FastTrack GenIC - HomVEE Website Testing

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0970-0401)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness – Website Usability Testing

PURPOSE: The Department of Health and Human Services launched the Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness (HomVEE) review to conduct a thorough and transparent review of early childhood home visiting models. The HomVEE website provides users with an assessment of the evidence of effectiveness for early childhood home visiting models that serve families with pregnant women and children from birth to kindergarten entry (that is, up through age 5) and additional information about models and implementation details provided by model developers or other model stakeholders.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) is planning to review and test the HomVEE website under controlled test conditions with members of the site’s audience. The materials proposed in this request are to implement this usability testing and include Website Usability Testing and Website Tree Testing. Usability testing will test website functionality and features in one-on-one user testing and interviews. Tree testing will test to discover site navigation and terminology issues related to usability of the HomVEE website.

Test results will be used to assess whether usability goals for an effective, efficient, and well-received website have been achieved. Potential usability issues may include:

• Messaging issues – Users should be able to easily determine the purpose and value of the site.

• Navigation issues – Users should be able to easily locate features and information.

• Scannability issues – Information should be presented in a way that is hierarchical, and easy to scan and consume.

• Accuracy issues – Users’ actions should produce desired results.

• Language or terminology issues – Site should use language and terms familiar to users. Help understanding site terms should be readily available.

Information collected will allow the HomVEE team to better understand any usability issues and their underlying cause so that they can be resolved. The information will also be used to inform updates to the website.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: The usability test participants will include members of the website’s intended audience: State policy makers and home visiting providers, federal staff, and researchers.¹

TYPE OF COLLECTION:

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[x] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: _Tree testing

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The primary purpose of the results is not for public dissemination.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The 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 future.

Name and affiliation:________Shirley Adelstein, OPRE/ACF________________

To assist review, please provide answers to the following questions:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

Information Collection	Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	No. of Responses per Respondent	Estimated Time per Response	Burden Hours
Website usability	Individuals or Households	10	1	1 hour	10
Website usability	State, local, or tribal governments;	10	1	1 hour	10
Tree testing	Individuals or Households	75	1	.25	19
Tree testing	State, local, or tribal governments;	75	1	.25	19
Totals		168	1		58

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is ___$24,000___

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ ] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

Administration of the Instrument

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

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

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[X] Other, Explain

Conducting remote sessions with individual testers using a screen-sharing technology.

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ X ] Yes [] No

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

1 This collection of information is part of the federal employee’s work-related duties and therefore are not subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. These respondents are not included in the burden estimates.

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