ABA Registered Apprenticeship Hub Customer Interview Protocol

OMB Control Number:1290-0NEW

OMB Expiration Date:

Apprenticeship Building America Portfolio

Implementation Study of the ABA Category 4-Registered Apprenticeship Hub Grants

Hub Customer Interview Guide

INTRODUCTION 

 

We are researchers w with [The Urban Institute/Social Policy Research Associate}, a nonprofit research organization based in [Washington, DC/California] which conducts policy-related research on a variety of social welfare and economic issues. 

 

This project is being conducted under contract to the U.S. Department of Labor. Our discussion here today is part of the Evaluating Registered Apprenticeship Initiative (ERAI), a national study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor to understand the Apprenticeship Building America (ABA) investments in apprenticeship. The study will surface new evidence on efforts to expand and diversify registered apprenticeships and to inform policymakers and practitioners on how these grants are helping to solve issues in workforce systems, particularly around barriers to employment for traditionally underrepresented populations. A major aim of the study we are here to talk about with you to today is to learn more about the Registered Apprenticeship Hub grants, designed to support the establishment, scaling and expansion of Registered Apprenticeship programs. In each grantee we visit, we will be speaking with the Hub lead organization and partners, and Technical Assistance customers like you.

Privacy Statement:   We know that you are busy, and we will be as focused as possible and will only ask questions that are relevant to your experience. We have many questions and will be talking to many different people, so please do not feel as though we expect you to be able to answer every question. Your participation in this interview is voluntary and you may choose not to answer some or any of our questions. We will do everything we can to secure the privacy of the information you provide but ask that you consider using headphones or finding a private space to talk so that other people cannot hear or see this conversation.

We believe the risks of participating in this study are minimal.

We believe there are no direct benefits to you, but we hope that the findings from this study will benefit the Apprenticeship Building America Portfolio project by providing research insights on how Hub grantees are helping employers design, develop and deliver programs and are supporting the expansion of apprenticeship programs.

My colleague and I will be taking notes in order to document what we hear during our discussion, and we may record this discussion. We will not share these notes with anyone outside of our research team, including the Department of Labor, and we will destroy these notes after the end of our project. When we compile our reports, the names of individual respondents will not be included. If we choose to quote you, you will only be identified by your title. You will not be quoted directly by name in any of our reports. While it is possible that you might be identified by your title, we will do our best to minimize the chance of that occurring. 

Finally, to help us accurately capture the information you share, we would like to record this interview. The recording is just a back-up for our notes and will be kept within our small research team. The interview recording will be deleted once we have developed a full set of notes from the interview.

OMB Burden Statement: According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless such collection displays an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection 1290-0NEW. The time required to complete this collection of information is estimated to average 60 minutes, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed and complete and review the collection of information. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to [email protected] and reference the OMB Control Number 1290-0NEW. 

 

Do you have any questions for me?  

[If we decide to record the interview] Are you okay with us recording the interview to improve the accuracy of our notes?  

Do I have your permission to begin the interview? [BEGIN INTERVIEW IF CONSENT GRANTED]

Note: Document the following information for each respondent:

• Name, title and organization/company

• Length of involvement with the organization/company

1. Please tell us about you and your organization/company. What does your organization/company do? What is your role?

2. How did you learn about the services offered by [technical assistance provider]?

3. What made you and your organization/company decide to better understand apprenticeship/receive support for setting up an apprenticeship program? What made you hesitant? How did you think becoming more involved in apprenticeship could support your organization’s/company’s goals?

4. What assistance did you receive from [TA provider] at first? What were the topics? How was the assistance provided? Were partners to the [TA provider] involved? If yes, who were the partners and what were their role(s)?

5. How long did you work/have you worked with [TA provider]? What ongoing assistance did [TA provider] provide? What were the topics? How was the assistance provided?

6. [If not mentioned yet:] Did you receive financial incentives/support in addition to the assistance of [TA provider]? How did you use the financial support? To what degree did the financial incentive(s) motive you and your organization/company to become involved in apprenticeship?

7. How did you use the services of [TA provider]? What do you feel like you and your organization/company learned from the [TA provider]? How did you apply what you learned? Was there something you thought was missing or could have used more assistance on?

8. [For employers/potential sponsors:] Did you eventually start a Registered Apprenticeship/pre-apprenticeship program? Please describe the program. [If no program started yet:] Where are you in the process? Why did you decide for or against starting a program?

9. How satisfied were you with the assistance provided by [TA provider]? What did you think worked well or was most useful? What did not work well or was less useful? [Ask for examples of both, if relevant.]

10. Has the knowledge you developed from [TA provider’s] services helped you meet your organization’s/company’s goals? If yes, how so? If not, why?

11. Do you think the investment of your organization’s/company’s time and resources has been worthwhile? What outcomes have you seen to date?

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