Department of Justice October 8, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) intends to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a generic information collection clearance that will allow BJS to conduct a variety of cognitive, pilot, and field test studies. BJS will submit the request for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Over the next three years, BJS anticipates undertaking a variety of new surveys and data collections, as well as reassessing ongoing statistical projects, across a number of areas of criminal justice, including law enforcement, courts, corrections, and victimization. This work will entail development of new survey instruments, redesigning and/or modifying existing surveys, procuring administrative data from state and local government entities, and creating or modifying establishment surveys. In order to inform BJS data collection protocols, to develop accurate estimates of respondent burden, and to minimize respondent burden associated with each new or modified data collection, BJS will engage in cognitive, pilot and field test activities to refine instrumentation and data collection methodologies. BJS envisions using a variety of techniques, including but not limited to tests of different types of survey and data collection operations, focus groups, cognitive testing, pilot testing, exploratory interviews, experiments with questionnaire design, and usability testing of electronic data collection instruments. Following standard Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements, BJS will submit a change request to OMB individually for every group of data collection activities undertaken under this generic clearance. BJS will provide OMB with a copy of the individual instruments or questionnaires (if one is used), as well as other materials describing the project.