Change Justification Memo 0584-0699 Oct 2024

Food and

Nutrition
Service

1320

Braddock

Place

Alexandria,

VA

22314

T O: Laurel Havas

OMB Desk Officer

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

THROUGH: Rachelle Ragland-Greene

Department Clearance Officer

United States Department of Agriculture

Office of Chief Information Office (OCIO)

Jamia Franklin

Information Collection Clearance Officer

EAR/Planning and Regulatory Affairs Office

Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)

FROM: Kristen Corey

SNAP Evaluation Branch

EAR/SNAP Research and Analysis Division

Food and Nutrition Service (FNS)

DATE: October 23, 2024

SUBJECT: Justification for edits to survey under OMB Control No: 0584-0699 “Assessing Equity in SNAP Work Requirements and Employment and Training.”

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is requesting non-substantive changes to the survey instrument for the study “Assessing Equity in SNAP Work Requirements and Employment and Training,” approved under OMB Control No. 0584-0699; expiration date of September 30, 2027. Through this memorandum, we are requesting approval for the following non-substantive changes to the survey instrument (Attachment C) and the Survey Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (Attachment H.4) supporting material.

Changes to the Survey:

1. Added instructions for the web survey application at the beginning (page C-1 to C-2) and relating to survey completion (page C-25 to C-26).

2. Throughout the survey, made edits to clarify that questions ask specifically about the “State SNAP agency” and not the “State” or the “State agency.”

3. Made other edits to clarify references in questions:

   1. Changed “you” to “eligibility workers in your State” (question 8).

   2. Added “ABAWD” to questions 15 and 16.

   3. Added “entities” to question 36.

   4. Edited question 43 to be clear it’s asking about data on race/ethnicity and gender.

   5. Removed “and maintain” from question 54 because the question is about accessing data, not maintaining it.

   6. Added “like race and/or ethnicity, age, and housing status” to question 63.

   7. Added “E&T” and “from other State agencies” to question 75.

4. Removed “for this survey” from common definitions in the instructions (pages C-3, C-7).

5. Edits to grammar or word choice (questions 29, 29o, 37, 39b1, 46, 48, 64, 65, 68, 70, 82, 83, 85).

6. On certain follow up questions, adding references to earlier responses to remind the respondent of their answer (questions 45, 54, 71, 72, 73, 84, 87).

7. Corrected an error in formatting for question 49, which was intended to include the list of sub-items respondents said they were tracking in question 46.

8. Added a second instance of question 2 (now question 52a) to remove skip pattern dependencies between Question 2 and Questions 65-66 so that these two sections can be filled out in any order or by different individuals.

Changes to the FAQ:

9. Added information to the FAQ to explain how multiple staff can contribute to the survey and how to navigate within the survey.

These changes do not ask respondents to submit any new or additional documentation to FNS. The estimated time to complete the survey is not impacted by these changes. These changes were identified while programming the web survey application. Many of them are necessary to add clarity to questions that no longer appear on the same page as other, related questions. Other changes were made to reduce potential confusion over vague terms (e.g., “State,” “State agency,” “you”) or to correct grammatical errors.

If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact Jamia Franklin, FNS Information Collection Clearance Officer for the Food and Nutrition Service, Planning & Regulatory Affairs Office at (703) 305-2403.

Attachments:

• Updated survey: Attachment C. Survey Instrument 10232024

• Updated survey frequently asked questions: Attachment H.4. Survey Frequently Asked Questions 10232024

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