B and B 2008-12 Field Test 2011 Part A

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education (ED), is requesting approval to conduct a second follow-up field test and file matching for the 2008/12 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:08/12). This study is being conducted under contract # ED-05-CO-0033 with RTI International¹ and its primary subcontractor, MPR Associates, and consultants Dr. Cynthia Decker and Ms. Andrea Sykes.

We are requesting clearance for data collection materials and procedures for the second follow-up with the B&B:08 cohort, including student interviews and re-interviews and file matching². We are also requesting approval to conduct panel maintenance activities to support possible future contacts with the B&B:08 cohort³. Following a field test study in 2011, NCES will seek approval for the full scale B&B:08/12 data collection and will provide as part of the clearance package a memorandum summarizing any changes planned. We anticipate only minimal changes between the field test and the full-scale implementation, and therefore are seeking a waiver of the 60-day Federal Register Notice for the full-scale data collection submission planned for early 2012.

The Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B) is designed to follow a cohort of baccalaureate recipients and collect information about the education, training, employment, workforce activities, and other life experiences in the years following degree completion. Data from B&B are used to help us better understand the choices college graduates make regarding employment and education in the first few years following receipt of the bachelor’s degree.

Previous publications related to or based on data from NPSAS or its longitudinal spin-offs are listed in appendix A. Appendix B lists the study’s Technical Review Panel (TRP). The confidentiality pledge and affidavit of nondisclosure completed by all project staff having access to individually-identifying data are provided in appendix C. Letters and all contacting materials are found in appendix D. A description of the security procedures in place for the linkages to administrative data sources is provided in appendix E. Data security language for vendor contracts is shown in Appendix F.

Legislative Authorization

The B&B longitudinal series is conducted by NCES within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) in close consultation with other offices and organizations within and outside the U.S. Department of Education (ED). B&B is authorized under Section 153 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (Public Law [P.L.] 107-279, Title 1 Part C), which requires NCES to:

…collect, report, analyze, and disseminate statistical data related to education in the United States and in other nations, including:

(1) collecting, acquiring, compiling and disseminating full and complete statistics on the condition and progress of education, at the preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary levels in the United States, including data on—

(E) educational access to and opportunity for postsecondary education, including data on financial aid to postsecondary students

Section 183 of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 further states that

…all collection, maintenance, use, and wide dissemination of data by the Institute, including each office, board, committee, and Center of the Institute, shall conform with the requirements of section 552A of title 5, United States Code [which protects the confidentiality rights of individual respondents with regard to the data collected, reported, and published under this title].

Prior B&B Studies

B&B:08 is the third cohort of bachelor’s degree recipients selected from a NPSAS base-year sample for longitudinal study by NCES. Two previous B&B cohorts have been studied. The B&B:93 cohort was re-interviewed in 1994, 1997, and 2003. The B&B:2000 cohort was re-interviewed in 2001. As in B&B:93, the 2009 first follow-up of B&B:08 cohort included a transcript data collection conducted. The current request is for the second follow-up of the B&B:08 cohort, which will be conducted 4 years following degree completion.

The chronology of the previous administrations of the NPSAS study and its associated longitudinal components is presented in Table 1. Similar to the first B&B series, additional follow-up studies with the B&B:08 cohort may be conducted at 7 years and/or 10 years (contingent upon future contract(s) being awarded). For all studies, full-scale data collection was preceded by a field test data collection one year earlier in order to test methods and procedures planned for the full-scale data collection.

Table 1. Chronology of NPSAS and its longitudinal components

Base year	First follow-up	Second follow-up	Third follow-up
NPSAS:90	BPS:90/92	BPS:90/94	—
NPSAS:93	B&B:93/94¹	B&B:93/97	B&B:93/03
NPSAS:96	BPS:96/98	BPS:96/01	—
NPSAS:2000	B&B:2000/01	—	—
NPSAS:04	BPS:04/06	BPS:04/09	—
NPSAS:08	B&B:08/09¹	B&B:08/12	TBD

— Not applicable.

¹ Includes transcript study

NOTE: B&B = Baccalaureate and Beyond; BPS = Beginning Postsecondary Students; NPSAS = National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.

Using data from the first two B&B cohorts, researchers have studied such topics as graduates’ undergraduate and graduate education experience; work experience, with particular attention to K-12 teaching; and finances, including student loan debt and debt burden. The remainder of this section discusses selected B&B findings on these topics.

1. Education

In addition to postbaccalaureate experiences, B&B data allow examination of graduates’ undergraduate experiences. About one-third of bachelor’s degree recipients (31 percent among 1992–93 graduates, 33 percent among 1999–2000 graduates) completed the bachelor’s degree within 4 years of high school completion, and most (70 percent of 1992–93 and 72 percent of 1999–2000 graduates) completed their degrees within 6 years of finishing high school (Bradburn et al., 2003; McCormick and Horn 1996). In both cohorts, 65 percent of graduates earned their degrees from public colleges and universities (Bradburn et al., 2003; McCormick and Horn 1996).

Once they complete a bachelor’s degree, many graduates continue formal education at various postsecondary levels. In 1994, about one-quarter (27 percent) of 1992–93 graduates had enrolled for further education, including 17percent who were enrolled at the graduate level (McCormick and Horn 1996). By 1997, 30 percent had enrolled in graduate education, and 12 percent had earned graduate or first-professional degrees. By 2003, some 40 percent of 1992–93 bachelor’s degree recipients had enrolled in a master’s, first-professional, or doctoral degree program, including 25 percent who had completed such a degree, 6 percent who were currently enrolled, and 9 percent who had enrolled in a graduate program but left before completion (Bradburn, Nevill, and Cataldi 2006).

On average, most graduates waited 2 to 3 years to enroll in a graduate degree program, and among those who enrolled between 1993 and 2003, about 62 percent had earned at least one graduate degree by 2003 (Nevill and Chen 2007). Master’s degree students took an average of 3 years to complete their degree, first-professional students took about 4 years, and doctoral students took more than 5 years. Rates of persistence and completion were higher among students who entered graduate school immediately after earning a bachelor’s degree, who attended full time and enrolled continuously, and who enrolled in multiple graduate degree programs (Nevill and Chen 2007).

2. Employment, Career Paths, and Teaching

In the year after graduation, 87 percent of both 1992–93 and 1999–2000 bachelor’s degree recipients were employed, most (73-77 percent) full time (Bradburn et al., 2003; McCormick and Horn 1996). Among employed graduates, about 70 percent in each cohort believed their job had career potential or was the start of a career, and about three-quarters were in jobs related to their undergraduate major. In 1997, some 89 percent of 1992–93 graduates were employed, 81 percent full time (McCormick et al. 1999). Four-fifths of graduates employed in 1997 believed their jobs had career potential, and 73 percent believed their jobs were related to their undergraduate major.

About 5 percent of each cohort were unemployed 1 year out, with an additional 1 percent of 1999–2000 graduates laid off or waiting to report to work in 2001 (Bradburn et al., 2003; McCormick and Horn 1996). At the 4-year mark, 3 percent of 1992–93 graduates were unemployed.

The first follow-up data also laid the groundwork for studying graduates’ experiences teaching at the elementary and secondary levels. The proportion of graduates who had taught within 1 year of receiving a bachelor’s degree increased slightly, from 10 percent to 12 percent, between the 1992–93 and 1999–2000 cohorts, respectively. An additional 5 percent of 1992–93 graduates and 3 percent of 1999–2000 graduates had prepared or been certified to teach, but had not taught within the year following graduation.

Later follow-ups of the 1992–93 cohort allowed further study of teacher pipeline. Thirteen percent of graduates had taught by 1997 (Henke, Chen, and Geis 2000), although 21 percent of those who had taught since graduation were not teaching in 1997. By 2003, one-fifth (20 percent) of 1992–93 bachelor’s degree recipients had taught in an elementary or secondary school. Approximately 11 percent of these graduates were teaching when interviewed in 2003, and another 9 percent had taught at some point but were not teaching at the time of the interview.

3. Student loan debt and debt burden

Choy and Li (2006) compared graduates’ student loan repayment status and resulting debt burdens (monthly loan payments as a percentage of monthly salary income) 1 year after graduation between the two cohorts. Members of the earlier cohort finished their undergraduate borrowing before the changes in the Stafford loan program were implemented, whereas most members of the later cohort had done their undergraduate borrowing under the new rules. Although both the percentage of graduates who had borrowed for their undergraduate education and the average total amount borrowed (adjusting for inflation) increased, the median debt burden 1year after graduating was about the same for both cohorts.

By 2003, three-quarters of graduates with no additional degree enrollment had repaid all of their undergraduate loans. Of the 26 percent who were still repaying their loans in 2003, the median debt burden was 3.3 percent. Among Stafford loan borrowers, 5 percent had a deferment, 12 percent had a period of forbearance, and 10 percent defaulted at some point. Students did not tend to have immediate repayment problems; the average length of time between graduation and the first deferment, forbearance, or default was from 4 to 5 years. For many, the problems were temporary, with 45 percent of defaulters entering repayment later. In addition, most of those who deferred or had periods of forbearance were able to recover financially and did not default.

Purpose and Uses of the Data

The B&B Cohort

The B&B studies describe the contemporary bachelor’s degree recipient, with a focus on experiences in the labor market or graduate school, education finances, and a special examination of college graduates who have begun careers in K–12 education. The B&B series of studies is critical to understanding the education paths of all types of bachelor’s degree recipients. These studies include both traditional-age and non-traditional or returning students, whose education options and choices often diverge considerably, and afford the opportunity to summarize the undergraduate paths taken by these different graduates, particularly the time taken to complete the bachelor’s degree and factors related to that outcome. Because B&B follows graduates several years after college completion, it also permits analyses of those who continue their education beyond the baccalaureate and, again, the relationship of undergraduate paths to subsequent decisions. Data from the B&B:08 cohort, in particular, will also allow research on outcomes for graduates who majored in a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics-related (STEM) field.

Labor market outcomes of bachelor’s degree recipients, including specific subgroups, are another essential topic for research in B&B. In addition, B&B has a specific mandate to collect information on recent college graduates as prospective members of the K–12 teaching pool. The B&B:08/12 study will allow continued study of the bachelor’s cohort in terms of the teacher pipeline—those who considered teaching, those who prepared to teach, and those who entered teaching. The study also collects information about cohort members’ teaching experiences during their years as teachers. Overall, the examination of employment trajectories allows comparisons of teachers with other occupations as well as study of labor market outcomes for the cohort as a whole.

Policy Relevance

Policymakers remain concerned about the U.S. economy's need for engineers, scientists, and other workers well versed in the fields of science and mathematics. There is a particular interest in the capacity of teachers of these disciplines to prepare future generations of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. The B&B data allow study of whether American colleges and universities are preparing enough college graduates in these fields and whether college graduates with training in these fields are using that training in the workplace or pursuing graduate education in STEM fields. Students who majored in a STEM field were oversampled in NPSAS:08, facilitating more reliable estimates of these students’ postbaccalaureate activities than have been available from previous B&B cohorts.

Specific questions to be addressed in B&B:08/12 include the following:

Graduate education

What factors are associated with enrollment beyond the bachelor’s degree? What factors influence the decision to enroll in additional undergraduate education and/or graduate education?
What percentage of college graduates enroll in graduate or first-professional schools, and what percentage complete a graduate degree within 4 years of receiving a bachelor’s degree?

Labor market outcomes

What types of careers are college graduates pursuing, and how successful are they in obtaining jobs leading to future careers within 4 years of graduation?
What is the impact on labor market outcomes, given the recent economic conditions, for students who earned a bachelor’s degree 4 years ago?

K–12 teaching

How did the undergraduate experiences of graduates who taught differ from those of graduates who considered teaching, those who prepared to teach, and other graduates?
What percentage of college graduates were employed as a teacher at any time after receiving a bachelor’s degree and remained in teaching throughout the period?

Debt and finances

How much do bachelor’s degree recipients owe on undergraduate student loans 4 years after college? What proportion of students borrowed further for graduate education?
What proportion of students entered the job market, and how is the status of their loans associated with their labor market experiences? If in repayment, what are the monthly payments? Who is having difficulty repaying? Are families helping to repay loans?

Answers to these and other questions are vital if policymakers at the local, state, and national levels are to respond adequately to the changing environment of postsecondary education. As appendix A indicates, since B&B’s inception, the B&B series of data have been used extensively to explore Postsecondary, Adult, and Career Education (PACE) program issues and have resulted in numerous NCES publications.

Use of Information Technology

To improve the efficiency of student data collection, both the B&B:08/12 field test and full-scale studies will use web-based student interviewing. The modes of data collection will be web-based self-administered surveys and web-based computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI). Field interviewers will also conduct interviews either in person or by telephone using the same interview as that available to self-administered respondents.

Recent collections have demonstrated that about 70% of interview completions have been web interviews. Table 2 shows the distribution by mode of interview completions for the NPSAS:08 and B&B cohort.

Table 2. Distribution of Interview Mode for NPSAS:08 and B&B:08 Cohort field test and full-scale studies

Study	Interview mode
	Web	Telephone	Field
NPSAS:08 field test	73.4%	26.6%	N/A
NPSAS:08 full-scale	69.1%	30.9%	N/A
B&B:08/09 field test	72.9%	23.7%	3.3%
B&B:08/09 full-scale	81.0%	16.0%	3.0%

NOTE: B&B:08/09 = 2008/09 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study; NPSAS:08 = 2007–08 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study.

Efforts to Identify Duplication

In the planning and conduct of the B&B study series, NCES has consulted with university researchers, other federal and nonfederal experts, and relevant groups and associations to improve the focus of the B&B study series and to ensure that B&B avoids duplication of effort with similar studies. NCES routinely consults with staff in ED’s Office of Postsecondary Education, the National Science Foundation, the American Council on Education, the Career College Association, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Institute for Higher Education Policy, and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education to confirm that the data to be collected for the B&B study are not available from any other sources. Further, these consultations provide methodological insights from the results of other longitudinal postsecondary student studies conducted by NCES and other federal agencies and nonfederal sources, and the consultations assure that the data collected through B&B will meet the needs of the federal government and other relevant organizations.

Method Used to Minimize Burden on Small Businesses

B&B does not impose any burden on small businesses or other small entities.

Frequency of Data Collection

A new B&B cohort has been created about every eight years since the first set of studies was initiated with NPSAS:93. B&B:94 and B&B:09 were the two cohorts in which college transcript data were collected. The current B&B study, B&B:08/12, will be conducted 4 years after the base-year NPSAS:08 data collection. Though it is not currently planned, additional follow-up studies of the B&B:08 cohort may be conducted in the future.

The NPSAS and its longitudinal spin-off studies, BPS and B&B, are conducted to reflect the large-scale and rapid changes in federal policy concerning postsecondary student aid—eligibility restrictions change, sizes of grant and loan amounts fluctuate, and the balance between various aid options changes dramatically. A recurring study is essential to help predict future costs for financial aid because loan programs create continued obligations for the federal government as long as the loans are being repaid. Second, repeated surveys can capture the changing nature of the postsecondary environment. With the longitudinal design of the NPSAS survey and B&B follow-ups, representative national samples of degree-receiving postsecondary students with similar base-year characteristics may be compared over time to determine the effects of changes in federal policy and programs.

Special Circumstances of Data Collection

No special circumstances of data collection are anticipated.

Consultants Outside the Agency

The 60-day Federal Register notice was published on February 11, 2011 (76 FR, No. 29, p. 7827). No public comments were received in response to this notice.

Recognizing the significance of the B&B:08/12 data collection, several strategies have been incorporated into the project work plan that allow for the critical review and acquisition of comments relating to project activities, interim and final products, and projected and actual outcomes. These strategies include consultations with persons and organizations both internal and external to NCES, ED, and the federal government.

Previous B&B implementations have benefited from a standing federal review panel comprising staff from many federal offices, including ED’s Office of Postsecondary Education, OMB, and the Congressional Budget Office. Some members of this panel also belong to the TRP for NPSAS. The membership of the TRP (see appendix B) represents a broad spectrum of the postsecondary community. The nonfederal members serve as expert reviewers on the technical aspects of the study design, data collection procedures, and instrument design, especially item content and format. The TRP has reviewed the proposed study design and data domains during its meeting in January 2011.

Provision of Payments or Gifts to Respondents

The use of incentives is proposed for two purposes—to encourage early response using the self-administered web survey, and to minimize nonresponse bias through refusal conversion. All cases (except those included in a test of procedures and methods; see below) will be offered an incentive of $35 during both the early response period (the 4-week period prior to the start of outbound CATI data collection) and the nonresponse conversion period (which begins immediately after the 4-week period). The $35 incentive will be offered via a $5 cash prepaid incentive followed by a $30 check upon interview completion. This same incentive plan was implemented in the last data collection, B&B:08/09.

The Tests of Procedures and Methods section, Supporting Statement Part B section 8 of this submission, discusses in detail specialized plans for improving weighted response rates and reducing nonresponse bias through response propensity modeling, which will identify and provide special treatment for sampled cases predicted to be less likely to respond. We propose to use the B&B:08/12 field test to conduct an experimental evaluation of the response propensity approach, which will examine the effect of varied incentive offers in the treatment groups in order to determine whether higher incentive amounts improve response among low-propensity to respond cases. The use of incentives is an integral part of the overall data collection plan that includes multiple strategies to minimize nonresponse (e.g. intensive tracing, the use of specially trained interviewers, field interviewing, and abbreviated interviews.)

In summary, paying incentives is expected to encourage sample members to respond early primarily via self-administration on the web and to encourage nonresponding sample members to participate in the study. The use of incentives provides significant advantages to the government in terms of increased overall response rates, timely data collection, and reduction of nonresponse bias. In addition, the use of incentives can also result in decreased data collection costs since the large majority of interviews for which the incentives are paid are conducted on the web and before telephone interviewers begin outbound calling, the more labor-intensive and, therefore, costly phase of a data collection of this type.

Assurance of Confidentiality

NCES assures participating individuals and institutions that all identifiable information collected under B&B and related programs may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law [Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002), 20 U.S.C. § 9573].

B&B:08/12 data security and confidentiality protection procedures are in place to ensure that RTI and its subcontractors comply with all privacy requirements, including the following:

Statement of Work of this contract;
Privacy Act of 1974 U.S.C. § 552(a) (2009);
U.S. Department of Education Incident Handling Procedures (February 2009);
U.S. Department of Education General Handbook for Information Technology Security General Support Systems and Major Applications Inventory Procedures (March 2005);
U.S. Department of Education, ACS Directive OM:5-101, Contractor Employee Personnel Security Screenings;
Family Educational and Privacy Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g (2009);
ESRA, 20 U.S.C. § 9573 (2009); and
All new legislation, which impacts the data collection through this contract.

To ensure that confidentiality is appropriately maintained at all times, RTI requires that vendors who assist in locating and tracing sample members follow procedures to appropriately safeguard personally identifying information. RTI’s vendor contracts outline requirements for information security policies and assessments, security awareness training, physical and environmental security, monitoring, and access control. They also specify the means by which information may be transmitted between RTI and the contractor. Appendix F documents the data security language contained in vendor contracts.

RTI will also comply with ED’s IT security policy requirements, as set forth in the Handbook for Information Assurance Security Policy and related procedures and guidance as well as IT security requirements in the Federal Information Security Management Act, OMB Circulars, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology standards and guidance.

RTI will adhere to NCES Statistical Standards, as described at the following website: http://nces.ed.gov/statprog/2002/std4_2.asp.

B&B:08/12 data security procedures require that notarized nondisclosure affidavits be obtained from all personnel who will have access to individual identifiers (copies of the agreement and affidavit are provided in appendix F). Also implemented are personnel training regarding the meaning of confidentiality; controlled and protected access to computer files; built-in safeguards concerning status monitoring and receipt control systems; and a secure, staffed, in-house computing facility. The procedures for securing sensitive project data will include the following: physical/environment protections, building access controls, system access controls, system login restrictions, user identification and authorization procedures, encryption, and project file storage/archiving/destruction.

There are several security measures in place to protect data during file matching procedures. NCES has a secure data transfer system, which uses Secure Sockets Layer technology, allowing the transfer of encrypted data over the Internet. The NCES secure server will be used for all administrative data sources, with the exception of the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), which has its own secure File Transfer Protocol site. All data transfers will be encrypted using Federal Information Processing Standards 140-2 validated encryption tools.

Furthermore, ED has established a policy regarding the personnel security screening requirements for all contractor employees and their subcontractors to secure the confidentiality of B&B respondents. The contractor must comply with these personnel security screening requirements throughout the life of the contract. The ED directive that contractors must comply with is OM: 5-101, which was last updated on January 29, 2008. There are several requirements that the contractor must meet for each employee working on the contract for 30 days or more. Among these requirements are that each person working on the contract must be assigned a position risk level. The risk levels are high, moderate, and low, based on the level of harm that a person in the position can cause to ED’s interests. Each person working on the contract must complete the requirements for a “Contractor Security Screening.” Depending on the risk level assigned to each person’s position, a follow-up background investigation by ED will occur.

Study notification materials sent to institutions will describe the voluntary nature of the B&B:08/12 interview and convey the extent to which study member identifiers and responses will be kept confidential. Similarly, the scripts to be read by telephone staff will be very specific in the assurances made to sample members and contacts. Contacting materials are presented in appendix D. The following confidentiality language is provided in the study brochure that is supplied to all sample members:

The 2012 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:08/12) is conducted under the authority of the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA) of 2002 (20 U.S.C. § 9512) which authorize NCES to collect and disseminate information about education in the United States. Collection is most often done through surveys.

NCES is required to follow strict procedures to protect the confidentiality of persons in the collection, reporting, and publication of data. All individually identifiable information supplied by individuals or institutions to a federal agency may be used only for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed or used in identifiable form for any other purpose, except as required by law (20 U.S.C. § 9573).

Sensitive Questions

The B&B:08/12 interview contains items about earnings, assets and debts, and marital and family status. Federal regulations governing the administration of these questions, which might be viewed as sensitive due to personal or private information, require (a) clear documentation of the need for such information as it relates to the primary purpose of the study, (b) provisions to respondents that clearly inform them of the voluntary nature of participation in the study, and (c) assurances that responses may be used only for statistical purposes, except as required by law (20 U.S.C. § 9573). Several procedures have been implemented to provide these assurances to respondents. They are outlined in the confidentiality agreements shown in appendix C.

The collection of data related to income, earnings, assets, indebtedness, and long-range employment outcomes is central to understanding key policy issues driving this study. Financial assets and obligations can play an important role in the pursuit of education beyond the bachelor’s degree. In additi\on, information about income, earnings, and assets provides vital labor force variables and important indicators of the rate of return of educational experiences to the respondent.

The collection of information about marital and family status also facilitates the exploration of key policy issues. Social and economic support provided by spouses can play an important role in promoting additional postsecondary education and the development of successful careers. Financial and family-related obligations also influence decisions about employment and education beyond the bachelor’s degree, so it is important to collect information about marital status and dependents.

Estimates of Response Burden

B&B:08/12 will involve the collection of respondent interview data by self-administered web, telephone, or field interview. The field test administration of B&B:08/12, which will be conducted in 2011, will also include a re-interview with a randomly selected subset of 300 respondents.

The burden estimates—including number of sample members, expected response rates, and estimated time per respondent—are shown in table 3. Table 4 provides cost estimates to respondents for participation in data collection activity.

Table 3. Estimated burden on B&B:08/12 field test and full-scale respondents
Data Collection		Date	Sample Size	Expected Eligible	Expected Response Rate	Yield	Avg Burden (mins)	Total Burden (hours)
B&B:12 Field test	Student Interview	Jun-11	1,588	1,556	58%	900	35	525
	Student Reinterview (subset of interview respondents)	Sep-11	300	300	80%	240	15	60

B&B:12 Full-scale	Panel Maintenance (address updates)	Oct-11	17,614	17,614	15%	2,642	5	220
	Student Interview	Jul-12	17,614	16,821	90%	15,139	30	7,569

B&B:15⁴ Field test	Panel Maintenance (address updates)	Oct-13	1,588	1,588	15%	238	5	20
	Student Interview	Jul-14	1,588	1,556	58%	900	35	525
	Student Reinterview (subset of interview respondents)	Sep-14	300	300	80%	240	15	60

B&B:15⁵ Full-scale	Panel Maintenance (address updates)	Oct-14	17,614	17,614	15%	2,642	5	220
	Student Interview	Jul-15	17,614	16,821	90%	15,139	30	7,569

						Totals	B&B:12	8,375
							B&B:15	8,375
							Both '12 & '15	16,749

NOTE: B&B:08/12 = 2008/12 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study.

Table 4. Estimated costs to B&B:08/12 field test and full-scale respondents
Data Collection		Date	Sample Size	Expected Eligible	Expected Response Rate	Yield	Avg Burden (mins)	Total Burden (hours)	Rate per hour ($)	Total Cost ($)
B&B:12 Field test	Student Interview	Jun-11	1,588	1,556	58%	900	35	525	$ 10	$ 5,250
	Student Reinterview (subset of interview respondents)	Sep-11	300	300	80%	240	15	60	$ 10	$ 600
							Subtotal	585	$ 10	$ 5,850
B&B:12 Full-scale	Panel Maintenance (address updates)	Oct-11	17,614	17,614	15%	2,642	5	220	$ 10	$ 2,202
	Student Interview	Jul-12	17,614	16,821	90%	15,139	30	7,569	$ 10	$ 75,695
							Subtotal	7,790	$ 10	$ 77,896
B&B:15⁶ Field test	Panel Maintenance (address updates)	Oct-13	1,588	1,588	15%	238	5	20	$ 10	$ 199
	Student Interview	Jul-14	1,588	1,556	58%	900	35	525	$ 10	$ 5,250
	Student Reinterview (subset of interview respondents)	Sep-14	300	300	80%	240	15	60	$ 10	$ 600
							Subtotal	585	$ 10	$ 5,850
B&B:15⁷ Full-scale	Panel Maintenance (address updates)	Oct-14	17,614	17,614	15%	2,642	5	220	$ 10	$ 2,202
	Student Interview	Jul-15	17,614	16,821	90%	15,139	30	7,569	$ 10	$ 75,695
							Subtotal	7,790	$ 10	$ 77,896
						Totals	B&B:12	8,375	$ 10	$ 83,746
							B&B:15	8,375	$ 10	$ 83,746
							Both '12 & '15	16,749	$ 10	$ 167,493

NOTE: B&B:08/12 = 2008/12 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study.

Estimates of Cost

There are no capital, start-up, or operating costs to respondents for participation in the project. No equipment, printing, or postage charges will be incurred.

Costs to the Federal Government

A summary of estimated costs to the federal government for B&B:08/12, shown in Table 5, is categorized by field test, full-scale study, and total costs. Included in the contract estimates are all staff time, reproduction, postage, and telephone costs associated with the management, data collection, analysis, and reporting for which clearance is requested. A more detailed breakdown of contract costs is provided in table 6.

Table 5. Individual and total costs to the National Center for Education Statistics for the B&B:08/12 field test and full-scale implementations

Costs to NCES	Amount ($)
B&B:08/12 Field Test
Salaries and expenses	100,000
Contract costs	2,381,951
Total	2,481,951

B&B:08/12 Full-scale Study
Salaries and expenses	300,000
Contract costs	6,070,419
Total	6,370,419

Total costs
Salaries and expenses	400,000
Contract costs	8,452,370
Total	8,852,370

NOTE: B&B:08/12 = 2008/12 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study.

Reasons for Changes in Response Burden and Costs

Since this is a reinstatement with change of a previously approved collection, there is a burden increase (had this not been a reinstatement, there would have been a burden decrease since this is a field test whereas the previous collection was a full scale study). Projected estimates for response burden and costs for B&B:08/12 are based on experiences from B&B:93/03 and more recent studies, including NPSAS:08 and B&B:08/09. Estimated response burden for students is based on extensive timing analysis conducted in previous B&B interviews.

Table 6. Contract costs for B&B:08/12

Study area and task management		Budgeted amount ($)
Total		$8,452,370
110	Post-award conference	25,929
120	Schedules	53,310
130	Monthly reports	277,054
140	Integrated monitoring system	514,241
150	Technical review panels	406,852
Field test (FT)
210	Sampling	51,838
220	FT RIMG/OMB forms clearance	42,850
231	Instrumentation	687,399
232	Tracing	110,429
234	Training for help desk/CATI/CAPI data collection	166,054
236	Web/telephone/field data collection	310,044
237	Data processing	230,565
240	Methodology report	144,079
Full-scale (FS) data collection
313	FS student sample design and selection	40,527
320	FS RIMG/OMB forms clearance	39,164
331	Instrumentation	563,809
332	Tracing	774,823
334	Training for help desk/CATI/CAPI data collection	334,372
336	Web/telephone/field data collection	2,222,289
337	Data processing	351,664
338	Weighting, imputations, and nonresponse bias analysis	208,903
339	Data disclosure planning and prevention	41,855
340	Methodology report	170,217
Descriptive reporting
410	ED tabulations	210,268
420	Data analysis system	134,048
430	Additional special tabulations	87,005
440	Descriptive reports	210,037
450	Respond to information requests	28,920
460	Final technical memo	13,825

NOTE: Costs presented here do not include base or award fee. B&B:08/12 = 2008/12 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study; CAPI = computer-assisted personal interviewing; CATI = computer-assisted telephone interviewing; ED = Department of Education; OMB = Office of Management and Budget; RIMG = Regulatory Information Management Group.

Publication Plans and Time Schedule

The formal contract for B&B:08/12 requires the following reports, publications, or other public information releases:

A First Look, Statistics-In-Brief, and Web Tables for online dissemination to a broad audience;
Detailed methodological report describing all aspects of the full-scale study design and data collection procedures (a working paper detailing the methodological findings from the field test will also be produced);
Complete data files and documentation for research data users in the form of both a restricted-use electronic codebook and public-use data tools (i.e., QuickStats, PowerStats); and
Special tabulations of issues of interest to the higher education community, as determined by NCES.

The operational schedule for the B&B:08/12 field test and full-scale study is shown in table 7.

Table 7. Operational schedule for B&B:08/12

Activity	Start date	End date
Field test
Modify/deliver sample specifications	12/17/2010	12/22/2010
Conduct locating, tracing, and panel maintenance activities	4/21/2011	10/24/2011
Conduct telephone and field training	6/15/2011	8/15/2011
Data collection
Self-administered web interviews	6/21/2011	10/28/2011
Conduct telephone interviews	7/21/2011	10/28/2011
Field interviews	9/17/2011	10/28/2011
Process data, construct data files	6/22/2011	11/4/2011
Prepare field test report	7/17/2011	8/4/2012

Full scale
Modify/deliver sample specifications	2/1/2012	3/2/2012
Conduct telephone and field training	7/9/2012	10/17/2012
Data collection
Self-administered web interviews	7/12/2012	3/11/2013
Conduct telephone interviews of students	8/12/2012	3/11/2013
Field data collection	12/7/2012	3/11/2013
Process data, construct data files	7/12/2012	4/15/2013
Prepare submit reports	3/15/2012	1/30/2015

Panel Maintenance Activities
Field Test Sample	October 2013	December 2013
Full-Scale Sample	October 2014	December 2014

NOTE: B&B:08/12 = 2008/12 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study

Approval to Not Display Expiration Date for OMB Approval

N/A: no special exception is requested.

Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

N/A: There are no exceptions to the certification statement identified in the Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions of OMB Form 8

1 RTI International is a trade name of Research Triangle Institute.

2 All files used for matching are obtained from vendors.

3 At this time, additional follow-up with the B&B:08 field test and full-scale cohorts is planned but not yet contracted or funded.

4 At this time, additional follow-up with the B&B:08 field test and full-scale cohorts is planned but not yet contracted or funded.

5 Ibid

6 At this time, additional follow-up with the B&B:08 field test and full-scale cohorts is planned but not yet contracted or funded.

7 Ibid

File Type	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
File Title	Chapter 2
Author	elyjak
File Modified	0000-00-00
File Created	2021-02-01

B and B 2008-12 Field Test 2011 Part A