OUSD(P&R) HRPP: Survey, Interview & Focus Group Information

Last updated on 2010-12-29 11:20:18

OUSD(P&R) Human Research Protection Program (HRPP)

Survey, Interview & Focus Group Information

Surveys, interviews and focus groups are research methodologies with special review and approval processes in the Department. Which reviews are required depends on the nature of the activity, but can include the following:

Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) review preparatory to issuance of a Report Control Symbol (RCS)

A survey, interview or focus group that includes participants from more than a single DoD component or Service must be approved as a DoD information collection. Approval is signified by a Report Control Symbol, or RCS, for more information: http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/imd.htm. In order to obtain an RCS number, you need the following:

An Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) sponsor
DMDC Review
SD Form 455

OSD sponsorship is an endorsement and it doesn’t require or imply financing. The ideal OSD sponsor is an office that is interested in the topic or outcome of the information collection.

Once you have an OSD sponsor, you will need a review from the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC). In order to do a review, DMDC needs your response to the "Implementation of DoD Instruction 1100.13" checklist's requests to describe various aspects of your study, including:

The purpose (Section II.A.)
The response rate you anticipate (Section II.C.)
A detailed, technical statement of analytic considerations (Section II.D.)
Copies of all communications to potential respondents, including hard copy of (and/or a link to) the questionnaire (Section II.E.)
Plans for collecting survey materials, including number of times potential respondents will be contacted (Section II.F.)
Statements on the type of data in electronic dataset(s) and access to surveys, results, and dataset(s) (Sections II.G. and II.H.)

If any of these sections does not apply to your study, just state that and explain why.

Implementation of DoD Instruction 1100.13, "Surveys of DoD Personnel"

In addition to the response to the checklist that is submitted directly to DMDC, a request for survey review must be submitted through the DMDC Request System (DRS). To submit a DRS request, you must first create an account at https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/drs/.

(Because the DRS request must come from a .mil or .gov address using Internet Explorer 4 or newer, it cannot come from another browser or from a contractor who has another type of e-mail address.) If you need technical assistance with the DRS, please visit the web site: https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/owa/drs/drs.login.Show_Login. To make sure this request gets processed efficiently, please make the title of your request the title of your survey, and elsewhere make clear the request is for a survey review, not survey data.

With your input, the OSD sponsor will need to complete an SD Form 455. The OSD sponsoring office's Information Management Control Officer (IMCO) can assist with filling out this form and can tell you about other reviews that may be necessary. These could include reviews by the Services and secondary HRPP review by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness).

DMDC’s review, any other reviews, and the Form 455 go through the IMCO to Washington Headquarters Services (WHS), which grants licenses to inter-component information collections. To view a listing of currently approved OMB and DoD Internal information collections, please visit, http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/infomgt/imd.htm.

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