Justification for change: adding FL and A. Samoa surveys

JUSTIFICATION FOR CHANGE

OMB Control Number 0648-0646

SOCIOECONOMICS OF CORAL REEF CONSERVATION

This request is for approval of two surveys under the information collection requirement currently approved under OMB Control Number 0648-0646 “Socioeconomics of Coral Reef Conservation”. The approved information collection is part of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Plan and relates to Social Science and Human Dimensions monitoring. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) created the Coral Reef Conservation Program to safeguard and ensure the welfare of the coral reef ecosystems along the coastlines of America’s States and Territories. The administration of this program has potential economic and cultural impacts on the lives of nearby residents and citizens. In accordance with its mission goals, NOAA has designed surveys to provide longitudinal data about the impact of the Coral Reef Conservation Program.

NOAA has developed two jurisdictional survey instruments to be implemented in American Samoa and Florida in 2013-14. As per OMB guidelines for PRA clearance, NOAA is required to submit a change request for questions selected from the full question bank for each of the jurisdictional survey instruments. This request also briefly describes the information collection venues and sampling methodology applicable to each jurisdiction.

These two jurisdictional survey instruments have been developed for the purpose of collecting information that can be used to analyze frequency of coral reef and/or beach use and other activities, general knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of coral reef ecosystems as well as attitudes and opinions of natural resource management and protection activities including rules and regulations (See American Samoa and Florida surveys). Both surveys have a core set of questions that will be the same for all jurisdictions (See Core Module). Each jurisdictional survey instrument contains questions that are specific to the local management needs and to the population. General demographic information will also be collected from respondents. The questions that have been selected from the bank (See Core Module) will allow NOAA to collect data for some of the socioeconomic indicators of interest to the Coral Reef Conservation Program as outlined in Table 1 of the original supporting statement.

As described in the original supporting statement (included here as a supplemental document), the information will be collected using the most efficient and effective means in the individual jurisdiction. For American Samoa, the collection will be via face-to-face interviews and for Florida, phone surveys will be used. For both survey instruments, the number of questions has been reduced to mitigate respondent burden. More information for each jurisdictional survey, mode of survey implementation and burden hours is provided below.

American Samoa and Florida

The information collection for American Samoa will be conducted by a contracted survey firm through face-to-face interviews due to the low density of internet and phone connections. For Florida, a phone survey will be conducted using a sample purchased by the survey firm from a reputable vendor. For each of the jurisdictional populations, we intend to select a random sample of individuals over the age of eighteen, stratified geographically as described in Table 6 of the supporting statement. The random sample will be obtained from the selected survey firm using standard sample selection tools. These strata have been designed to account for the differing sizes of the populations in the areas close to coral reefs. We have used the standard approach to estimating sample size for a stratified population:

[t² N p(1-p)] / [t² p(1-p) + a² (N-1)]

Where N is the size of the total number of cases, n is the sample size, a is the expected error, t is the value taken from the t distribution corresponding to a certain confidence interval, and p is the probability of an event.

As indicated in the supporting statement, the final sampling size was to be determined in relation to available resources. As a result, the sample for Florida has been reduced from the original proposed number by 50%. The estimated number of respondents, 1,300, will be adequate to provide precise estimates for the population of the five counties as a whole (i.e., estimated to be within +/- 2.8 percentage points with 95 percent confidence). The sample size and estimated number of actual respondents for American Samoa is unchanged. A table with the updated respondent numbers, burden, and labor cost for Florida and the original numbers for American Samoa is provided below. The reduction in sample size also results in a reduction of burden for the South Florida survey.

Other details as per data collection and analysis are outlined in the Supporting Statement.

From Supporting Statement, Table 1: Estimates of Burden Hours (3.5-year time frame)

Requirements	Sample Size	Expected # of Respondents	Responses Per Respondent	Total # of Responses	Response Time	Total Burden (in hours)	Labor Cost
American Samoa	550	358	1	358	30 min.	179	$3,741
Florida	2,000	1,300	1	1,300	30 min.	650	$12,324

See files relevant to this non-substantive change request:

CORE MODULE, AMERICAN SAMOA AND FLORIDA SURVEYS

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