08_H. Call to Offer Survey Completion by Phone

H. Call to Offer Survey Completion by Phone

OMB Number: 0584-#### Expiration Date: MM/DD/20YY

Call to Offer Survey Completion by Phone

Introduction

Good [morning/afternoon], [SNAP State Director name (or designated point of contact)]. My name is [contact name], and I work for Westat, a private research company that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) hired to conduct the SNAP Risk Assessment study.

[If have not previously confirmed receipt] The first part of the study is an online survey of all SNAP State Directors. We emailed you a link to the survey, and we are contacting you now because we have not yet received a completed survey from [State agency]. Did you receive an email from us with a link to this survey?

• [If yes] Did you have any trouble accessing the survey? [If needed] We can resend the link to you.

• [If never received] Sorry about that! We’ll resend the survey link to you via email. Can you please give me your email address? [Check it against the email we have on file] Thank you. The survey link in the email you receive may be shared with your colleagues. The survey should take between 15-45 minutes to complete depending on the characteristics of your State.

[If needed] Your input is valuable in helping FNS ensure Federal funds for SNAP are disbursed appropriately. The USDA is interested in how State agencies are using risk assessment tools to estimate the risk of improper payments. Please keep in mind this is a research study; it is not an audit or monitoring visit.

[If needed] Please know that your responses will be kept private as required by law and will not be shared with anyone outside the study team. We will not use your name or any other information about your identity in any reports. The information you provide will be combined with information from everyone who participates in the study. All responses will be reported at the aggregate level and at the individual State level in our reports. You may skip any question that you prefer not to answer.

Offer Phone Completion

As an alternative option, would you prefer to complete the survey over the phone rather than online? It should take about 15-45 minutes to complete depending on the characteristics of your State. As a reminder, participation in this study is voluntary. Refusal to participate will not have any impact on your position, your State agency, or your programs. There is no cost to you to participate apart from the time you spend to complete the survey, and there is no compensation.

• [If yes, conduct now] Wonderful! I will pull up the survey on my end. Are you able to pull up the survey on your end?

• [If yes] Perfect, let’s walk through the survey together. [Go through survey]

• [If no] No worries, I can read out the questions to you. [Go through survey]

• [If yes, conduct later] Okay. What date and time would work for you to complete this survey over the phone? [Note the day and time] Perfect, I will send you a meeting invitation to hold the time and will call you [date] at [time].

• [If no] Okay. Are you able to complete the survey online by [date]?

• [If yes] Thank you. We really appreciate receiving your input through the survey.

• [If no] What date would be reasonable? We’d really like to make sure we have your input. [Record the date]

Questions

Do you have any questions? [Answer all questions]

Closing

If you have any questions about the survey or the study, please contact the FNS Project Officer, Eric Williams, at [email protected] or please call me at [study phone number], or you can email me at [study email]. Thank you for your participation in this important FNS study. Good-bye.

Voicemail Script

Good [morning/afternoon], [SNAP State Director name]. My name is [contact name], and I work for Westat, a private research company that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) hired to conduct the SNAP Risk Assessment study. 

We emailed you a link to the study’s online survey, but we have not yet received a completed survey from [State]. I’m calling to ask if you would prefer to complete the survey over the phone with a member of our study team rather than complete it online.

At your earliest convenience, please call me back at [study phone number] or email me at [study email] to let me know if you would prefer to complete the survey online or by phone. We need to receive State agencies’ completed surveys by [date].

Once again, the study phone number is [study phone number], or you can email me at [study email]. Or, feel free to email the FNS Project Officer for this project, Eric Williams, at [email protected]. As a reminder, participation in this study is voluntary. Refusal to participate will not have any impact on your position, your State agency, or your programs. You may also skip questions you do not wish to answer. There is no cost to you to participate apart from the time you spend to complete the survey, and there is no compensation.

Thank you for your participation in this important FNS study. Good-bye.

This information is being collected to provide the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) with key information on case-profiling tools used by SNAP State agencies. This is a voluntary collection, and FNS will use the information to examine risk assessment tools in SNAP. This collection requests personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act of 1974. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-####. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 0.084 hours (5 minutes) per response. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22306 ATTN: PRA (0584-####). Do not return the completed form to this address. If you have any questions, please contact the FNS Project Officer for this project, Eric Williams, at [email protected].

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