3245-New Supporting Statment B 6-13-2022

U.S. SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Generic Clearance for Formative Data Collections for Evaluation, Research, and Evidence-Building

OMB Control Number, 3245-XXXX

Part B Supporting Statement

B. STATISTICAL METHODS

The primary purpose of this generic clearance is to collect data to inform the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) evaluation, research, and evidence-building activities and allow for collaborative, ongoing, and actionable communications between the Agency and its customers and stakeholders that allow the SBA to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current programs, initiatives, and services. Due to the nature of the proposed activities, various data collection techniques and instruments and information will not be collected requiring statistical analysis employing statistical methods. Public sharing of this data is limited to the context described in Supporting Statement A.

1. Universe and Respondent Selection

The activities under this clearance may involve samples of self-selected customers and convenience, quota, purposive, or other non-representative samples, with respondents selected either to cover a broad range of customers or to include specific characteristics related to certain products or services. The SBA will submit information about the sampling strategy with each individual collection request.

Data collection requests under this generic ICR are not intended for statistical purposes as defined by 44 U.S. Code § 3561, and the samples associated with these collections are not subject to the same scrutiny as scientifically drawn samples. All sampling methods used with requests made under this ICR are to gain insight from a broad and diverse set of stakeholders while simultaneously minimizing the burden, not intended to make inferences about a population. Findings from these formative studies will not be generalized to the broader population. The results will not be used to make statements representative of the universe of study, produce statistical descriptions (careful, repeatable measurements), or generalize the data beyond the scope of the sample.

2. Procedures for Collecting Information

The SBA’s formative studies will collect data using well-established methodologies, including but not limited to questionnaires and surveys, semi-structured small group discussions or focus groups, observation, interviews, and cognitive interviews. Each individual collection request will provide specific data collection methods and procedures.

3. Methods to Maximize Response

As noted above, formative data collection efforts submitted under this generic clearance use non-representative sampling techniques. Several of the SBA’s past data collection efforts have yielded low response rates, less than 20%, and the SBA may provide nominal monetary or non-monetary incentives.

Information collected under this generic clearance will be voluntary and will not yield generalizable quantitative findings. While the collected information can provide useful stakeholder input, it does not produce results that can be generalized.

4. Testing of Procedures

Pretesting may be conducted with internal staff, a limited number of external colleagues, and/or customers who are familiar with the programs and products. If the number of pretest respondents exceeds nine members of the public, the SBA will submit the pretest instruments for review under this generic clearance.

5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection

Information collections under this generic clearance will not require rigorous statistical analysis. However, as appropriate, SBA’s internal evidence experts (evaluators, researchers, economists, data scientists, statisticians) or qualified external contractors will provide guidance in the design, development, administration, or analysis of data collection instruments.