Request for Nonsubstantive Change to do additional Mailings

Nonsubstantive Change Request for the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation Cell Phone and Debit Card Test

OMB Number 0607-0964

We completed data collection for the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR) Cell Phone and Debit Card Test. The purpose of the test was to research alternative survey designs that could increase the number of CATI interviews while reducing the variance associated with conducting fewer CAPI interviews.

We mailed approximately 472 cell phone packages, 472 debit card packages, and 467 advance letter-only packages to our sample addresses on April 27. Over 50-percent of our survey packages (across panels) have been returned as undeliverable as addressed or UAAs. For example, 252 out of 472 cell phone packages have been returned to date.

You can see the reasons for the returns in the table below.



The debit card panel and the advance letter-only panel had very similar results. We believe that the restriction of (only) including sample households that did not provide a telephone number in the 2010 Census could have something to do with this unusually high UAA rate. (The FHWAR production survey had a 7-percent UAA rate.)
Because of the high return rate, it is difficult to determine if any of the three methods are beneficial for future production surveys. For that reason, we would like to conduct a second panel test in the month of August. The three test panels will include 220 cell phone cases, 220 debit card cases, and 220 advance letter-only cases. Test cases will be selected from the same sample as the original test cases but without the restriction and with respect to occupancy status.

The mail materials have been updated to reflect the August interview period but the wording of the letters and postcards will remain identical to the wording used for the mailing in May. The letters and postcards can be provided upon request.

As in the first mailing, we will mail the cell phone panel a postcard indicating that their address will receive a cell phone to participate in a National survey. Then a few days later, we will mail an advance letter with a cell phone. The advance letter will ask that a household member call the telephone center and complete an interview using the cell phone. The telephone centers will also attempt to contact these households using the assigned cell phone telephone number. The debit card panel will receive an advance letter and a $25 incentive. The advance letter will ask that a household member call the telephone center to complete an interview and accept the prepaid debit card as a “thank you” for participating. The advance letter-only panel will only receive an advance letter that requests a household member call the telephone center to complete an interview.

We will use the same data collection instrument. No updates to the instrument are necessary for this second test.

The new test schedule follows:

Mail postcard for cell phone panel July 22, 2011

Mail advance letters for all three panels July 27, 2011

Interviewing begins August 1, 2011

Mail reminder/thank you postcard August 8, 2011

Interviewing closes out August 22, 2011

This test will not introduce additional burden because the new households are replacement households for the original households that were unreachable. We plan to complete this test by August 22, 2011, well in advance of the expiration date of September 30.

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