BUREAU O F CONSUMER FINANCIAL PROTECTION PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT SUBMISSION
I NFORMATION COLLECTION REQUEST

SUPPORTING STATEMENT PART B [ OWNING A HOME EVALUATION STUDY

(OMB CONTROL NUMBER: 3170

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PART B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS 1. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any sampling or other respondent selection method to be used. Data on the number of entities (e.g., establishments, State and local go vernment units, households, or persons) in the universe covered by the collection and in the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form for the universe as a whole and for each of the strata in the proposed sample. Indicate expected response r ates for the collection as a whole. If the collection has been conducted previously, include the actual response rate achieved during the last collection.

The target audience for the Owning A Home suite of tools is prospective home

- buyers. To replicate t his target audience as much as possible, the respondent universe is composed of active
members of a national homebuying website

. A ctive members are defined as those who have accessed the website sometime in the past 3 months. A random sample of active me mbers will
be invited to participate in the study via email and directed to visit the study’s homepage. The partner website will send these recruiting emails using their email management system. We are targeting an initial pool of 50,000 potential respond ents

. Potential respondents will be asked to complete a short screening questionnaire to determine eligibility for the study. To participate, respondents must intend to purchase a home in the next 3 months, be involved in financial
decisions in their hou sehold , and not be professionally involved in the real estate industry.

Table 1. Survey sample and estimates of response rate

Active members of homebuying site 1,000,000 + Initial pool of potential respondents 50,000 Eligible respondents (60%) 30,000 Eligible participants who opt

- in and complete baseline survey (30

- 33% ) 9,500

- 10,000

Participants who complete the entire study (23

- 25%) 2,300

- 2,350

Participants who complete the entire 1,150

- 1,175study and submit final mortgage documents (50%)

Approx imately 60 % of potential respondents are expected to meet initia l screening criteria , of which we expect approximately 30

- 33% to agree to participate in the study. There is likely to be
additional attrition over time. Monetary incentives will be offered to encourage participation in the study and to incentivize survey completion. Further efforts to increase response rates are
detailed below.

2. Describe the procedures for the collection of information :

D ata will consist of a combination of participant surveys and administrative data from the Owning a Home suite o f tools

.

P articipant surveys : Surveys will be used to obtain additional information on respond ents’ shopping behavior, perceptions of the market, mortgage knowledge, and feelings of empowerment. Surveys will be administered online every two weeks for three
months or until a home is purchased , whichever occurs first

. An initial baseline survey wil l additionally contain information on respondents’ background characteristics, including information on their existing assets and liabilities. Closing surveys will ask for information on terms of the home purchase and mortgage obtained , including a reques t to provide the final mortgage documents

. If participants have not purchased a home before the end of the three month study window, they will be asked to complete a final closing survey, administered upon closing and up to 8 weeks later.

Owning a Home w eb suite of tools : Website metrics will include measures of participants’ activity on the site. For instance, participants may access various tools (e.g. background information on the process of searching for a mortgage, a mortgage rate benchmarking tool, or a mortgage document comparison tool), and may spend varying
amounts of time on each.

Before analysis, data will be de

- identified to exclude any direct identifying information protect
the privacy of sampled consumers.

a. Include statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection,

As described above, the sample will be draw n from a homebuying website’s existing members. Respondents will be asked to complete a short screening questionnaire first in order to determine if they are eligible. D ata obtained in the screening questionnaire does not contain any directly identifying information and will be analyzed only in the aggregate to assess which eligibilitycriteria have the most impact on disqualifying individuals. Upon completing the screen ing questionnaire, respondents are presented with informed consent lang uage and asked to opt

- in to the study.

The research team does not anticipate the need to rely on stratification, although respondents may be analyzed according to individual characteri stics (e.g. previous homeownership experience).

b. Estimation procedure,

The primary analytic technique for estimating the impact of a randomized controlled trial (RCT)
such as this study is a comparison of outcomes for participants in different study group s. In particular, in estimating the impact of the Owning a Home suite of tools, the research team will

compare outcomes for participants who were given access to these tools (the treatment group) to those who were not given access (the control group). Th e research team intends to use “intent to treat” analysis, thereby estimating effects on those who had the opportunity to receive treatment, including those who did and did not use the tools. Assuming that the randomization process is performed correctly, this analysis identifies the causal impact of access to the Owning a Home suite of tools on mortgage outcomes for the study population.

Estimates of the differences between the two groups will be calculated using data from surveys, online tracking, and mortgage outcomes. For each difference, statistical confidence intervals will be calculated using standard statistical assumptions.

For some outcomes, the research team is additionally interested in how outcomes changed during the home shopping process. For example, it may be expected that respondents who have completed their home purchase and have closed on a mortgage will have higher knowledge of the mortgage process than those who are in the initial stages of their home search. As such, changes in mo rtgage knowledge between baseline and the final survey will be compared for those in treatment and control groups.

c. Degree of accuracy needed for the purpose described in the justification,

There is limited existing data on the methods that prospective homebuyers use to search for home and mortgage options. Additionally, there is limited evidence regarding how much money homebuyers will save from obtaining an additional mortgage estimate. A s such, it is difficult to estimate the expected effects of the described intervention, and in turn, the degree of accuracy required.

Based on power analyses using existing information on estimated savings from mortgage search,the research team has estim ated that approximately 2,200 participants are needed to complete the study in order to detect a difference between those exposed to the Owning a Home tools and
those who are not. Given expected attrition, the recruitment plan is sufficient to produce 2,2 00 complete participants with a small additional cushion.

d. Unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures, and

The research team does not anticipate using any specialized sampling procedures.

e. Any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) da ta collection cycles to reduce
burden

.
The proposed research does not include any use of less

- frequent

- than

- annual periodic data collection cycles.

3. Describe methods to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of non

- response. The accuracy and reliability of information collected must be shown to be adequate for
intended uses. For collections based on sampling a special justification must be provided for any collection that will not yield “reliable” data that can be generalized to
the universe s tudied.

N on

- response may be a challenge for this study, particularly because respondents are being
asked to participate multiple times throughout their shopping process. While we will strive to minimize attrition over the course of the study, we will also include partial participants’ data in our analysis where appropriate. The s urvey modules have been carefully designed to collect the
data needed f or analysis while minimizing burden to participants. Additionally, a co mbination of strategies is being employed to address non

- response, as outlined below.

Strategies to maximize participation

a. P articipants will be offered a cash incentive , which has been shown to increase
response rates. 1

b. Reminder emails will be sent to those who have not taken a survey or who dropped out in the middle. These emails will request that participants complete the survey

. Such reminders have been shown to increase response rates. 2

Strategies to minimize incomplete responses

1 Phil Edwards, Ian Roberts, Mike Clarke, Carolyn DiGuiseppi, Sarah Pratap, Reinhard Wentz, and Irene Kwan, “Increasing Response Rates to Postal Questionnaires: Systematic Review,” British Medical Journal 324 (2002):1183

- 1189

2 Crawford, Scott D., Mick P. Co uper, and Mark J. Lamias

. ( 2001 ) . “Web Surveys: Perceptions of Burden,” Social Science Computer Revie w, 19 (2): 146

- 62 ; Cook, Colleen, Fred Heath, and Russel L. Thompson. (2000). “A Meta

Analysis of Response Rates in Web

- or Internet

- Based Surveys,” Educati onal and Psychological Measurement, 60 (6): 821

- 36.a. T o reduce respondent burden, the survey has been constructed so that participants will answer only a subset of questions for each survey . Specifically, the survey
modules that are administered will change depending on initial screening questions that allow us to quickly assess the re spondent ’ s current situation . By reducing the number of questions that are asked (and the associated time required t o respond) more respondents are expected to complete the surveys

. b. Additionally , participants will be allowed to “suspend” their survey sess ion so that they can “resume” it at a later date. Such a design accommodates technical problems that may prohibit participants from completing the survey, such as an Internet connection issue, as well as scheduling constraints. 3

4. Describe any tests of pro cedures or methods to be undertaken.

The CFPB plans test the survey instrument and data collection procedures prior to running the
full

- scale study . These techniques are meant to reduce the total public burden of the study by ensuring that information co llection is optimized. There are two planned tests: cognitive interviews and a pilot study.

C ognitive interviews will be conducted in order to refine the survey instrument. 4 During these interviews, participants will be able to think aloud regarding their interest in the questions and
their understanding of the questions, revealing potential problems with question comprehensibility and response options.

Second, the CFPB plans to conduct a pilot study. This study will be conducted online and will reveal potential problems with question sequencing and skip patterns, completion time, randomization of the order of response options , and checks for invalid res ponses. During these tests, we will allow participants to report problems that they are experiencing and track participant behavior through drop

- out or non

- response . That feedback, combined with other data gathered from the pretest, will be used to revis e the survey questions and software as appropriate.

5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on statistical aspects of the design and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), grantee(s), or other person(s) who will actually col lect and/or analyze the information for the agency.

Dustin Beckett
Economist Division of Research, Markets and Regulations

3 This practice is recommended by survey methodologists; see pages 336

- 339 of Couper , Mick P. ( 2008 )

.

“ Designing Effective Web Surveys, ” New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

4 For additional information on cognitive interviewing, see Willis, Gordon B. (2005). “Cognitive Interviewing: A Tool for Improving Questionnaire Design,” Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
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