Request for Approval

DI-4011 (Rev. 07/2018)
U.S. Department of the Interior

OMB Control. No. 1090-0011
Expiration Date 10/31/2021

REQUEST FOR APPROVAL UNDER THE
“DOI GENERIC CLEARANCE FOR THE COLLECTION OF
QUANTITATIVE FEEDBACK ON AGENCY SERVICE DELIVERY”

See Page 4 for Instructions on Completing This Form
Title of Information Collection

Web-based Cognitive Interviews to Pre-test the 2022 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR)
Purpose
The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you that AFWA plans to conduct web-based cognitive interviews for the National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and
Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR) under the generic clearance of survey improvement projects. The FHWAR, conducted about every five years since 1955, is a
comprehensive survey of anglers, hunters, and wildlife watchers and includes information on their participation and how they spend on these activities in the United
States.
AFWA’s subcontractor, NORC, intends to conduct a series of web-based cognitive interviews between July and November 2020 to provide information for the 2022
survey design. The 2022 survey will use web and mail data collection methods, which is a significant change from previous FHWAR surveys' use of inperson and
telephone data collection methods. This design change makes the information-gathering purpose of the focus groups particularly important. The cognitive interviews will
enable the research team to identify problems with survey items and with the organization and order of items in the instrument. The data from the interviews are
expected to reveal potential sources of response error in the National Survey and to inform the redesign efforts. The testing will encompass the full instruments, with
particular focus on the new and revised questions on bounding, expenditure reporting, and five-year recall of activities.
The objective of the cognitive interviews is to test and refine the questionnaires for the 2022 National survey of FHWAR to ascertain that respondents can accurately
answer the survey questions. The survey instruments include a Screener and questionnaires on fishing, hunting, and wildlife-associated recreation. The instruments will
include a combination of existing, revised, and entirely new questions. The results of this research will be used to refine the survey instruments in preparation for fielding
the 2022 National Survey. Respondents will have the option to pause/resume the web-based pretest as they work through the questionnaire.
An evaluation report prepared after fielding of the 2016 National Survey set forth a number of recommendations for improving the design of the survey. The evaluation
team strongly suggested redesign of the survey to shorten the length of the survey and to improve measurement for a number of estimates. To that end, AFWA is
redesigning the instruments for the 2022 National Survey with the following objectives in mind:
• Reduce respondent burden by reducing the number of items in the survey.
• Increase the accuracy of reporting through the use of recall cues and bounding techniques to enhance recall of events and dates.

Description of Respondents
A maximum of 70 respondents will participate in the web-based study. Respondents will be individuals who have participated in fishing, hunting, and
wildlife-watching activities in approximately the last year. Respondents will be adults ages 18 and over and children ages 16 and 17 who participate
with the consent of a parent or guardian. The participants will represent a range of demographic characteristics (age, gender, education level, state of
residence).

Type of Collection (Check One)
Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form

Customer Satisfaction Survey

Focus Group

Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software

Small Discussion Group

Other: Web-based cognitive interviews

Certification
I certify the following to be true:
1. The collection is voluntary.
2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.
3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.
4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.
5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.
6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have
experience with the program in the future.
Typed Name of Requester
Signature
Date

RICHARD AIKEN

Richard Aiken

Bureau ICCO
Recommend
Not Recommended
DOI PRA Program Lead
Approved
Not Approved

Digitally signed by RICHARD AIKEN
Date: 2020.09.08 11:19:28 -04'00'

FOR USE BY ICC PROGRAM STAFF ONLY
Signature

MADONNA BAUCUM
DOI Tracking Number

Signature

Digitally signed by MADONNA BAUCUM
Date: 2020.09.08 11:48:15 -04'00'

September 8, 2020

Date

September 8, 2020
Date

Page 1 of 4

DI-4011 (Rev. 07/2018)
U.S. Department of the Interior

OMB Control. No. 1090-0011
Expiration Date 10/31/2021

TO ASSIST REVIEW, PLEASE PROVIDE ANSWERS TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
Personally Identifiable Information (Please consult with your Bureau/Office Privacy Act Officer)
1. Will you collect any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)?
No
Yes If “Yes,” please consult with your Bureau/Office Privacy Act Officer.
2. If “Yes”, is the information to be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974?
No
Yes
3. If applicable, has a System or Records Notice (SORN) been published?
No
Yes If “Yes,” please provide the title and FR citation below:
Title of SORN:
FR Citation for SORN
Gifts or Payments (Please refer to OMB guidance “Questions and Answers When Designing Surveys for Information Collections”)
Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants?
No
Yes If
“Yes”, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount:
An incentive of $40 will be provided to compensate participants for a 60-minute cognitive interview. Respondents completing a
10-minute phone debriefing will receive $10. (Total burden time is 70 minutes per participant.)

Federal Enterprise Architecture (FEA) Business Reference Model (Check only one “Line of Business” and one “Subfunction.”
Refer to OMB guidance “FEA Consolidated Reference Model Document Version 2.3”)
Line of Business
Subfunction
Line of Business
Subfunction
Community and
Social Services
Defense and
National Security
Economic
Development

(Select One)

Correctional
Activities
Disaster
Management

(Select One)

(Select One)

Education

(Select One)

Energy

(Select One)

Environmental
Management

(Select One)

General Science
and Innovation

(Select One)

Health

(Select One)

Homeland Security

(Select One)

(Select One)

(Select One)

Income Security

(Select One)

Intelligence
Operations

(Select One)

(Select One)

Law Enforcement

(Select One)

International Affairs
and Commerce
Litigation and
Judicial Activities

Natural Resources

Conservation, Marine and Land ManagementTransportation

(Select One)

(Select One)

Workforce
(Select One)
Management
Burden Hour Calculation
Category of Respondent

Individuals/Households

Number of Annual
Respondents

Number of
Responses Each

Total Annual
Responses

Participation
Time

Total Burden
Hours

70

1

70

70 mins

82

Federal Cost: (Consult your Bureau/Office Information Collection Clearance Officer for assistance, if necessary)
The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $ 174,753.00

, based on: (provide details below)

The total cost to administer the FHWAR pretest is $174,753, calculated as follows:
The US Fish and Wildlife Service survey coordinator will assess the focus group protocol and review the results, and expects this to
take at most eight hours per pay period. From mid-July to November are nine pay periods. The coordinator's weighted hourly rate is
$40.84 x 1.6, or $65.34. Therefore the total burden for the Service survey coordinator is $65.34 x 9 x 8, or $4,705.
The portion of the Federal contract cost awarded to NORC associated with the administration of the pre-test is 2.3% of the total
budget totaling $170,048.
Sample Response to Federal Cost Question:
“If we receive 20 submissions and it takes 30 minutes to process and implement each one, then the total burden is $322.40
assuming a GS-7 step 5 is processing the submissions. Please note, however, that this custom form is a tool meant to accept
submissions in a standard format rather than through the freeform submissions that would otherwise come in by personal email.
Thus the existence of this form actually saves the government money by standardizing submissions and decreasing the workload of
processing each one.”
Page 2 of 4

DI-4011 (Rev. 07/2018)
U.S. Department of the Interior

OMB Control. No. 1090-0011
Expiration Date 10/31/2021

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the
following questions:
Selection of Targeted Respondents
1. Do you have a customer list (or something similar) that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a
sampling plan for selecting from this universe?
No
Yes If “Yes,” please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan). If the answer is no, please
provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them.
We plan to recruit a non-probability sample of respondents for this research. AFWA will work with state fish and wildlife directors to obtain lists of license holders. NORC will send an invitation via email or text message to invite license holders to participate in a survey.
Further, NORC will place advertisements on Facebook in selected geographies in order to recruit individuals interested in being interviewed. NORC will also disseminate information about the study through word of mouth. People responding to an invitation to
participate in the research will complete a brief eligibility screening to determine whether they have recently participated in fishing, hunting, or wildlife watching activities and to collect household composition and demographic information. Potential participants will also
be asked whether other household members would be interested in participating in the study. Respondents will include minors ages 16 and 17 and adults. Adult participants for screener interviews will be household members who would be likely to complete a
screener questionnaire, such as a head of household or adult sportsperson or wildlife watcher. We plan on having wave questionnaires be completed with the screener respondent or another household member ages 16 and up who participates in fishing, hunting, or
wildlife watching activities. In addition, two to three respondents who do not participate in the relevant activities will be recruited for interviews in order to test the functioning of the instruments with non-participants. Exhibit 1 summarizes the respondent and household
characteristics of interest in recruiting for this study.
Exhibit 1: Sample Selection Characteristics of Respondents
• Households with people who participate in hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching activities
• A mix of geographies and demographics
• Household respondent willing to participate in both screener and Wave 1 cognitive interviews.

• Households that are not known to participate in any of the relevant activities
• Willing to participate in a follow-up study of expenditures, if selected

• Households of varying size, and some with children 6-15 years of age

An email invitation for an interview, a “Frequently Asked Questions” document, advertisement to be used in recruitment, eligibility screener, and consent/assent statements are included in Attachments 1 - 5. The cognitive interview methodology is included in
Attachment 6.

Sample Response to Question 1 Above:
“Participants will self-select by choosing to follow the link to submit a resource. This is really no different than any website’s “Contact
Us” type of link; this submission form is only used by those who want to contribute to the toolkit. The “Submit a resource” link will be
located on the bottom of the toolkit homepage.”
Administration of the Instrument:
2.

How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
Web-based or other forms of Social Media

Telephone

Mail

Other:

In-person

Use of Interviewers or Facilitators:
3. Will you use interviewers or facilitators?
No

Yes
PLEASE SUBMIT SURVEY INSTRUMENT, INSTRUCTIONS, AND SCRIPTS WITH YOUR REQUEST.

Page 3 of 4