0568 SS Part B 111213

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

OMB CONTROL NO: 0648-0568

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: (1) Office of Education, Educational Partnership Program (EPP), (2) Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship Program; (3) Dr. Nancy Foster Scholarship Program; and, (4) National Marine Fisheries Service Recruitment, Training, and Research Program

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

This section applies only to the student alumni form.

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.

Censuses will be conducted.

Table 2: Potential respondent universe and expected response rates

Population	Sample	Sample Size	Expected Response Rate 60%
Ernest F. Hollings Scholarship Alumni	Census	796	478
EPP Undergraduate Scholarship Alumni	Census	140	84
EPP Graduate Sciences Scholarship Alumni	Census	51	31
Nancy Foster Scholarship Alumni	Census	40	24
NMFS RTR Program Alumni	Census	150	90

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.

As there will be censuses of the respective populations, there will be no sampling.

3. Describe the methods used to maximize response rates and to deal with nonresponse. 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.

• Alumni will receive a personalized request from their respective scholarship program coordinator, as well as a pre-notification and two follow up requests (one and two weeks later), all practices that increase response rates (Dillman et al., 2009). Follow-up reminders, along with advance notice of an impending survey request, improve survey response rates (Yu and Cooper, 1983).

• The questionnaire has been designed to be respondent-friendly (e.g., almost all questions are closed-ended, worded in a clear, easy to understand manner, and skip logic has been incorporated). These latter features, along with personalization of correspondence, have also been found to yield increased response rates (Dillman et al., 2009; Dillman, Sinclair, and Clark, 1993).

Addressing Nonresponses

• Following up with nonrespondents – Send a shorter version of the survey, with an estimated response time of 5 minutes. If there is no response after two attempts via email survey, a phone interview will be attempted with all non-respondents. The questions from the survey will be asked over the phone by the interviewer. NOTE: since we are asking for burden coverage for the census of alumni, we will not calculate an additional burden for the nonresponse survey.

• Demographic data, e.g., sex, age, race, will be used as available, so that the composition of respondents can be compared with that of nonrespondents to see if there are any differences. The presence of differences indicates response bias and that caution is necessary in making inferences.

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 under the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Voluntary Alumni Data Form

The revised alumni form was provided to four NOAA student alumni scholars to complete.  NOAA OEd Silver Spring received data and feedback from the experience using the form.  The data was uploaded into the SPMTS and the feedback on the experience was shared with system developer.

Sample

Responses from two users of the revised alumni data form – estimates of time to complete the form.

1. The form took about 10 minutes to complete.

2. From what I can remember it was very short. No longer than 10 minutes, possibly 5. 

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.

Individuals Consulted on Statistical Design:

Dr. John Baek, Education Evaluator, NOAA Office of Education developed the statistical design for the proposed evaluation study.

If you have any questions about the statistical design of the study, please contact Dr. John Baek: john.baek@noaa.gov, 202-482-8189.

Individual Who Will Overseeing Data Collection and Analysis:

The evaluation system is designed to collect data through online survey systems. For Hollings and EPP, this is custom web database system. For Nancy Foster, this is Google Forms or Survey Monkey.

Meka Laster, Program Planning Specialist, NOAA Office of Education (meka.laster@noaa.gov, 201-628-2906) will be responsible for overseeing the automated data collection process and for overseeing the functioning and maintenance of the evaluation system for EPP and Hollings.

Seaberry Nachbar, Education Coordinator, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (seaberry.nachbar@noaa.gov, 240-472-9892) will be responsible for initiating the automated data collection process and for ensuring the functioning and maintenance of the evaluation system for Nancy Foster.

Jim Berkson, Director, NMFS RTR Program (jim.berkson@noaa.gov, 352-294-0887) will be responsible for initiating the automated data collection process and for ensuring the functioning and maintenance of the evaluation system for the NMFS RTR program.

John Baek, Education Evaluator, NOAA Office of Education (john.baek@noaa.gov, 202-482-8189) will be responsible for coordinating the data collections and analyzing the data.

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