Program Form

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Social Science Program

Expedited Approval for NPS-Sponsored Public Surveys

1.

Project Title:

Visitor Services Project (VSP) Survey of Interpretive Signage at Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site (MALU)

Submission Date

9-17-2012

2.

Abstract:

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site (MALU) is spread over 3 city blocks in Atlanta, GA. With the exception of the King Birth Home, visitors are self-guided through the site, using interpretive signage and brochures that provides visitors with directional and safety information during their visit. This study will include two components: (1) focus group and (2) an on-site survey. The focus groups will be used to generate recommendations to improve the quality of signage throughout the park; and an on-site survey will be used to collect information from visitors at MALU to evaluate the: quality of the educational signage satisfaction with directional signage, and perception of the effectiveness of safety signage The results of this collection will provide information that will be used to provide guidelines for interpretive planning.

(not to exceed 150 words)

3.

Principal Investigator Contact Information

First Name:

Margaret

Last Name:

Littlejohn

Title:

NPS Visitor Services Project (VSP) Director

Affiliation:

NPS Visitor Services Project, PSU, College of Natural Resources, University of Idaho

Street Address:

6th & Line Streets, Room 17B

City:

Moscow

State:

ID

Zip code:

83844-1139

Phone:

208-885-7863

Fax:

208-885-4261

Email:

[email protected]

4.

Park or Program Liaison Contact Information

First Name:

Robert

Last Name:

Parker

Title:

Chief of Interpretation and Education

Park:

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site

Park Office/Division:

Interpretation and Visitor Services

Street Address:

450 NE Auburn Ave

City:

Atlanta

State:

GA

Zip code:

30312

Phone:

404-331-6922 ext. 3625

Fax:

404-730-3112

Email:

[email protected]

Project Information

5.

Park(s) For Which Research is to be Conducted:

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site

6.

Survey Dates:

10/1/12

to

10/30/12

7.

Type of Information Collection Instrument (Check ALL that Apply)

Mail-Back Questionnaire

 On-Site Questionnaire

Face-to-Face Interview

Telephone Survey

 Focus

Groups

Other (explain)

8.

Survey Justification:

(Use as much space as needed; if necessary include additional explanation on a

separate page.)

Social science research in support of park planning and management is mandated in the NPS Management Policies 2006 (Section 8.11.1, “Social Science Studies”). The NPS pursues a policy that facilitates social science studies in support of the NPS mission to protect resources and enhance the enjoyment of present and future generations (National Park Service Act of 1916, 38 Stat 535, 16 USC 1, et seq.). NPS policy mandates that social science research will be used to provide an understanding of park visitors, the non-visiting public, gateway communities and regions, and human interactions with park resources. Such studies are needed to provide a scientific basis for park planning, development.

The interpretive signage system at the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site serves NPS visitors as well as contributes to the interpretive efforts at other sites in the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic District managed by NPS partners. While the main focus of this study is to evaluate the current interpretive signage system, a secondary effort is to provide park managers with recommendations to improve the quality of visitor services. Interpretive signage at MALU can be divided into 3 categories

(1) Educational signage: Interpretive signs that present the story of the life and legacy of Dr. King and related topics.

(2) Directional signage: Signs that direct visitors to historic buildings and park facilities.

(3) Safety signage: Signs designed for pubic safety such as pedestrian crossings, warning signs, emergency contact information bulletins, etc.

Although each type of signage serves a different purpose, the combined signage provides a complete experience for visitors to MALU. A mail-back questionnaire will be used to collect information from visitors, including demographics, trip/visit characteristics, activities, evaluation of park services/facilities, and their evaluation of interpretive signage.

Focus group sessions will be held with visitors and park partners to obtain recommendation to improve the quality of signage.

9.

Survey Methodology: (Use as much space as needed; if necessary include additional explanation on a

separate page.)

1. Respondent Universe:

There are two respondent universes for this collection. Visitor population includes all visitors, age 16 and older, who visit the park during the study periods. Park partner population includes 16 organizations that manage other Martin Luther King, Jr. related sites in the historic district.

2. Sampling Plan/Procedures:

Two different procedures will be used to select sample

Survey

Visitors will be intercepted, by trained interviewers, at 4 different locations (parking lot, visitor center and 2 historic buildings) on a rotating basis. During the survey period each location will be surveyed on at least three weekdays and one weekend day to reflect different user types. Approximately every 5^th visitor (at least 16 years old) will be intercepted. If a group is encountered, the nearest birthday method will be used to randomize the survey participants.

Each interviewer will receive 1-1/2 hours of training on how to conduct interviews. This training will cover every aspect of interviewing, including conducting the interviews using sampling intervals, avoiding sampling bias, and how to handle all types of interviewing situations, including safety of the visitor and the interviewer. Quality control will be ensured by monitoring interviewers in the field, and by checking their paperwork at the end of each day of surveying.

Focus groups

Separate focus group sessions will be held for visitors and partners. Two focus groups will be offered at different time to accommodate partners. One representative from each partner organization will be invited to attend one of two focus groups. Invitation will be sent to all 16 partners. A letter from the park superintendent will be sent to all partner groups. If a response is not received within a week, a phone call will be made to manager of the groups to determine their availability.

Prior to taking the Birth Home tour, selected individual will be informed that they were selected to participate in the study and will be asked for verbal commitment. Upon completion of the tour, those individuals will meet at a meeting room in an adjacent building. The Birth Home tour takes place throughout each day of the week. We will invite participants from the morning, mid-day, and afternoon tours, as well as tours held on the weekends and weekdays. Refreshments will be offered during focus group sessions. A small gift (park postcard, bookmarks and decal) with the total value approximately $5 will be donated by the bookstore association to be used as a thank you token for focus group participants. Because this is a non-cash gift that will be given at the completion of the session we do not anticipate any bias effects. Approximately 6-8 focus group sessions consists of 60 visitors will be conducted during the study period.

3. Instrument Administration:

Survey

We will use the drop-off/pick up method. Selected visitors will be asked if they would be interested in participating in the survey. All selected individuals will be asked age, zip code, and whether this is their first visit to MALU; gender will be observed and recorded. The information will be recorded in a survey log for non-response bias checking. Questionnaires will be distributed on-site to those who agree to participate in the survey. There will be instructions on how to complete and return the instrument to surveyor and where to place it in a locked box at the visitor center. The survey contains 22 questions in an easy-to-read format. Since the questionnaire will be completed and returned onsite, follow-up procedures will not be used.

Visitors will be intercepted at 4 different locations (parking lot, visitor center and 2 historic buildings) on a rotating basis. During the survey period each location will be surveyed on at least three weekdays and one weekend day to reflect different user types. For some days, surveys may be distributed at more than one location. Visitation statistics for October 2011 showed that these locations received a similar visitation (approximately 32,000 visitors each). Approximately 1,385 questionnaires will be distributed during the survey period.

Intercept location	Number of weekday Contacts (3 random days)	Number of - weekend day Contacts (1 day)	Number expected responses
Parking lot	255	80	218
Visitor center	263	87	228
Building #1	263	87	227
Building #2	263	87	227
TOTAL	1,044	341	900

Focus group

Each focus group session will last approximately 60 minutes. A script will be used to facilitate the discussion. Each session will be audio-recorded and transcribed for analysis. The focus group meeting will take place in the conference room at the park.

4. Expected Response Rate/Confidence Levels:

It is our experience that the drop-off/pick-up method generally has a high response rate. We anticipate a response rate of at least 65% for this collection. With the target sample size of 1,385, we anticipate receiving 900 completed questionnaires. With 95% confidence the sampling error will be within 3%.

We will invite all 16 partners and we expect that 12 (75%) of partners will participate in a focus group session. For visitor focus group, in order to obtain 60 participants, we plan to approach 120 individuals. The purpose of the focus group is to generate recommendations for the signage. We do not seek to have representative samples thus confidence interval will not apply.

Number of Initial Contacts

Expected Response

Rate

Expected Number of Responses

Margin of Error +/- %

Survey

1,385

65%

900

3

Partner focus group

16

75%

12

n/a

Visitor focus group

120

50%

60

n/a

5. Strategies for dealing with potential non-response bias:

We will test for non-response bias using the information obtained during the initial on-site contact with all selected participants. The surveyors will ask the following questions and record information on a survey log.

1) Is this your first time visiting MALU?

2) What is your age?

3) What is your zip code?

4) Gender of the participant will be observed and recorded

We will compare survey respondents and non-respondents to determine non-response bias.

6. Description of any pre-testing and peer review of the methods and/or instrument (recommended):

The questionnaire format and many of the questions have been used in 243 previous VSP survey instruments. The questions in this survey are taken from the currently approved list of questions in NPS Pool of Known Questions (OMB 1024-0224; Current Expirations Date: 8-31-2014). The survey instrument was tested using a group of college students (n=9). Amount of time needed to complete the survey was averaged at 15 minutes.

A similar focus group script was used in another PSU study at Petrified Forest National Park, in which the average time to complete each focus group session was 40 minutes. Internal and external review comments have been incorporated in the final survey instrument.

	10		Burden Estimates:		We plan to approach 1,385 individuals during the sampling period. The initial contact is to obtain verbal confirmation that the individuals are willing to participate in the survey. For all selected individuals we will ask 3 questions to determine non-response bias. The initial contact and response bias checking will take approximately 2 minutes to complete (1,385x2 minutes= 46 hours). With 65% expected response rate, we estimate that a total of 900 surveys will be completed. It is estimated that it will take 15 minutes to complete (900x15 minutes =225 hours). For the focus group, we intended to contact 16 partners and 120 visitors (n=136). It will take approximately 5 minutes for the initial contact to invite partners and visitors to focus groups and obtain confirmation (136x5 minutes = 11 hours). Of those who were invited 72 are expected to attend focus group session. Each focus group session is expected to take 60 minutes to complete (72x60 minutes = 72 hours). The total burden for this collection is estimated to be 354 hours.
			Total Number of Initial Contacts for survey		1,385		Estimated Time (mins.) to Complete Initial Contact	2		Estimated Burden Hours		46
			Survey questionnaire		900		Time to complete and return surveys	15		Estimated Burden Hours		225
			Focus group initial contact		136		Estimated Time (mins.) to Complete Initial Contact	5		Estimated Burden Hours		11
			Focus group session		72		Time to complete focus group	60		Estimated Burden Hours		72
		Total Burden									354
11.		Reporting Plan:		The study results will be presented in an internal agency report for NPS managers. Response frequencies will be tabulated and measures of central tendency computed (e.g., mean, median, mode, as appropriate). The report will be archived with the NPS Social Science Program for inclusion in the Social Science Studies Collection and will also be posted on the Park Studies Unit VSP website at: http:/psu.uidaho.edu/vsp.reports.htm. Hard copies will be available upon request.

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