NonSub Change - HBCCSQ Validation Study Number Respondents

Memorandum

To: Kelsi Feltz

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Ann Rivera

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: May 20, 2024

Subject: Nonsubstantive Change Request – Home-Based Child Care Toolkit for Nurturing School-Age Children Study [OMB # 0970-0625]

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, Home-Based Child Care Toolkit for Nurturing School-Age Children (HBCC-NSAC Toolkit) [OMB Information Collection Request 0970-0625]. Specifically, we request approval of updates to estimated number of respondents and the estimated annualized cost to respondents for the data collection.

Background

On February 14, 2024, the study team received approval to conduct the Home-Based Child Care Toolkit for Nurturing School-Age Children (HBCC-NSAC Toolkit) [OMB# 0970-0625]. The purpose of this study is to collect information to examine a toolkit of new measures designed to assess and strengthen the quality of child care, the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit. The study team began recruitment calls (Instrument 2 and 3) on March 13, 2024 and in late April, the team began conducting the observation scheduling call (Instrument 4) with respondents who agreed to be observed.

The cooperation rates (the number of people who agree to participate out of the people who complete the call) for the recruitment (Instrument 2 and 3) and observation scheduling calls (Instrument 4) are lower than anticipated thus far. In addition, the study team began receiving completed HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaires (Instrument 5) and family surveys (Instrument 6) in late March. The team has since identified a few cases of completed questionnaires with data quality concerns (for example, lack of variation in responses). To reach the analytic goals of the study (i.e., validate the HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire), the study team needs sufficient, high-quality data from the provider questionnaire (Instrument 5) and the family survey (Instrument 6).

Overview of Requested Changes
Given the lower than anticipated cooperation rates, the study team will need to complete the recruitment and observation scheduling calls (Instruments 2-4) with more respondents to reach the desired number of participants recruited for the data collection. Additionally, given the data quality monitoring, the study team will need to allow more respondents (up to the number of estimated recruited respondents) to complete the provider questionnaire and family surveys (Instruments 5 and 6).

The study team requests increasing the estimated number of respondents. With increased numbers, the team will be able to recruit the number of participants and allow sufficient responses required for analysis sample and sub-sample sizes. We have attached HBCC-NSAC Toolkit Study OMB Supporting Statement Part A to reflect the change in estimated number of respondents and the associated burden in Section A12 Burden for the following instruments:

• Instrument 2. Provider telephone script and recruitment information collection, non-observation – from 204 to 250 respondents

• Instrument 3. Provider telephone script and recruitment information collection including observations - from 150 to 250 respondents

• Instrument 4. Observation scheduling call – from 60 to 100 respondents

• Instrument 5. HBCC-NSAC Toolkit provider questionnaire – from 150 respondents to 224 respondents

• Instrument 6. Family survey – from 166 respondents to 332 respondents

Time Sensitivities

The recruitment and data collection effort is currently underway, so a response as soon as possible is requested.