[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 53 (Friday, March 18, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15027-15028]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-6452]


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SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative 
Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

AGENCY: Social Security Administration (SSA).

ACTION: 30-day notice of submission of information collection approval 
from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of a Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the 
process to seek feedback from the public on service delivery, the SSA 
has submitted a Generic Information Collection Request (Generic ICR): 
``Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on 
Agency Service Delivery'' to OMB for approval under the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.).
    Your comments would be most useful if OMB and SSA receive them 
within 30 days from the date of this publication. To be sure we 
consider your comments, we must receive them no later than April 18, 
2011. Mail, email, or fax your comments and recommendations to the OMB 
Desk Officer and SSA Reports Clearance Officer at the following 
addresses or fax numbers.
    (OMB), Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Desk Officer for SSA, 
Fax: 202-395-6974, E-mail address: [email protected].
    (SSA), Social Security Administration, DCBFM, Attn: Reports 
Clearance Officer, 1333 Annex Building, 6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, 
MD 21235, Fax: 410-965-6400, E-mail address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    Abstract: The information collection activity will garner 
qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely 
manner, in accordance with SSA's commitment to improving service 
delivery. By qualitative feedback, we mean information that provides 
useful insights on perceptions and opinions, but are not statistical 
surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the 
population of study. This feedback will provide insights into customer 
or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an 
early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where 
communication, training, or changes in operations might improve 
delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for 
ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between the 
agency and its customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback 
to contribute directly to the improvement of program management.
    Feedback we collect under this generic clearance will provide 
useful information, but it will not yield data that we can generalize 
to the overall population. We will not use this type of generic 
clearance (qualitative information) for quantitative information 
collections designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as 
monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such 
data uses require more rigorous designs that address the target 
population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, 
the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the 
precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed 
sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing 
potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any 
testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding 
the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely 
to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for 
other generic mechanisms designed to yield quantitative results.
    The agency received no comments in response to the 60-day notice 
published in the Federal Register of December 22, 2010 (75 FR 80542).
    Below we provide SSA's projected average estimates for the next 
three years: \1\
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    \1\ The 60-day notice included the following estimate of the 
aggregate burden hours for this generic clearance federal-wide:
    Average Expected Annual Number of activities: 25,000.
    Average number of Respondents per Activity: 200.
    Annual responses: 5,000,000.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average minutes per response: 30.
    Burden hours: 2,500,000.

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[[Page 15028]]

    Current Actions: New collection of information.
    Type of Review: New collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households, businesses and 
organizations, State, Local or Tribal Government.
    Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: 125.
    Respondents: 1,604,168.
    Annual responses: 1,604,168 responses.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average minutes per response: 5.46545 minutes.
    Burden hours: 146,125 hours.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number.

    Dated: March 15, 2011.
Faye Lipsky,
Reports Clearance Officer, Center for Reports Clearance, Social 
Security Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-6452 Filed 3-17-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4191-02-P