Alternative Supporting Statement for Information Collections Designed for
Research, Public Health Surveillance, and Program Evaluation Purposes
Soliciting Input for the Consumer Education and Parental Choice in Early Care and Education Project
Formative Data Collections for ACF Research
0970 - 0356
Supporting Statement
Part B
JUNE 2023
Submitted By:
Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
Administration for Children and Families
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
4th Floor, Mary E. Switzer Building
330 C Street, SW
Washington, D.C. 20201
Project Officers:
Alysia Blandon
Bonnie Mackintosh
Part B
B1. Objectives
Study Objectives
The Consumer Education and Parental Choice (CEPC) project is designed to examine how parents find and use information when they look for and select child care and early education. This information collection effort is designed to share information about the project and get the perspectives of people with lived experiences about project activities such as possible secondary analyses, product development, dissemination strategies, etc.
This information will be collected during various types of information collection activities that might include attendanceat regularly scheduled meetings hosted by organizations that work with individuals with relevant lived experiences; other engagements we host such as webinars; interviews or focus groups; and through other means such as surveys; or emailed feedback requests.
For our information collection activities, we will engage groups that represent those with lived experience with consumer education activities (referred to throughout as groups), and aims to:
Understand what these groups are hoping to learn from this project.
Use insights and feedback from these groups to inform the project activities to better reflect those with lived experience.
Identify possible interpretations of study findings through feedback.
Determine effective strategies for dissemination of study findings.
Generalizability of Results
Information collection activities are intended to present internally-valid description of the perspectives of groups with lived experience around child care consumer education activities and how parents search for and select care in all states, D.C., territories, and tribes, not to promote statistical generalization to a particular service population.
Appropriateness of Study Design and Methods for Planned Uses
Our approach is to plan a range of activities to share information about the project with groups and individuals with lived experiences and to obtain information during these activities to inform project activities at key points throughout the project. For example, we may attend regularly scheduled meetings or host brief engagements such as webinars, interviews or focus groups, surveys, or request emailed feedback as needed. This approach is flexible and allows us to share information with individuals with lived experiences and get their input throughout the course of the project as the need for such information arises. This approach is appropriate to meet our objectives, given our information collection activities are intended to collect descriptive information only.
Our team will use the information collection activities to inform the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation’s (OPRE) understanding of each group’s priorities for research; and feedback on current project activities such as interpretations of study findings, products, and insights on possible dissemination strategies. ACF may also incorporate the findings into documents or presentations. The Office of Child Care (OCC) may also use the findings to guide supports for Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) lead agencies. Finally, the findings may be used to inform future ACF research.
As noted in Supporting Statement A, this information is not intended to be used as the principal basis for public policy decisions and is not expected to meet the threshold of influential or highly influential scientific information. The data collected is not meant to be representative. All publicly available products associated with our information collection activities will clearly describe key limitations.
B2. Methods and Design
Target Population
We will collect information from individuals with lived experiences related to consumer education and parental choice for this data collection, such as:
Group 1: parents or other guardians who have caregiving responsibilities for children ages birth-12 years that work with national organizations that help parents and guardians express their child care needs
Group 2: those providing services or information on child care related needs (such as child care staff and other individuals representing themselves or organizations).
Group 3: State/Territory CCDF Lead Agency Staff and related government staff.
Group 4: Tribal CCDF Lead Agency Staff and related tribal government individuals.
Group 5: other individuals with lived experience
Respondent Recruitment
Our sampling method will vary depending on the information collection activity and group involved. If we attend regularly scheduled meetings, we will not develop a sampling method but will ask those in attendance to provide input based on their lived experiences. If we host engagements, the team will use non-probability, purposive sampling to identify potential individuals and organizations who represent our target population of individuals with lived experiences. Because these individuals will be purposively selected, they will not be representative of all individuals with lived experience related to consumer education and parental choice. Instead, we aim to obtain variation in perspectives to collect diverse feedback on project activities and findings.
When we host our own information collection activities, such as webinars, focus groups, surveys or emailed feedback, we will recruit contributors using the following non-probability, purposive sampling methods. See Appendix A for example outreach materials.
Group 1: Parents and guardians: We will reach out to parents and guardians with children under the age of 12 years through national organizations that help parents and guardians express their child care needs. Specifically, we will invite parents and guardians that work with organizations such as: Mom’s Rising, Mothering Justice, Start Early, United Parent Leaders Action Network, Zero to Three, National Black Child Development Institute, National Indian Child Care Association, Family Equality, Unidos US, and Parent Training and Information Resource Centers. These parents and guardians will be engaging with our information collection activity as part of their regular position or role with the organization.
Group 2: Those providing child care and early education services and/or information: We have identified national organizations through which we may seek perspectives. Groups representing child care providers that we may reach out to include the National Association of Family Child Care, National Association for the Education of Young Children, the National Afterschool Alliance, National Institute of Out-of-School-Time, All Our Kin, and Grassroots Movement for Early Care and Education (Center for American Progress). We have a list of email addresses for these organizations and may email the organizations to invite the organizations to provide feedback such as through webinars, interviews or focus groups, surveys, or by email. In addition, our project team partner, Child Care Aware of America (CCAoA), may help us reach out to child care resource and referral (CCR&R) agencies which are typically contracted by states to provide child care consumer education services for families. CCAoA is the national membership organization for CCR&R agencies. In addition, CCAoA may ask the CCR&R agencies to provide feedback in other ways such as through webinars, interviews or focus groups, surveys, or by email.
Group 3: CCDF Lead Agencies. We may engage CCDF lead agencies to obtain input on project activities. There are 56 states and territories with a CCDF Lead Agency administering federally-provided Child Care and Development Funds. We have obtained updated lists of these agency leaders from Office of Child Care. We may invite the lead agencies to provide feedback such as through webinars, interviews or focus groups, surveys, or by email.
Group 4: CCDF Lead Agencies from Tribal Governments. We may reach out to CCDF Lead Agencies from Tribal Governments to obtain input on project activities. There are 257 tribal governments with a CCDF Lead Agency administering federally-provided Child Care and Development Funds. We may engage four entities to provide feedbacksuch as through webinars, interviews or focus groups, surveys, or by email.
Group 5: Other Individuals with Lived Experience. We may reach out to other individuals with lived experience such as individuals who provide parents with young children information on consumer education. We may outreach, for example, local community leaders participating in early childhood collaboratives, or other organizations that share information with parents such as health care providers or local libraries to obtain input on project activities.
B3. Design of Data Collection Instruments
Development of Data Collection Instruments
The team developed a question bank (see “Instrument 1”), based on information we have learned during project activities to date (literature review, reviews of existing consumer training and technical assistance documents, state and territory 2019-2021 CCDF plans, and existing instruments designed to obtain input from individuals with lived experiences). We also crafted new questions based on our team’s expertise related to consumer education and parent choice. In an effort to streamline our information collection activities, Instrument 1 includes a range of questions that we will select from depending on the specific project activities we are seeking input on. Instrument 1 also includes information we will use to tailor specific questions to the needs of specific groups.
B4. Collection of Data and Quality Control
Each information collection activity is intended to be led by one or more members of the CEPC research team. To monitor quality, prior to each information collection activity, the CEPC research team members shall consider the project needs and collaborate with OPRE and the group they are engaging to determine which questions are the most pressing and appropriate. For each information collection activity, the CEPC project team members will tailor the portion of the question in brackets for that activity. Questions in Instrument 1 have been grouped by the stage of the research process (design, interpretation, product development, and dissemination), but some questions are appropriate for all stages of the research process.
All information collection activity questions will be checked for consistency; and tailored to the contributor(s), activity, and the stage of the project. For data collection activities such as meetings, webinars, interviews, or focus groups, one member of the CEPC research team will pose the questions and one will take notes. With the permission of contributors, we will also record the webinars, interviews, or focus groups. The CEPC project team members will confer after each information collection activity to ensure completeness of data. If we use online platforms to field a survey or to gather information via email, the project team will ensure that the requests for information have been pilot tested by members of the project team and the team will use weekly meetings to share progress on how the information collection is going and whether any adjustments to the collection are necessary.
B5. Response Rates and Potential Nonresponse Bias
Response Rates
The information collection activities are not designed to produce statistically generalizable findings and participation is wholly at the respondent’s discretion. Response rates will not be calculated or reported.
NonResponse
As participants will not be randomly sampled and findings are not intended to be representative, non-response bias will not be calculated. Respondent demographics will be documented for use by the CEPC project team and may be reported in written products associated with the data collection.
B6. Production of Estimates and Projections
The data will not be used to generate population estimates, either for internal use or dissemination.
B7. Data Handling and Analysis
Data Handling
We will have two project team members assigned to each information collection activity. For information collection activities such as meetings, webinars, interviews, or focus groups, one team member will take notes while the other team member facilitates. The notetaker could make use of audio recordings (with permission of respondents) to ensure that notes are complete. After the information collection activity, the project team members will debrief and review the raw notes for agreement and accuracy. If needed, the project team will have individualized follow up with the participants to ensure accuracy. For information collected through other means such as information collected through surveys or through email, we will have a lead project team member assigned to each information collection activity. The lead project team member will be responsible for downloading information collected from web applications, such as survey platforms like Qualtrics or email platforms like Outlook and saving the information to Urban’s secure, project-specific Y:Drive folder.
Data Analysis
The project team members will review the information collected to identify key themes that emerged during the engagement that will be included in summary notes. The summary will be shared with the larger project team and OPRE to inform current and future project activities. This analytic approach is appropriate for the purposes of this data collection – to inform current and future project activities.
Data Use
The information collection activities are meant to inform CEPC project activities and, while the primary purpose is not for publication, some findings may inform documents or presentations that are made public. For example, we might incorporate contributor input into the interpretation of study findings, to improve reach of dissemination approaches, and to engage audiences most interested in the findings. In sharing findings, we will describe the study methods and limitations with regard to generalizability and as a basis for policy. The Office of Child Care may also use the findings to guide supports for Child Care and Development Fund lead agencies.
B8. Contact Persons
Name |
Affiliation |
Email Address |
Teresa Derrick-Mills PhD |
The Urban Institute |
|
A. Rupa Datta, PhD |
NORC at the University of Chicago |
|
Diane Schilder |
The Urban Institute |
|
Clare Waterman |
Child Care Aware of America |
Attachments
Instrument 1: Active Engagement Guiding Questions
Appendix A. Invitation to Share Information
Appendix B: Confirmation Email
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | AYB |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-10-26 |