Supporting Statement - A11 280 EBSA Tree Testing

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for Improving Customer Experience: OMB Circular A-11, Section 280 Implementation”

(OMB Control Number: 1225-0093)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Tree Testing for Soliciting Feedback for the Department of Labor Employment and Benefits Security Administration Website

PURPOSE OF COLLECTION: To gather baseline data on how easily people can find information on the current DOL EBSA website based on the current wording, organizational structure, and hierarchy of the website. The results will be compared to additional Tree Tests conducted after web enhancements are made to see if there is an improvement in correctly finding information in the designated places on the website.

TYPE OF ACTIVITY: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Research (Interview, Focus Groups)

[ ] Customer Feedback Survey

[ X ] User Testing

ACTIVITY DETAILS

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
   
   

[ X ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Who will you collect the information from?

Multicultural workforce with employment-based health benefit or retirement benefit plans or their beneficiaries

3. How will you ask a respondent to provide this information?

The Tree Testing survey will be conducted using a digital platform, called Treejack, similar to a digital survey format

4. What will the activity look like?

Respondents sourced from a sample provider, Optimal Workshop, will receive an alert via the sample provider’s app to click on a survey link to complete the digital Tree Testing survey if they choose to participate. Respondents have already opted in activities to complete surveys as part of a research panel maintained by the sample provider.

Respondents will be asked to complete tasks related to finding information on a particular web page on the DOL EBSA site. They will see a list of topics (links) currently on the pages without having to visit the web pages directly. Respondents will click on the topics to indicate where they would expect to find the information.

Please provide your question list.

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

See attached

Consent Form

Survey Questions (The screener questions are included in the survey document, questions 1-5)

5. When will the activity happen?

Respondents sourced from a sample provider, Optimal Workshop, will receive an alert via the sample provider’s app to click on a survey link to complete the Tree Testing survey if they choose to participate in December 2022 – January 2023

6. Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants?

[ X ] Yes [ ] No

Cash incentives are provided by the panel provider to respondents who successfully complete the survey. The funds are distributed via the online panel provider’s app or directly into their Venmo or PayPal accounts. For completing this survey, it is estimated they will receive $5.00. Incentive amounts are determined by the online panel provider based on the length of survey, sample size needed, and estimated incidence rate (number of people who will qualify for the survey).

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden Hours
Multicultural workforce with employment-based health benefit or retirement benefit plans or their beneficiaries	30	30 minutes	15 hours
Totals	30	30 minutes	15 hours

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collections are voluntary;

2. The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;

3. The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;

4. Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the near future;

5. Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected only to the extent necessary and is not retained;

6. Information gathered is intended to be used for general service improvement and program management purposes

7. Upon agreement between OMB and the agency aggregated data may be released as part of A-11, Section 280 requirements only on performance.gov. Summaries of customer research and user testing activities may be included in public-facing customer journey maps.

8. Additional release of data will be coordinated with OMB.

Name: Leyla Mansur, Employee Benefits and Security Administration

All instruments used to collect information must include:

OMB Control No. 1225-0093

Expiration Date: 02/29/2024

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