PCT Survey

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for
Improving Customer Experience: OMB Circular A-11, Section 280
Implementation”
(OMB Control Number: 2900-0876)
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Public Contact Team Survey
PURPOSE OF COLLECTION:
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is
responsible for providing and/or managing a wide array of
services to Veterans and their family members. One such
responsibility is to ensure Veterans, beneficiaries,
spouses, and stakeholders know what benefits and services
are available to them.
The Veteran Experience Office (VEO) is in partnership
with VBA on many surveys, but this is the first partnership
with the VBA Public Contact Team (PCT). The PCT is a
specialized department dedicated to answering, aiding, and
providing guidance for Veterans, beneficiaries, spouses, and
stakeholders about VBA services and benefits. While often
located within the VBA Regional Office, the PCT acts as a
gateway for Veterans to interact with VBA. The PCT typically
consists of various roles, including Intake Specialists,
Legal Administrative Specialists (LAS), Congressional
Liaisons, Assistant Coaches, Coaches, Assistant Directors,
and Directors. These roles vary from Regional Office (RO) to
Regional Office (RO), with many individuals being tasked
with additional functions like Homelessness Coordinator,
Military Sexual Trauma (MST) Coordinator, and Outreach
Specialists. Unlike the Veteran Service Organizations
(VSOs), the PCTs mission is to provide Veterans and their
families with guidance and assistance navigating through VBA
benefits and services, rather than advocating on behalf of
Veterans. It's important to note that although there are
some standards that are implemented nationally, every PCT
office operates differently to meet the needs of their
customers and the needs of the Regional Office. The goal of
service level measurements is three-fold:
1)
To collect continuous customer experience data from PCT
customers
2)
To help field staff and the national office identify
areas for improvement
3)
To better understand the reasons PCT customers provide
positive or negative feedback
The survey questionnaire is brief and contains general
Likert-scale (a scale of 1-5 from Strongly Disagree to
1

Strongly Agree) questions to assess customer satisfaction as
well as questions assessing the knowledge, speed, and manner
of the interaction. These questions have been mapped to the
OMB A-11 Customer Experience drivers. After the survey has
been distributed, recipients have two weeks to complete the
survey. Invitees will receive a reminder email after one
week.
TYPE OF ACTIVITY: (Check one)
[
] Customer Research (Interview, Focus Groups, Surveys)
[ X ] Customer Feedback Survey
[
] Usability Testing of Products or Services
ACTIVITY DETAILS
1. If this is a survey, will the results of this survey be
reported to Touchpoints as part of quarterly reporting
obligations specified in OMB Circular A-11 Section 280?
[ ] Yes
[X ] No
[ ] Not a survey
2. How will you collect the information? (Check all that
apply)
[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media
[ ] Telephone
[ ] In-person
[ ] Mail
[X ] Other, Email Based survey
3. Who will you collect the information from?
The target population of the VBA PCT survey is all VBA PCT
customers that have interacted with the PCT within an 8day period.
4. How will you ask a respondent to provide this information?
Randomly sampled customers will be contacted through an
invitation email. A link will be enclosed so the survey may
be completed using an online interface, with customized
customer information. The survey itself will consist of a
handful of questions revolving around a human-centered
design, focusing on such elements as trust, emotion,
effective, and ease of the interaction.

2

5. What will the activity look like?
The survey will consist of 12 questions. Randomly sampled
customers will be contacted through an invitation email. A
link will be enclosed so the survey may be completed using
an online interface, with customized customer information.
The survey itself will consist of a handful of questions
revolving around a human-centered design, focusing on such
elements as trust, emotion, effective, and ease of the
interaction.
6. Please provide your question list.
See attached.
Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and
scripts are submitted with the request.
XXX
7. When will the activity happen?
The survey will take place within 8 days of their
interaction with the PCT.
8. Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses,
token of appreciation) provided to participants?
[ ] Yes [ X ] No
If Yes, describe:
N/A
BURDEN HOURS
Category of Respondent
Public Contact Team Survey

No. of
Respondents
9,842

Participation
Time
5 minutes

Burden
Hours
820

Totals

9,842

5 minutes

820

CERTIFICATION:
I certify the following to be true:
1. The collections are voluntary;
2. The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on
considerations of total burden hours or burden-hours per
respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and
the Federal Government;
3. The collections are non-controversial;
3

4. Any 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 near future;
5. Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected
only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
6. Information gathered is intended to be used for general
service improvement and program management purposes
7. Upon agreement between OMB and the agency aggregated data
may be released as part of A-11, Section 280 requirements
only on performance.gov. Summaries of customer research
and user testing activities may be included in publicfacing customer journey maps.
8. Additional release of data will be coordinated with OMB.
Name and email address of person who developed this
survey/focus group/interview:
Name: Juan Jackson
Email address: [email protected]
All instruments used to collect information must include:
OMB Control No. 2900-0876
Expiration Date: 02/28/2026

4

HELP SHEET
(OMB Control Number: XXXX-XXXX)
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection
that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting
feedback on xxxx)
PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection
and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort,
please include this in your explanation.
TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of
other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each
instrument.
CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you
incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly
submitted or it will be disapproved.
Personally Identifiable Information: Agencies should only collect PII
to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period
of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.
BURDEN HOURS:
Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be
in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2)
Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal
Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.
No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.
Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required
for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate
in a focus group)
Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of
responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

5

VBA Public Contact Team
Sampling Methodology Report
Prepared by
Veteran Experience Office
Version 1 December 2023

6

Contents

Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………………8
Part I – Introduction………………………………………………………………………………9
A. Background…………………………………………………………………………………9
B. Basic Definitions……………………………………………………………………………10
C. Application to Veterans Affairs…………………………………………………………….10
Part II – Methodology…………………………………………………………………………….10
A. Target Population and Frame………………………………………………………………10
B. Sample Size Determination……………………………………………………………….11
C. Stratification………………………………………………………………………………12
D. Data Collection Methods………………………………………………………………….12
E. Reporting………………………………………………………………………………….12
F. Quality Control……………………………………………………………………………13
G. Sample Weighting, Coverage Bias, and Non-Response Bias……………………………..13
H. Quarantine Rules…………………………………………………………………………..14
Part III – Assumptions and Limitations…………………………………………………………..15
A. Coverage Bias……………………………………………………………………………….15
References………………………………………………………………………………………16

7

Executive Summary
The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) is responsible for providing and/or
managing a wide array of services to Veterans and their family members. One such
responsibility is to ensure Veterans, beneficiaries, spouses, and stakeholders know what
benefits and services are available to them.
The Veteran Experience Office (VEO) is in partnership with VBA on many
surveys, but this is the first partnership with the VBA Public Contact Team (PCT). The
PCT is a specialized department dedicated to answering, aiding, and providing guidance
for Veterans, beneficiaries, spouses, and stakeholders about VBA services and benefits.
While often located within the VBA Regional Office, the PCT acts as a gateway for
Veterans to interact with VBA. The PCT typically consists of various roles, including
Intake Specialists, Legal Administrative Specialists (LAS), Congressional Liaisons,
Assistant Coaches, Coaches, Assistant Directors, and Directors. These roles vary from
Regional Office (RO) to Regional Office (RO), with many individuals being tasked with
additional functions like Homelessness Coordinator, Military Sexual Trauma (MST)
Coordinator, and Outreach Specialists. Unlike the Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs),
the PCTs mission is to provide Veterans and their families with guidance and assistance
navigating through VBA benefits and services, rather than advocating on behalf of
Veterans. It's important to note that although there are some standards that are
implemented nationally, every PCT office operates differently to meet the needs of their
customers and the needs of the Regional Office. The goal of service level measurements is
three-fold:
4)
To collect continuous customer experience data from PCT customers
5)
To help field staff and the national office identify areas for improvement
6)
To better understand the reasons PCT customers provide positive or negative
feedback
The survey questionnaire is brief and contains general Likert-scale (a scale of 1-5
from Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree) questions to assess customer satisfaction as
well as questions assessing the knowledge, speed, and manner of the interaction. These
questions have been mapped to the OMB A-11 Customer Experience drivers. After the
survey has been distributed, recipients have two weeks to complete the survey. Invitees
will receive a reminder email after one week.
The purpose of this document is to define VA’s sampling methodology for
selecting potential survey respondents for this study. This survey is conducted via random
sampling. The sample size for PCT survey was determined so that the reliability of
monthly survey estimates is 3.0% margin of error at a 95% confidence level. This report
describes the methodology used to conduct the PCT survey. Information about quality
assurance protocols, as well as limitations of the survey methodology, is also included in
this report.

8

Part I – Introduction
A. Background
The Enterprise Measurement and Design team (EMD) within the Veterans
Experience Office (VEO) is tasked with conducting transactional surveys of the customer
population to measure their satisfaction with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
numerous benefit services. Thus, their mission is to empower Veterans by rapidly and
discreetly collecting feedback on their interactions with such VA entities as National
Cemetery Administration (NCA), Veterans Health Administration (VHA), and Veterans
Benefits Administration (VBA). VEO surveys generally entail probability samples which
only contact minimal numbers of customers necessary to obtain reliable estimates. This
information is subsequently used by internal stakeholders to monitor, evaluate, and
improve beneficiary processes. Customers are always able to decline participation and can
opt out of future invitations. A quarantine protocol is maintained to limit the number of
times a customer may be contacted over a period of time across all VEO surveys, in order
to prevent survey fatigue.
Surveys issued by EMD are generally brief in nature and present a low amount of
burden to customers. A few targeted questions will utilize a human centered design (HCD)
methodology, revolving around concepts of Trust, Ease, Effectiveness and Emotion.
Questions will focus on a specific aspect of a service process—spanning communication,
applying for benefits, deliberation, and/or receipt of benefits. Structured questions directly
address the pertinent issues regarding each surveyed line of business. The opportunity to
volunteer open-ended text responses is provided within most surveys. This open text has
been demonstrated to yield enormous information. Machine learning tools are used for
text classification, ranking by sentiment scores, and screening for homelessness,
depression, etc. Modern survey theory is used to create sample designs which are
representative, statistically sound, and in accordance with OMB guidelines on federal
surveys.
VEO has been commissioned by VBA to measure the satisfaction and experience
of customers with the VBA Public Contact Teams (PCT). VEO proposes to conduct a
brief survey on customers who interacted with the PCT. Randomly sampled customers
will be contacted through an invitation email. A link will be enclosed so the survey may
be completed using an online interface, with customized customer information. The
survey itself will consist of a handful of questions revolving around a human-centered
design, focusing on such elements as trust, emotion, effective, and ease of the interaction.

9

B. Basic Definitions
Coverage
Measurement Error
Non-Response
Transaction
Response Rate
Sample
Sampling Error
Sampling Frame
Reliability

The percentage of the population of interest that is included in
the sampling frame.
The difference between the response coded and the true value
of the characteristic being studied for a respondent.
Failure of some respondents in the sample to provide responses
in the survey.
A transaction refers to the specific time a customer interacts
with the VA that impacts the customer’s journey and their
perception of VA’s effectiveness in servicing customers.
The ratio of participating persons to the number of contacted
persons. This is one of the basic indicators of survey quality.
In statistics, a data sample is a set of data collected and/or
selected from a statistical population by a defined procedure.
Error due to taking a particular sample instead of measuring
every unit in the population.
A list of units in the population from which a sample may be
selected.
The consistency or dependability of a measure. Also referred
to as standard error.
C. Application to Veterans Affairs

This measurement may bring insights and value to all stakeholders at VA. Frontline VA leaders can resolve individual feedback from customers and take steps to improve
the customer experience; meanwhile VA executives can receive real-time updates on
systematic trends that allow them to make changes.
1) To collect continuous customer experience data to monitor the relative success
of programs designed to improve customer experience with VBA PCT.
2) To help field staff and the national office identify need of the specific
population they serve.
3) To better understand why VBA PCT customers provide positive or negative
feedback
Part II – Methodology
A. Target Population and Frame
The target population of the VBA PCT survey is all VBA PCT customers that have
interacted with the PCT within an 8-day period.

10

Sample Size Determination
For a given margin of error and confidence level, the sample size is calculated as
below (Lohr, 1999). For population that is large, the equation below is used to yield a
representative sample for proportions:

where
•
•

•

2
𝑍𝑍𝛼𝛼/2
𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝
𝑛𝑛0 =
𝑒𝑒 2

𝒁𝒁𝜶𝜶/𝟐𝟐 = 1.96, which is the critical Z score value under the normal distribution when
using a 95% confidence level (α = 0.05).
p = the estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population, with
q=1-p.
o Note that pq attains its maximum when value p=0.5, and this is often used
for a conservative sample size (i.e., large enough for any proportion).
e = the desired level of precision; Also referred to as MOE.

For a population that is relatively small, the finite population correction is used to
yield a representative sample for proportions:
𝑛𝑛0
𝑛𝑛 =
𝑛𝑛
1+ 0
𝑁𝑁
Where
•
•

𝒏𝒏𝟎𝟎 = Representative sample for proportions when the population is large.
N = Population size.

The margin of error surrounding the baseline proportion is calculated as:
𝑁𝑁 − 𝑛𝑛 𝑝𝑝(1 − 𝑝𝑝)
�
𝑁𝑁 − 1
𝑛𝑛

𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 = 𝑧𝑧𝛼𝛼/2 �

Where
•
𝒁𝒁𝜶𝜶/𝟐𝟐 = 1.96, which is the critical Z score value under the normal distribution when
using a 95% confidence level (α = 0.05).
•
N = Population size.
•
n = Representative sample.
•
p = the estimated proportion of an attribute that is present in the population, with
q=1-p.
Table 2 depicts the estimated number of unique VBA PCT customers within a
month. Preliminary analysis of this population indicates that approximately 55% of
qualifying customers have provided an email address to VBA PCT. VEO proposes to
randomly sample VBA PCT customers for this survey. With current estimates, this would
result in 9,842 completed surveys from 65,616 invitations per year. To account for
potential estimation errors, improvement in email collection, or changes in business
volume; we are requesting approval for a maximum of 10,842 completes annually.
Table 2. Monthly Population and Survey Figures
11

1

Surveys
Public Contact
Team survey

Estimated Approximate
Total
Email
Available
Population Population Population1
26,201

14,411

10,088

Ye
Actual Expected Error With Ac
Target Sample Response
95%
Sam
Sample Needed
Rate
Confidence Nee
820
5,468
15%
3.0%
65,

Excluding estimated duplicates and quarantined records (30% loss)

B. Stratification
Stratification is used to ensure that the sample matches the population, to the extent
possible, across sub-populations. The sample will also use implicit sampling to assure that
the sample reflects the demographic breakdown by veteran gender.
C. Data Collection Methods
The population for the survey will be provided to the VEO team from the Office of
Field Operations (OFO). OFO will provide the data for those PCT customers that had an
interaction with the PCT the previous week. Email invitations are delivered to all
randomly selected customers. Selected respondents will be contacted within 8 days of
their interaction. They will have 14 days to complete the survey. Estimates will be
accessible to data users instantly on the VSignals platform.
Table 3. Survey Mode
Mode of Data
Collection

Recruitment
Method

Time After
Transaction

Recruitment
Period

Collection
Days

Online Survey

Email
Recruitment

Within 8 days of
interaction

14 Days

Tuesday

(Reminder
after 7 Days)

D. Reporting
Researchers will be able to use the VSignals platform for interactive reporting and
data visualization. Trust, Ease, Effectiveness, and Emotion scores can be observed for
each). The scores may be viewed by various subgroups (e.g. gender) in various charts for
different perspective. They are also depicted within time series plots to investigate trends.
Finally, filter options are available to assess scores at varying time periods and within the
context of other collected variable information.
Recruitment is continuous (weekly) but the results from several weeks may be
combined into a quarterly estimate for more precise estimates, which is the recommended
reporting level.

12

E. Quality Control
To ensure the prevention of errors and inconsistencies in the data and the analysis,
quality control procedures will be instituted in several steps of the survey process. Records
will undergo a cleaning during the population file creation. The quality control steps are
as follows.
1. Records will be reviewed for missing data. When records with missing data are
discovered, they will be either excluded from the population file when required or
coded as missing.
2. Any duplicate records will be removed from the population file to both maintain
the probabilities of selection and prevent the double sampling of the same
customer.
3. Invalid emails will be removed.
The survey sample loading and administration processes will have quality control
measures built into them.
1. The extracted sample will be reviewed for representativeness. A secondary review
will be applied to the final respondent sample.
2. The survey load process will be rigorously tested prior to the induction of the
survey to ensure that sampled customers is not inadvertently dropped or sent
multiple emails.
3. The email delivery process is monitored to ensure that bounce-back records will
not hold up the email delivery process.

F. Sample Weighting, Coverage Bias, and Non-Response Bias
A final respondent sample should closely resemble the true population, in terms of
the demographic distributions (e.g. age groups). One problem that arises in the survey
collection process is nonresponse, which is defined as failure of selected persons in the
sample to provide responses. This occurs in various degrees to all surveys, but the
resulting estimates can be distorted when some groups are actually more or less prone to
complete the survey. In many applications, younger people are less likely to participate
than older persons. Another problem is under-coverage, which is the event that certain
groups of interest in the population are not even included in the sampling frame. They
cannot participate because they cannot be contacted: those without an email address will
be excluded from sample frame. These two phenomena may cause some groups to be
over- or under-represented. In such cases, when the respondent population does not match
the true population, conclusions drawn from the survey data may not be reliable and are
said to be biased.
While we are not currently planning to weight the data, survey practitioners
recommend the use of sampling weighting to improve inference on the population. This
will be introduced into the survey process as a tool that helps the respondent sample more
closely represent the overall population. Weighting adjustments are commonly applied in
surveys to correct for nonresponse bias and coverage bias. As a business rule will be

13

implemented to require callers to provide email address, the coverage bias for this survey
is expected to decrease. In many surveys, however, differential response rates may be
observed across age groups. In the event that some age groups are more represented in the
final respondent sample, the weighting application will yield somewhat smaller weights
for this age group. Conversely, age groups that are underrepresented will receive larger
weights. This phenomenon is termed non-response bias correction for a single variable.
Strictly speaking, we can never know how non-respondents would have really answered
the question, but the aforementioned adjustment calibrates the sample to resemble the full
population – from the perspective of demographics. This may result in a substantial
correction in the resulting weighting survey estimates when compared to direct estimates
in the presence of non-negligible sample error (non-response bias).
It was reported earlier that the email population comprises 55% of the full VBA
PCT population. This is lower than the reported number of veterans that utilize email
(88%) but the PCT population does not consist of only veterans (National
Telecommunications and Information Administration, 2020). It is assumed that the level
of customer satisfaction is not directly related to their email status (Missing at Random).
When implemented, weighting will utilize cell weights in real time. With each
query on the VSignals platform for each respondent by dividing the target for a cell by the
number of respondents in the cell. The weighting scheme will include, where possible all
the variables used for explicit stratification, However, cells will be collapsed if the
proportion of the population is insufficient to reliably achieve a minimum of 3 completes
per month. As a result, weights may be more comprehensive for larger population
segments. For instance, in the VA, women are a smaller proportion of the populations.
Therefore, woman will have more collapsed cells than men.
As part of the weighting validation process, the weights of persons in age and
gender groups are summed and verified that they match the universe estimates (i.e.,
population totals). Additionally, we calculate the unequal weighting effect, or UWE (see
Kish, 1992; Liu et al., 2002). This statistic is an indication of the amount of variation that
may be expected due to the inclusion of weighting. The unequal weighting effect
estimates the percent increase in the variance of the final estimate due to the presence of
weights and is calculated as:

where
•
•
•

𝑠𝑠
2
= ( )2
𝑈𝑈𝑈𝑈𝑈𝑈 = 1 + 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤ℎ𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡
𝑤𝑤
�
cv = coefficient of variation for all weights 𝑤𝑤𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 .
s = sample standard deviation of weights.
1
� = sample mean of weights, 𝑤𝑤
𝒘𝒘
� = ∑𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 𝑤𝑤ij.
𝑛𝑛

G. Quarantine Rules

VEO seeks to limit contact with customers as much as possible, and only as
needed to achieve measurement goals. These rules are enacted to prevent excessive
recruitment attempts upon VA’s customers. VEO also monitors participation within other
14

surveys, to ensure veterans and other customers do not experience survey fatigue. All
VEO surveys offer options for respondents to opt out, and ensure they are no longer
contacted for a specific survey. VEO also monitors Veteran participation within other
surveys, to ensure customers do not experience survey fatigue.
Table 4. Quarantine Protocol
Quarantine Rule
Description
Repeated Sampling
for PCT Surveys
Other VEO Surveys
Opt Outs

Number of days between receiving/completing online
survey, prior to receiving email invitation for VBA PCT
experience survey
Number of days between receiving/completing online
survey and becoming eligible for another VEO survey
Persons indicating their wish to opt out of either phone
or online survey will no longer be contacted.

Elapsed
Time
30 Days
30 Days
N/A

Part III – Assumptions and Limitations
A. Coverage Bias
Since the VEO VBA PCT Survey are email only, there is a part of the population
that cannot be reached by the survey. Veterans that lack access to the internet or do not use
email may have different levels of Trust and satisfaction with their service. As such, it is
thought that customers in this latter category do not harbor any tangible differences to
other Veterans who do share their information. In order to verify this, VEO plans to
execute a coverage bias study to assess the amount of coverage bias due and derive
adjustment factors in the presence of non-negligible bias.

15

References
Choi, N.G. & Dinitto, D.M. (2013). Internet Use Among Older Adults: Association with Health
Needs, Psychological Capital, and Social Capital. Journal of Medical Internet Research,
15(5), e97
Kalton, G., & Flores-Cervantes, I. (2003). Weighting Methods. Journal of Official Statistics,
19(2), 81-97.
Kish, L. (1992). Weighting for unequal P. Journal of Official Statistics, 8(2), 183-200.
Kolenikov, S. (2014). Calibrating Survey Data Using Iterative Proportional Fitting (Raking). The
Stata Journal, 14(1): 22–59.
Lohr, S. (1999). Sampling: Design and Analysis (Ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Liu, J., Iannacchione, V., & Byron, M. (2002). Decomposing design effects for stratified
sampling. Proceedings of the American Statistical Association’s Section on Survey
Research Methods.
National Telecommunications and Information Administration (2020) Digital Nation Data
Explorer https://www.ntia.doc.gov/data/digital-nation-dataexplorer#sel=emailUser&demo=veteran&pc=prop&disp=chart

Wong, D.W.S. (1992) The Reliability of Using the Iterative Proportional Fitting Procedure. The
Professional Geographer, 44 (3), 1992, pp. 340-348

16