[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 32 (Thursday, February 16, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10121-10122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-03265]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Public Comment Request; of the ACL Generic Clearance for the Collection 
of Qualitative Research and Assessment: OMB 0985-NEW

AGENCY: Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and 
Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is announcing an 
opportunity for the public to comment on the proposed collection of 
information listed above. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA), Federal agencies are required to publish a notice in the Federal 
Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including 
each proposed extension of an existing collection of information, and 
to allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This IC 
solicits comments on the information collection requirements relating 
to the ACL Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Research 
and Assessment, a generic mechanism to conduct qualitative research in 
support of program improvement, knowledge generation, and technical 
assistance for ACL programs and populations served by the agency.

[[Page 10122]]


DATES: Comments on the collection of information must be submitted 
electronically by 11:59 p.m. (EST) or postmarked by April 17, 2023.

ADDRESSES: Submit electronic comments on the collection of information 
to: ACL's Office of Performance and Evaluation at 
[email protected]. Submit written comments on the collection of 
information to Administration for Community Living, 330 C Street SW, 
Washington, DC 20201, Attention: Office of Performance and Evaluation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Amanda Cash, Administration for 
Community Living, 202-795-7369 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal 
agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. 
``Collection of information'' is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 
1320.3(c) and includes agency requests or requirements that members of 
the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a 
third party. The PRA requires Federal agencies to provide a 60-day 
notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of 
information, including each proposed extension of an existing 
collection of information, before submitting the collection to OMB for 
approval. To comply with this requirement, ACL is publishing a notice 
of the proposed collection of information set forth in this document.
    With respect to the following collection of information, ACL 
invites comments on our burden estimates or any other aspect of this 
collection of information, including:
    (1) whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of ACL's functions, including whether the 
information will have practical utility;
    (2) the accuracy of ACL's estimate of the burden of the proposed 
collection of information, including the validity of the methodology 
and assumptions used to determine burden estimates;
    (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and
    (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques when appropriate, and other forms of information technology.
    Some individual information collection requests may contain 
demographic data, and ACL will ensure adherence to best practices for 
collection of all demographic information in accordance with OMB 
guidance.
    The Administration for Community Living (ACL) at the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) is requesting a generic clearance for 
purposes of conducting qualitative research to gain a better 
understanding of emerging issues related to ACL's grantees, service 
providers, and programs; develop future intramural and extramural 
research projects; and to ensure HHS and ACL leadership, programs, and 
staff can obtain timely and relevant data and information. ACL defines 
qualitative feedback as information that provides useful insights on 
perceptions and opinions but are not statistical surveys that yield 
results that can be generalized beyond the population of study. ACL is 
requesting approval for at least four types of qualitative research: 
(a) interviews, (b) focus groups, (c) questionnaires, and (d) other 
qualitative methods.
    ACL's mission is to maximize the independence, well-being, and 
health of older adults, people with disabilities across the lifespan, 
and their families and caregivers. ACL implements critical disability 
and aging programs, serves as the advisor to the HHS Secretary on 
disability and aging policy, works with other HHS agencies, Departments 
and the White House on disability and aging policies, and engages a 
range of disability and aging constituents to inform program 
development and implementation. Integral to this role, ACL will use 
this mechanism to conduct research, evaluation, and assessment to 
understand the needs, barriers, or facilitators for ACL programs. 
Future proposed data collection tools may be found on the ACL website 
for review at: https://www.acl.gov/about-acl/public-input.
    Estimated Program Burden: ACL estimates the burden of this 
collection of information as follows:
    A variety of instruments and platforms will be used to collect 
information from respondents. The annual burden hours (5,043) requested 
and the anticipated number of respondents (10,086) are based on the 
number of qualitative information collection requests (ICRs) that were 
approved by OMB currently at ACL. Out of the total ICRs at ACL, we 
estimated that that 30% of them have a qualitative research component. 
We used this information to develop the annual burden estimate below. 
Therefore, we estimate that over the requested period for this 
clearance (3 years) and approximately 30,258 respondents and 15,129 
burden hours will be needed.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Table
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondent              Form           Number of     responses per     hours per     Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       response          hours
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ACL Program Recipient,          Qualitative               10,086               1              .5           5,043
 Partner, or Key Informant.      Research.
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    Dated: February 11, 2023.
Alison Barkoff,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2023-03265 Filed 2-15-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4154-01-P