PRA 1670_PCII PROGRAM Survey Supporting Statement B
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods.
Describe (including 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 government 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 rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection has been conducted previously, include the actual response rate achieved during the last collection.
The potential respondent pool includes the entire U.S. population of Federal, State and local government analysts, emergency responders and other officials or contractors with homeland security duties who participate in Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program training as a requirement for access to PCII. Participation in the survey is voluntarily; authorized user Web-based training is at will and PCII officer training is offered on an as-needed basis.
The survey collects responses from two groups: those taking Authorized User training and those training to be PCII Officers/PCII Program Manager Designees for a Federal, State, local or tribal government entity. Within those groups, the survey does not employ sampling or other demographic targeting techniques.
Estimated participation in the survey is based on past participation in the PCII Program’s training, which suggests that the PCII Program will administer 60 PCII Officer/PCII Program Manager Designee training surveys annually. An estimated 250 individuals will participate in the Web-based survey monthly which equates to 3,000 annually.
Response rates are expected to be higher for the PCII Office/PCII Program Manager Designee training sessions because they are conducted face-to-face with participants. For those participants we expect response rates of between 80 and 100 percent, factoring in refusals. For PCII Authorized User training we expect response rates of between 70 and 100 percent, factoring in potential non-response.
Describe the procedures for the collection of information including:
Statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection,
The PCII Program survey is a census of all training participants and does not use sampling or stratification.
Estimation procedure,
The data collected will be representative of only those that have attended training, and analysis will not attempt to generalize the data to a larger population.
Degree of accuracy needed for the purpose described in the justification,
No specific degree of accuracy is needed, however high response rates will ensure greater validity of the results and applicability to the PCII Program.
Unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures, and
This survey requires no specialized sampling procedures.
Any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) data collection cycles to reduce burden.
PCII Program training participants will complete one training session and only one survey before becoming PCII Officers/PCII Program Manager Designees or PCII Authorized Users.
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 studied.
Surveys are systematically administered at the end of the PCII Officer/PCII Program Manager Designee instructor-led training course to maximize response while minimizing non-response bias. The survey is provided as a link end of the PCII Authorized User Web-based training. If the person chooses not to participate, no constraints are imposed and they are considered to have completed the training without participating in the survey. The length of the survey is approximately 8 minutes, depending on the volume of qualitative comments the participant provides.
No follow-up is planned for the instructor-led training sessions as the survey is administered in a face-to-face setting. Web-based training participants will also receive a reminder about the survey in a generic e-mail message when they are sent the certificate of training completion by the PCII Program Office.
4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Testing is encouraged as an effective means of refining collections of information to minimize burden and improve utility. Tests must be approved if they call for answers to identical questions from 10 or more respondents. A proposed test or set of tests may be submitted for approval separately or in combination with the main collection of information.
The PCII Program survey has been pretested with a small group of potential respondents (less than 10) to determine the time required to complete the survey and ensure the questions are understandable and answerable by the intended respondents.
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 collect and/or analyze the information for the agency.
The information collection will be done for the Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program by a contractor:
Technology & Management Services, Inc.
18757 N. Frederick Rd.
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
301-670-1942
The representative of the contractor who consulted on statistical aspects of design and will be responsible for analyzing the collected information is:
Christy G. Magee, M.A.
Senior Associate
18757 N. Frederick Rd.
Gaithersburg, MD 20879
703-235-4072
Christy.magee@associates.dhs.gov
| File Type | application/msword |
| Author | Corey Mull |
| Last Modified By | cmagee |
| File Modified | 2008-09-22 |
| File Created | 2008-09-22 |