NIST 6-port SPHERE Supporting Statement

OMB Control #0693-0043

Expiration Date: 03/31/2022

NIST Generic Clearance for Usability Data Collections

Market research for the NIST 6-port SPHERE

FOUR STANDARD SURVEY QUESTIONS

1. Explain who will be surveyed and why the group is appropriate to survey.

The outreach will be to scientific partners in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) research on Service Life Prediction. They are self-identified by one of two methods: Having been part of an organization that has a Consortium Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with NIST related to Service Life Prediction or participation in a Service Life Prediction (SLP) meeting in which the participants were asked if they wanted to be contacted to discuss the progress on the 6-port SPHERE and associated technologies. These two groups of professionals are appropriate to discuss the progress on the NIST 6-port sphere as they have previous self-identified as interested in the discussing the NIST 6-port technology.

2. Explain how the survey was developed including consultation with interested parties, pre-testing, and responses to suggestions for improvement.

These survey questions were developed based on previous conversations with industry professionals who have participated in the development of the 6-port technology. These informal conversations have been ongoing at gatherings of these professionals for over ten years. The initial outreach will be to the scientists and engineers who have participated in the development of the 6-port sphere. This information will be used to refine the questions when the 2^nd group of professionals, drawn from the self-identified attendees at the Service Life Prediction meetings are engaged.

3. Explain how the survey will be conducted, how customers will be sampled if fewer than all customers will be surveyed, expected response rate, and actions your agency plans to take to improve the response rate.

The initial outreach will be by individual emails. Each of the NIST partners will be contacted by email which will outline the request for a phone/video call conversation. When the individual responds back with a mutually acceptable time, a phone or video call will be initiated. On the call, a conversation centered on the ten questions will be engaged.

For the outreach to participants of the SLP meetings emails to a small group of no more than five individuals. Again once they respond, a video call will be set up and a conversation centered on the ten questions will be engaged

4. Describe how the results of the survey will be analyzed and used to generalize the results to the entire customer population.

Following each phone call, a generic write up the call will be stored. The feedback from our scientific partners will be incorporated into decisions on how to improve the usability of the 6-port SPHERE. This outreach will encompass the entire self-identified global professionals who have an interest in service life prediction. It is assumed that any organization considering at $500k investment in this technology would first invest in sending technical professionals to meetings related to the use of this technology. With this assumption, the pool of scientific/engineering professionals with some attendance at meetings related to service life prediction will encompass the entire potential customer population.