CIRCUMSTANCES MAKING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION NECESSARY
On September 11, 1993, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12862, “Setting Customer Service Standards,” which clearly defined his vision that the Federal agencies will put the public first. To accomplish this, President Clinton called for a “revolution within the Federal government to change the way it does business.” He expected this process to require continual reform of government practices and operations to the end that, “when dealing with the Federal agencies, all people receive service that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector.”
Section 1(b) of this E.O. requires agencies to “survey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction with existing services” and Section 1(a) requires agencies to “survey front- line employees on barriers to, and ideas for, matching the best in business.” These Presidential requirements established an ongoing need for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to engage in an interactive process of collecting information and using it to improve program services and processes.
Anecdotal information suggests that the organizers of many REU Sites in the biological sciences are interested in offering programs that involve a substantial international experience for the student participants. Nonetheless, very few such international REU Sites presently exist. The purpose of this survey is to determine more accurately the extent of that interest among current REU Site PIs and to determine what perceived barriers may be preventing those individuals from proposing international REU programs.
HOW, BY WHOM, AND PURPOSE FOR WHICH INFORMATION IS TO BE USED
The intended respondents are principal investigators presently holding REU Site awards from the BIO directorate. The purpose of the survey is to assess their experiences with, or interest in, developing future REU Site programs with a greater component of international student experiences.
USE OF AUTOMATION
We will use e-mail to direct PIs to the BIO REU website (http://bioreu.org/), where they will find a link to the survey. This website is password-protected. The survey instrument will be completed and returned to a dedicated e-mail address where the results will be compiled by program staff.
EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION
No other agency deals with the issue of BIO REU Site program content.
SMALL BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS
Not applicable.
CONSEQUENCES OF LESS FREQUENT COLLECTION
Not applicable.
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES FOR COLLECTION
Not applicable.
FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE.
The agency’s notices, as required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), were published in the Federal Register on January 22, 2008, at 73 FR 3756 and March 29, 2008 at 73 FR 16725 and no comments were received.
OUTSIDE CONSULTATION
Calculations of costs were performed by the program staff.
GIFTS OR REMUNERATION
Not applicable.
CONFIDENTIALITY PROVIDED TO RESPONDENTS
Responses will not be confidential because the survey is returned via e-mail. However, the identity of respondents will be known only to program officials and the results will be maintained on an agency server. All survey results will be reported anonymously, and responses will not be associated with individual respondents without their express permission.
QUESTIONS OF A SENSITIVE NATURE
No questions of a sensitive nature will be asked.
ESTIMATE OF BURDEN
It is estimated that the survey will require 10-15 minutes to complete. Approximately 130 responses are expected, for a total time of about 32.5 hr for all responses.
ANNUALIZED COST TO RESPONDENTS
Based upon Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for Biological Scientists (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes191029.htm) employed at Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (hourly mean wage = $25.96), and an estimated 0.25 hour survey response time:
$25.96/hr X 0.25 hr = $6.49 per respondent
For all 130 respondents, the total cost will be $843.70.
CAPITAL/STARTUP COSTS
Not applicable.
ANNUALIZED COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Based on BLS data for biological scientists in the Executive Federal Branch (hourly mean wage = $35.11):
5 hr staff time (all individuals) to discuss, formulate, review, revise, and code survey = $175.55
20 hr staff time to compile and analyze data and discuss results = $702.20
TOTAL staff time = $875.55
CHANGES IN BURDEN
Not applicable.
PUBLICATION OF COLLECTION
Not applicable.
SEEKING APPROVAL TO NOT DISPLAY OMB EXPIRATION DATE
Not applicable.
EXCEPTION(S) TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT (19) ON OMB 83-I
There are no exceptions.
STATISTICAL METHODS
Not applicable.
Attachments
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | JFELDMAN |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-02-04 |