Supporting Statement A - 2012 SPPA

Supporting Statement A:

2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts

Introduction

This request is for clearance of the 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) to be conducted by the Census Bureau in July 2012 as a supplement to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Current Population Survey (CPS). The SPPA is the field’s premiere repeated cross-sectional survey of individual attendance and involvement in arts and cultural activity. The data are circulated to interested researchers, and they are the basis for a range of NEA reports and independent research publications. The SPPA provides primary knowledge on the extent and nature of participation in the arts in the United States. Earlier SPPA surveys were conducted in 1982, 1985, 1992, 1997, 2002, and 2008, all of which were conducted by the Census Bureau except the 1997 study, which was conducted by a private contractor, Westat Inc.

1. Justification

A.1. Necessity of Information Collection

The NEA, pursuant to its mandate “to support projects and productions that will encourage public knowledge, education, understanding and appreciation of the arts” (USC2O, Section 954 (5)) and “to develop and implement a practical system of national information and data collection and public dissemination on the arts and their audiences, including trends in audience participation” (USC 20, Section 954 (q)), has entered into an interagency agreement with the Census Bureau to conduct the SPPA. The Census Bureau is authorized to collect data under Title 13, United States Code, Section 182 (see Attachment A).

As a national survey, the SPPA will serve as a sound base from which to make estimates of participation rates in the various arts and leisure activities addressed by this study. National data from the SPPA have appeared regularly in the Statistical Abstract of the United States. The SPPA data also provide information on the characteristics of the population participating in the arts through attendance at live performances or watching or listening to performances using television, radio, computer, or other portable media devices. In addition, the SPPA gathers information on the characteristics of adults not participating in the arts.

A.2. Needs and Uses of the Data

The 2012 SPPA will provide measures of participation in the arts and other leisure activities from a nationally representative sample of adults ages 18 and older. The information to be collected from adults includes attendance at live arts events, engagement in the arts through media, creation and performance of art, and adults’ current and past education in the arts. Since access to the arts is a major agency goal, measuring the depth and length of arts participation is of critical importance.

The sample design is such that, in addition to the capability of making national estimates, it will also be possible to generate estimates for sub regions of the nation and for individual states and large metropolitan areas. Thus, policymakers and arts administrators at the national, regional, state, and local level are able to study the patterns of participation across various population subgroups and to look for correlates of participation in artistic and other cultural activities. The data from this study will better enable arts administrators to make essential policy based on such things as the size and characteristics of the current and potential arts audience in 2012.

The 2012 SPPA will be the seventh such study spanning more than two decades which allows for ongoing assessment of the arts leisure-time activities that began with the 1982 SPPA and was followed with the 1985, 1992, 1997, 2002, and 2008 SPPA surveys. These data allow arts administrators to assess how the demand for the arts is changing over time, and how the nature of adults’ participation in the arts changes over time. Data from previous SPPA surveys have been widely used by policymakers and scholars because of their unique scope and statistical precision. A listing of published research notes and reports based on SPPA data is provided in the appendix (see Attachment B).

A.3. Use of Information Technology

The supplemental questions are designed to obtain the required information while keeping respondent burden to a minimum. The proposed items and interviewer procedures were developed over years of consultation with the Census Bureau, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and other government agencies. The use of computer-assisted personal and telephone interviewing is deemed the most appropriate collection methodology.

A.4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

There are a couple of surveys that have some questions regarding participation in the arts. One is the General Social Survey (sponsored by the National Science Foundation), which periodically includes a handful of arts participation questions in its periodic survey. However, there are no other existing surveys that provide the extent of detail on Americans’ participation in the arts or have as large a sample or obtain as a high response rate as the SPPA. Only the SPPA can produce reliable estimates for the arts participation for the U.S. adult population with breakouts for demographic and geographic subgroups.

A.5. Minimizing Burden in Small Businesses or Small Entities

Not applicable. The collection of public participation in the arts information does not involve small businesses or other small entities.

A.6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

The goal of NEA is to conduct the SPPA once every five years to coincide with the Economic Census, which provides data on the supply side, specifically on the budgets of arts organizations (dance companies, symphonies, operas, etc.).

A.7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances that apply to the 2012 SPPA.

A.8. Public Comment and Consultations Outside the Agency

A notice was published in the Federal Register (pages 76494-76495) on December 8, 2010, to solicit comments on the 2012 SPPA prior to submission of this OMB clearance request. (A copy of this notice is in attachment F.) No public comments were received in response to this notice. The second Federal Register notice was published on February 18, 2011 (pages 9610-9611). (A copy of this notice is in attachment G.)

To inform the development of the 2012 SPPA, an extensive planning study was conducted in 2010. The NEA convened a working group comprised of 24 experts from outside the NEA, including arts researchers, arts administrators, arts funders, and representatives of local, state, and regional arts service organizations. They are listed on the next two pages. Working group members spent several months independently reviewing the 2008 SPPA questionnaire and suggesting questions to be added or deleted, then convened in Washington, D.C., for a daylong meeting with NEA project team members where their suggestions were exchanged and discussed.

Key working group members, along with members of the NEA staff, continued to meet on a regular basis to fine tune the questionnaire content. Several teleconferences were held to discuss successive versions of the questionnaire with these experts, and we’ve consulted with a cross-section of them on specific issues throughout questionnaire design.

The 2012 questionnaire maintains much of the content that was asked in 2008, with two major changes.  First, many of the “core” attendance questions have been modified to include a broader definition of arts participation and to capture changes in terminology.  As a result, our research design now calls for two distinct core groups of attendance questions. Half the random sample will be asked the new core attendance questions, and the other half will be asked the 2008 core questions.  The second major change is that we have expanded the number of follow-up modules from 4 to 5, enabling us to ask questions about creating art using technology, media, and the internet.  Media and technology arts were identified by various experts to be a growing field that is not currently captured by the SPPA. This new module will not increase the length of the survey, since we plan to randomly rotate the modules as we’ve done in the past such that each respondent completes the core questions plus two out of the five possible modules. 

   

2012 SPPA Working Group Members:

Roberto Bedoya

Executive Director

Tucson Pima Arts Council

Norman Bradburn

Advisor at National Opinion Research Center

University of Chicago

Randy Cohen

Vice President for Policy and Planning

Americans for the Arts

Dee Davis

Founder and President

Center for Rural Strategies

Helen De Michiel

Co-director

National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture

Paul DiMaggio

Professor of Sociology

Princeton University

Christine Dwyer

Senior Vice President

RMC Research Corporation

Angela Han

Director of Research

National Association of State Arts Agencies

Jamer Hunt

Director, MFA in Transdisciplinary Design

The New School

Sally Johnstone

President, Reach Advisors

Reach Advisors

Tom Kaiden

President

Greater Cultural Alliance of Philadelphia

Mark Hugo Lopez

Associate Director

Pew Hispanic Center

Jennifer Novak-Leonard

Senior Consultant

WolfBrown

Francie Ostrower

Professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs

University of Texas at Austin

Kristen Purcell  

Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Lee Rainie

Director

Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project

Josephine Ramirez

Program Director

The James Irvine Foundation

Esther Robinson

Founder

ArtHome

Michael Sikes

Senior Associate for Research and Policy

Arts Education Partnership

Steven Tepper

Associate Director of the Curb Center

Vanderbilt University

Kristin Thomson

Education Director

Future of Music Coalition

Carlton Turner

Regional Development Director

Alternate ROOTS

Jack Walsh

Director

National Alliance for Media Arts & Culture

Craig Watkins

Professor of Sociology

University of Texas at Austin

A.9. Paying Respondents

The Census does not make any payments or provide any gifts to individuals participating in the CPS.

A.10. Assurance of Confidentiality

The Census Bureau will collect the supplement data in compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and the OMB Circular A-130. Each sample household receives an advance letter approximately one week before the start of the initial CPS interview (see Attachment C). The letter includes the information required by the Privacy Act of 1974, explains the voluntary nature of the survey, and states the estimated time required for participating in the survey. Interviewers must ask if the respondent received the letter and, if not, provide a copy and allow the respondent sufficient time to read the contents. Also, interviewers provide households with the pamphlet How the Census Bureau Keeps Your Information Strictly Confidential, which further states the confidentiality assurances associated with this data collection effort and the Census Bureau’s past performance in assuring confidentiality (see Attachment D). All information given by respondents to Census Bureau employees is held in strict confidence under Title 13, United States Code, Section 9. Each Census Bureau employee has taken an oath to that effect and is subject to a jail penalty or substantial fine if he/she discloses any information given to him or her.

A.11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature

The 2012 SPPA does not include any questions of a sensitive nature.

A.12. Estimate of Hour Burden

The estimated respondent burden is 6,000 hours for fiscal year (FY) 2012. This is based on an average 10-minute interview for each of the 36,000 persons age 18 years and older in the supplement universe. This estimate was based on the time required to answer similar questions in past SPPA Supplements.

The actual respondent burden is dependent upon the size of the household and the characteristics of its occupants. In some households two supplement questionnaires will be asked.

A.13. Estimate of Cost Burden

There are no costs to respondents other than that of their time to respond.

A.14. Cost to Federal Government

The estimated cost to the government of the SPPA Supplement is $670,000, which will be borne by the NEA. The CPS program is anticipated to cost $91 million in FY 2011. Those costs are borne by the Census Bureau, the BLS, and other government agencies.

A. 15 Reasons for Program Changes

The 2012 SPPA is a new data collection that will provide data for comparison with prior SPPA surveys.

A.16.    Project Schedule

The SPPA will be tested in approximately 400 households in spring 2011.  Main data collection will occur in July 2012, since the 2012 SPPA will be a supplement to the July 2012 CPS.  Processing of this supplement will commence in August 2012. The public use file will be released in the spring of 2013. A summary report from NEA will be available in the fall of 2013.

A.17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

We do not wish to display the assigned expiration date of the information collection. The CPS requires two OMB control numbers and two expiration dates because the survey consists of two parts: the basic questionnaire and a supplemental questionnaire, which differs from month to month. The OMB control number and expiration date for conducting the Basic CPS are included in the survey’s advance letter (Attachment C). To avoid confusion, the expiration date of the supplemental questionnaire is not included in the letter.

A.18. Exceptions to the Certification

There are no exceptions to the certification.

7