Supplementary and Part B Questions

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Supplemental Questions for DOC/NOAA Customer Survey Clearance
(OMB Control Number 0648-0342)

1. Explain who will be conducting this survey. What program office will be conducting the
survey? What services does this program provide? Who are the customers? How are
these services provided to the customer?
The survey will be conducted by Diane Cooper, the NWS Twin Cities, MN Senior
Service Hydrologist. The survey is being conducted through both Hydrology and
Outreach Programs. The NWS Hydrology program’s objective is to provide a suite of
hydrology-related products and services to partners and decisions makers. The objective
of the Outreach Program is to build solid relationships with the public and private sectors
and ensure that key decision makers have appropriate and timely weather- and
hydrology-related information for making solid decisions.
The focus group for this survey will be the 188 partners that the NWS Twin Cities, MN
office worked with through the 2010 Spring Flood. This included city, county and state
Emergency Managers/Planners as well as Federal partners within the NWS Twin Cities
area of responsibility. These individuals will be asked to complete this survey as a onetime request to obtain feedback on the event. The objective of this survey is to evaluate
the timeliness and effectiveness of the NWS Twin Cities Flood services and products in
preparation and response to this event. In addition, our goal is obtain feedback on the
value of some of the newer strategies and products employed and determine if these
strategies and products should be used in the future as well as shared with other offices as
a best practice.
The survey will be distributed via email.

2.

Explain how this survey was developed. With whom did you consult during the
development of this survey on content? Statistics? What suggestions did you get about
improving the survey?
The survey was developed based on the “pre-approved” list of Survey questions available
at http://www.cio.noaa.gov/itmanagement/praquest.pdf. In addition, Ms. Cooper referred
to other surveys that NWS office have distributed to their partners, in order to see how
the pre-approved questions could be modified to meet the specific office needs. Finally,
the survey was vetted through the Meteorologist in Charge and Warning Coordination
Meteorologist

1

3.

Explain how the survey will be conducted. How will the customers be sampled (if fewer
than all customers will be surveyed)? What percentage of customers asked to take the
survey will respond? What actions are planned to increase the response rate? (Webbased surveys are not an acceptable method of sampling a broad population. Webbased surveys must be limited to services provided by Web.)
The form will be distributed via email. Responders will be asked to complete the fillable
form and return via email or print and mail their responses to the NWS Twin Cities, MN.
The response rates are expected to be reasonably good, roughly 75%, since the decision
maker has a direct benefit in providing feedback to help improve the NWS products and
services for future events. A month will be allowed for decision makers to complete the
survey. To help ensure a higher response rate, over the next few months, the Service
Hydrologist will attend the quarterly MN Homeland Security Regional meetings, mainly
attended by Emergency Managers, to discuss the survey and the flood event in general. In
addition, she will send an email reminder two weeks into the survey timeframe
encouraging people to provide their feedback, so that services can be improved for future
events.

4.

Describe how the results of this survey will be analyzed and used. If the customer
population is sampled, what statistical techniques will be used to generalize the results
to the entire customer population? Is this survey intended to measure a GPRA
performance measure? (If so, please include an excerpt from the appropriate
document.)
As stated in Question 1, the main objective of this survey is to evaluate the timeliness and
effectiveness of the NWS Twin Cities Flood services and products in preparation and
response to this event. An additional goal is obtain feedback on the value of some of the
newer strategies and products employed. Ultimately, we would like to identify which, if
any, of the newer strategies and products employed during this event should be used in
the future and shared with other offices as a best practice.
The analysis of the data will mainly be subjective in nature. No formal publication of this
survey and the data is planned. However “anecdotal comments” may be included in a
NWS post-event review for staff, partners and stakeholders. While the intent of the
survey is not to measure a specific GPRA performance measure, an overarching goal is to
provide insight on our partners’/key decision makers’ “satisfaction” during the event and
identify target areas for improvement. So improvement on products and services, could
indirectly improve GPRA performance measure scores.

2

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 governmental units, households, or persons) in the
universe and the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form. The tabulation
must also include expected response rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection has
been conducted before, provide the actual response rate achieved.
We are conducting a census of the partners and decision-makers that the NWS Twin
Cities MN office closely worked with during the 2010 Spring Flood event. We have a
fairly accurate listing of these individuals, estimated to number 188. (See table below for
a breakout of targeted groups for distribution of the survey.) Given the direct benefit to
the decision maker to provide input on products and services provided during the flood as
well as the concise length of the survey, roughly 30 minutes per survey to complete, we
estimate a 75% response rate or 141 completed surveys. Give the assumption of 141
responses and an estimate of 30 minutes per survey to process the responses, the burden
will be 70.5 (71) hours.
Targeted Agencies
Federal Partners
County and City Officials and Workers
State Level Officials & Decisions Makers

Numbers of Potential Responses
22
77
89

Total

188

2. Describe the procedures for the collection, including: the statistical methodology for
stratification and sample selection; the estimation procedure; the degree of accuracy
needed for the purpose described in the justification; any unusual problems requiring
specialized sampling procedures; and any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) data
collection cycles to reduce burden.
No specialized sampling will be used for this survey. All external partners/decision
makers who are on the NWS Twin Cities Flood Decision Support email, other than
NOAA employees, list will be asked to complete a survey.
3. Describe the methods used to maximize response rates and to deal with nonresponsive.
The accuracy and reliability of the information collected must be shown to be adequate for
the intended uses. For collections based on sampling, a special justification must be
provided if they will not yield "reliable" data that can be generalized to the universe
studied.
As there is a close relationship between the NWS and most of these individuals and the
decision maker has a vested interested in receiving improved services, we expect the
response rate to be very good. In addition, since the flood occurred within the past

3

month, comments and suggestions will still be fresh in their minds, and they are most
likely to take the opportunity to give feedback.
To help ensure a higher response rate, over the next month, the Service Hydrologist will
participate in the quarterly MN Homeland Security Regional meetings, mainly attended
by Emergency Managers, to discuss the survey and the flood event in general. Once
distributed, a month will be allowed for decision makers to complete the survey. To
increase response rates, two weeks after the survey is distributed, the Service Hydrologist
will provide an email encouraging people to provide their feedback and reminding them
that their responses will help the NWS improve products and services for future events.
4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Tests are encouraged as
effective means to refine collections, but if ten or more test respondents are involved OMB
must give prior approval.
There are no tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken in this survey.
5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on the 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.
Diane Cooper, NWS Twin Cities, MN Senior Service Hydrologist
952-368-2542
Diane.Cooper@noaa.gov

4