the request period	$1,790,000
Annual costs	$1,193,333.33

A15. Reasons for changes in burden

This is a new information collection request.

A16. Timeline

Exhibit A16.1 provides the anticipated time schedule for this information request, pending OMB approval. Ideally, data collection would begin in October 2023, nine months after the start of the wage increase initiative.

 

Exhibit A16.1 Anticipated Timeline 

Activity	Anticipated Dates
Data Collection
Surveys with center-based directors and lead and assistant teachers, and home-based owners and caregivers for follow-up 1 (Instruments 1 through 3)	October 2023-January 2024
Conduct interviews with center directors, lead and assistant teachers, home-based owners and caregivers, and key informants (Instruments 4 through 7)	October 2023-January 2024
Collect center cost information from center directors and administrators (Instrument 8)	October 2023-January 2024
Surveys with center-based directors and lead and assistant teachers, and home-based owners and caregivers for follow-up 2 (Instruments 1 through 3)	April-June 2024
Analysis and Reporting
Weekly analysis and reporting of recruitment and completion of data collection activities	October 2023-November 2024
Reports/briefs	June 2024-February 2025
Data files archived for public use	March 2025

In addition, the project team will prepare comprehensive reports and briefs that address the research questions described above. The project team will also prepare data files and relevant documentation to be archived in a restricted-access environment, which will be made available to other researchers to fully explore the range of issues of policy and programmatic importance.

A17. Exceptions

No exceptions are necessary for this information collection.

Attachments

Appendix A: Colorado Pilot Initiatives’ Theory of Change for Center-based and Home-based Child Care and Early Education (CCEE) Settings

Appendix B: Example of Recruitment Materials

Appendix C: Consent Forms Compilation

Appendix D: BASE Project IRB approval

Instrument 1: Follow-up Center Director Survey

Instrument 2: Follow-up Lead and Assistant Teacher Survey

Instrument 3: Follow- up Home-Based Owner and Caregiver Survey

Instrument 4: One-on-One Center Director Interview

Instrument 5: One-on-One Lead and Assistant Teacher Interview

Instrument 6: One-on-One Home-Based Owner and Caregiver Interview

Instrument 7: One-on-One Key Informant Interview

Instrument 8: Center-based Setting Costs Workbook

1 McLean, C., Austin, L.J.E., Whitebook, M., & Olson, K.L. (2021). Early Childhood Workforce Index – 2020. Berkeley, CA: Center for the Study of Child Care Employment, University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved from https://cscce.berkeley.edu/workforce-index-2020/report-pdf/.

2 Vogtman, Julie. 2017. Undervalued: A Brief History of Women’s Care Work and Child Care Policy in the United States. Washington, DC: National Women’s Law Center.

3 Bromer, J., Porter, T., Jones, C., Ragonese-Barnes, M., & Orland, J. (2021). Quality in Home-Based Child Care: A Review of Selected Literature. OPRE Report 2021-136. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

4 Bernardi, A., Hsueh, J., Roach, S., & Rau, L. (forthcoming). Child Care and Early Education Workforce Recruitment and Retention: Insights from the Current Landscape of Strategies. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

5 LeBoeuf, W. A., Perrin, P., & Kennedy, S. (2020). Colorado’s Early Care and Education Professionals: 2019 Snapshot Report (Report No. 19-02A). Denver, CO: Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the University of Denver.

6 Grady, C. (2005). Payment of clinical research subjects. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 115, 1681-1687. Permuth-Wey, J., & Borenstein, A. R. (2009). Financial remuneration for clinical and behavioral research participation: Ethical and practical considerations. Annals of Epidemiology, 19(4), 280–285.

7 Coopersmith, J, Klein Vogel, L, Bruursema, T, & Feeney, K. (2016) Effects of Incentive Amount and Type of Web Survey Response Rates. Survey Practice.; De Santis, J., Callahan, R., Marsh, S, & Perez-Johnson, I. (2016, May). Early-bird Incentives: Results from an Experiment to Determine Response Rates and Cost Effects. Paper presented at 71^st annual meeting of the American Association of Public Opinion Research, Austin, TX,; and Ward, C., Stern, M., Vanicek, J., Black, C., Knighton, C & Wilkinson, L.(2014). Evaluating the Effectiveness of Early Bird Incentives in a Web Survey [Powerpoint]. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/fedcasic/fc2014/ppt/02_ward.pdf.

8 Examples of sensitive topics include (but not limited to): social security number; sex behavior and attitudes; illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating and demeaning behavior; critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close relationships, e.g., family, pupil-teacher, employee-supervisor; mental and psychological problems potentially embarrassing to respondents; religion and indicators of religion; community activities which indicate political affiliation and attitudes; legally recognized privileged and analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians and ministers; records describing how an individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment; receipt of economic assistance from the government (e.g., unemployment or WIC or SNAP); immigration/citizenship status.

9 Recommendations on the Best Practices for the Collection of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Data on Federal Statistical Surveys

10 Berry, Pevar, and Zander-Contugno (2008); Singer and Kulka (2002); https://ifdtc.org/Conference/2015/Presentations/Using_Incentives_and_%20Howden.pdf

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