Supporting Statement Part B Revision

Supporting Statement to Accompany
OMB Clearance of Customer Satisfaction Surveys:
2009 HUD Partners Surveys
Part B: Statistical Methods of Data Collection

U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

August 2009

PART B:
STATISTICAL METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
B1

Potential Respondent Universe

The universe for the 2009 HUD partners survey is similar to that used for the
2001 and 2005 surveys. It includes five of the same partner groups plus one additional
group—Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) grantees, as follows:
1. All Mayors1 of cities, towns, townships and villages with a population of
50,000 or more persons.
2. All Directors of Community Development (CD) Departments in cities and
counties entitled to HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
funds.
3. All Directors of Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) that own, manage, or
administer 100 or more units of conventional public housing.
4. All Directors of non-profit organizations affiliated with the National Housing
Partnerships Network (NHPN).
5. All Directors of Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP) agencies.
6. All Directors of Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) organizations.
B2

Sampling Method and Respondent Universe

In contrast to the 2001 and 2005 HUD partner surveys, the full universe of the six
partner groups will be surveyed in 2009. No sampling will be done. The rationale for
surveying the entire universe, rather than sampling a portion of them, is to permit
analysis at the individual HUD field office level—where most contact with HUD partners
takes place on a day-by-day basis. HUD has 81 field offices and the only way to be able
to disaggregate information by field office and by partner group is to have sufficient
cases for analysis. Sampling would not provide that opportunity.

1

This includes other chief elected officials if there is no Mayor, such as Town Supervisor, Council President,
President of the Board of Trustees, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Chair of the Board of Selectmen, First
Selectman, Township Commission President, etc.

B3

Procedures to Deal with Non-Response

Extensive efforts have been made to ensure that lists of potential respondents
are accurate and up-to-date to permit delivery of mail questionnaires and receipt of
follow-up telephone calls. Complete, accurate, and up-to-date lists serve as the starting
point. HUD maintains such lists of mayors, community development departments, public
housing agencies, FHAP agencies and FHIP grantees. The National Housing
Partnerships Network maintains a list of its non-profit housing organization affiliates.
The successful practices used for the 2001 and 2005 HUD partner surveys will
be used in 2009 to optimize response rates—following the Dillman method for
conducting surveys by mail. Initially, questionnaires will be sent to all respondents. Two
follow-up post card reminders will be sent if responses are not received within a
reasonable amount of time, and a fourth mailing using certified letters will be delivered to
select individuals. If there is no response to these mailings, respondents will be phoned
and encouraged to respond, offered a re-mailing or fax copy of the instrument, and given
the opportunity to respond by phone. A minimum of six attempts will be used to secure
telephone interviews—on different days and at different times. Potential respondents for
whom voice mail messages must be left will be provided with a toll free 1-800 number,
with encouragement to return the call. When contact is made, potential respondents will
be offered the opportunity to schedule a time for the interview at their convenience.
Experienced interviewers will be used who have sufficient knowledge of the study to
explain its purpose and importance. These procedures should maximize the rate of
response.
B4

Pre-Testing of Procedures

The proposed 2009 surveys are a follow-up to the 2005 surveys and, as such,
the 2005 questionnaire served as the foundation for the 2009 questionnaire.
Modifications are relatively minor. Staff of the Urban Institute and Silber & Associates
met with staff of HUD program offices to consider any updating that was appropriate.
Since the majority of the questions on the various instruments proposed for 2009
are the same as, or slightly modified versions of, questions used in the 2005 survey,
extensive pre-testing is not considered necessary. Nonetheless, Silber & Associates will
pre-test the survey questionnaires on a small sample of nine or fewer HUD partners prior
to administering the survey to the full universe. Such pre-testing will consider wording,
question flow and meaning and, where appropriate for new questions not previously
asked in 2005, include cognitive discussions with respondents to understand their
interpretation of the questions and the reasoning behind their answers.

B5

Person Responsible for Statistical Aspects of the Design

Martin Abravanel of the Urban Institute and Bohne Silber of Silber & Associates
are responsible for the statistical aspects of the survey design.