[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 78 (Tuesday, April 25, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19070-19071]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08296]



[[Page 19070]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

[OMB No. 0915-0379]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Public Comment Request; Information Collection 
Request Title: Questionnaire and Data Collection Testing, Evaluation, 
and Research for the Health Resources and Services Administration; 
Extension

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department 
of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA 
has submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments submitted 
during the first public review of this ICR will be provided to OMB. OMB 
will accept further comments from the public during the review and 
approval period.

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received no later than May 25, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, including the ICR Title, to the desk 
officer for HRSA, either by email to [email protected] or by 
fax to 202-395-5806.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the clearance 
requests submitted to OMB for review, email the HRSA Information 
Collection Clearance Officer at [email protected] or call (301) 443-
1984.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: When submitting comments or requesting 
information, please include the information request collection title 
for reference, in compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
    Information Collection Request Title: Questionnaire and Data 
Collection Testing, Evaluation, and Research for the Health Resources 
and Services Administration; OMB No. 0915-0379--Extension.
    Abstract: The purpose of this generic clearance is to obtain 
formative information from respondents to develop new questions, 
questionnaires, and tools and to identify problems in instruments 
currently in use. This clearance request is limited to formative 
research activities emphasizing data collection, toolkit development, 
and estimation procedures and reports for internal decision-making and 
development purposes and does not extend to the collection of data for 
public release or policy formation. It is anticipated that these 
studies will rely heavily on qualitative techniques to meet their 
objective. In general, these activities are not designed to yield 
results that meet generally accepted standards of statistical rigor but 
are intended to obtain valuable formative information to develop data 
collection tools that will yield more accurate results and decrease 
non-response.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: HRSA conducts cognitive 
interviews, focus groups, usability tests, field tests/pilot 
interviews, and experimental research in laboratory and field settings, 
both for applied questionnaire development and evaluation as well as 
basic research on response errors in surveys. HRSA staff use various 
techniques to evaluate interviewer-administered, self-administered, 
telephone, Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), Computer 
Assisted Self-Interviewing, Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing, 
and web-based questionnaires.
    Professionally-recognized procedures are followed in each 
information collection activity to ensure high quality data. Examples 
of these procedures include the following:
     Monitoring by supervisory staff of a certain percent of 
telephone interviews;
     Conducting cognitive interviewing techniques, including 
think-aloud techniques and debriefings;
     Digitizing through scannable forms or checking through 
double-key entry mail or paper-and-pencil surveys;
     Monitoring of focus groups by observers and recording 
focus group proceedings; and/or
     Statistically-validating data submitted through on-line 
surveys to ensure accuracy, such as disallowing out-of-range values.
    Each request under this generic clearance will specify the 
procedures to be used. Participation will be voluntary, and non-
participation will not affect eligibility for, or receipt of, future 
HRSA health services research activities or grant awards, recruitment, 
or participation. Specific testing and evaluation procedures will be 
described when HRSA notifies OMB about each new request. Consent 
procedures will be customized for each information collection activity, 
but will include assurances of confidentiality and the legislative 
authority for the activity. If the encounter is to be recorded, the 
respondent's permission to record will be obtained before beginning the 
interview. When screening is required (e.g., quota sampling), the 
screening will be as brief as possible and the screening questionnaire 
will be provided as part of the submission to OMB.
    The information collection methods will vary, but may include the 
following:
     Individual in-depth interviews--In-depth interviews will 
commonly be used to ensure that the meaning of a questionnaire or 
strategy is understood by the respondent. When in-depth interviewing is 
used, the interview guide will be provided to OMB for review.
     Focus groups--Focus groups will be used to obtain insights 
into beliefs and understandings of the target audience early in the 
development of a questionnaire or tool. When focus groups are used, the 
focus group discussion guide will be provided to OMB for review.
     Expert/Gatekeeper review of tools--In some instances, 
tools designed for patients may be reviewed in-depth by medical 
providers or other gatekeepers to provide feedback on the acceptability 
and usability of a particular tool. This would usually be in addition 
to pretesting of the tool by the actual patient or other user.
     Record abstractions--On occasion, the development of a 
tool or other information collection requires review and interaction 
with records rather than individuals.
     ``Dress rehearsal'' of a specific protocol--In some 
instances, the proposed pretesting will constitute a walkthrough of the 
intended data collection procedure. In these instances, the request 
will mirror what is expected to occur for the larger scale data 
collection.
    Likely Respondents: Respondents will be recruited by means of 
advertisements in public venues or through techniques that replicate 
prospective data collection activities that are the focus of the 
project. For instance, a survey on physician communication, designed to 
be administered following an office visit, might be pretested using the 
same procedure. Each submission to OMB will specify the specific 
recruitment procedure to be used.
    Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide the 
information requested. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying 
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing

[[Page 19071]]

and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond 
to a collection of information; to search data sources; to complete and 
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information. The total annual burden hours estimated for 
this ICR are summarized in the table below.

                                    Total Estimated Annualized Burden--Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                     Number of       Number of         Total        burden per     Total burden
 Type of information collection     respondents    responses per     responses     response  (in       hours
                                                    respondent                        hours)
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Mail/email \1\..................           1,670               1           1,670            0.26           434.2
Telephone.......................           1,670               1           1,670            0.26           434.2
Web-based.......................           1,666               1           1,666            0.25           416.5
Focus Groups....................           1,666               1           1,666             1.0           1,666
In-person.......................           1,666               1           1,666             1.0           1,666
Automated \2\...................           1,666               1           1,666             1.0           1,666
Cognitive Testing...............           5,000               1           5,000            1.41           7,050
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    Total.......................          15,004  ..............          15,004  ..............          13,333
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\1\ May include telephone non-response follow-up, in which case the burden will not change.
\2\ May include testing of database software, CAPI software, or other automated technologies.


 Jason E. Bennett,
Director, Division of the Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2017-08296 Filed 4-24-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4165-15-P