Part A - SUPPORTING STATEMENT 12-27-10

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Census Bureau

National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR)

Cell Phone and Debit Card Test

OMB Control Number 0607-<XXXX>

Part A – Justification

Question 1. Necessity of the Information Collection

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Census Bureau plan to conduct (covered under separate OMB clearance number 1018-0088) the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR) which is authorized under the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 and the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Programs Improvement Act of 2000. The Census Bureau is authorized to conduct the FHWAR under Title 13, United States Code Section 8(b). The FHWAR data, collected approximately every five years, assist Federal and State agencies in administering the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration grant programs and provide up-to-date information on the uses and demands for wildlife-related recreation resources, trends in uses of those resources, and a basis for developing and evaluating programs and projects to meet existing and future needs.

The FHWAR is an address-based sample selected from the Census Bureau’s Master Address File (MAF). Interviewing is conducted using Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI). Through research conducted by Relevate, Lexis Nexis, and by researchers at the Census Bureau’s three telephone centers, we estimate that we will obtain telephone numbers for 47,891 sample households that will be eligible for CATI interviewing. With a total household sample of 81,955, this leaves 34,064 households eligible for a CAPI interview. Due to the cost of conducting personal visit interviews, the 2011 FHWAR budget will only fund 5,154 CAPI interviews. These 5,154 cases will be subsampled from the 34,064 cases for which we do not have a household telephone number.

A CAPI sample in the FHWAR is particularly important because households with available phone numbers may differ in characteristics from those without telephones and those with unlisted phone numbers. By decreasing our sample from 34,064 to 5,154, we are introducing additional variance in our survey data.

The purpose of the Cell Phone and Debit Card Test is to research alternative survey designs that could increase the number of CATI interviews while reducing the variance associated with conducting fewer CAPI interviews.

Question 2. Needs and Uses

Researching comparable alternatives to CAPI interviewing is important since the FWS has limited funding to conduct the survey. An FHWAR CAPI interview is estimated to cost approximately $600 per case, while a CATI interview is estimated to cost $65 per case.

We plan to conduct a test in the first wave of interviewing (the FHWAR is conducted in three waves) that includes three panels of 500 households each. We will select the test cases from the remaining cases (approximately 28,910 cases) without phone numbers after the production CAPI sample is selected. These 1,500 cases will remain in the CATI sample; they will not be sent for CAPI interviewing.

The first panel will receive an advance letter with a cell phone. The advance letter will ask that a household member call the telephone center and complete an interview using the cell phone. The telephone centers will also attempt to contact these households using the assigned cell phone telephone number. The second panel will receive an advance letter and a $25 incentive. The advance letter will ask that a household member call the telephone center to complete an interview and accept the prepaid debit or gift card as a “thank you” for participating. The third panel will only receive an advance letter that requests a household member call the telephone center to complete an interview. (Note: the only way that contact will be made with households in the second and third panels will be if household respondents call the telephone center.)

The test data from these three panels will not be included with the production FHWAR data and the FWS will not have access to the data.

If this study proves successful, it may also provide an option for future FHWAR surveys and other Census Bureau surveys interested in reducing field data collection costs.

Quality is an integral part of the pre-dissemination review of the information disseminated by the Census Bureau (fully described in the Census Bureau’s Quality Guidelines). Information quality is also integral to the information collections conducted by the Census Bureau and is incorporated in the clearance process required by the Paperwork Reduction Act.

Question 3. Use of Information Technology

The Census Bureau will collect and record all verbal responses for the test through telephone interviews using computer-assisted technology. Test respondents are selected from the sample of cases for which a telephone number is not available and will not be interviewed in CAPI. Paper questionnaires are not used because of the size of the questionnaire and the complexity of the skip patterns.

One test panel will receive a prepaid cell phone. The Census Bureau is providing cell phones as a means of communication between the Census Bureau and sampled households. (i.e., a household respondent may use the cell phone to contact the Census Bureau’s telephone center and conversely a Census Bureau interviewer may call the provided cell phone to conduct the interview.) Once the interview is complete, the respondent has the option to keep the phone, mail it back to the Census Bureau for recycling, or donate the phone to a charity.

Question 4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

Census Bureau staff could find no comparable test or research that included cell phones, debit cards, and advance letters as a means of a viable alternative to CAPI interviews. The National Opinion Research Center (NORC) provided some research on a test conducted in conjunction with the National Immunization Survey. However, the NORC study was not a national study and its history, purpose, and methodologies differed from the FHWAR test.

Question 5. Minimizing Burden

Small Businesses or other small entities are not asked to report information.

Question 6. Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

The FHWAR is conducted at a 5-year frequency which is appropriate for current and projected management purposes. The FHWAR data users have indicated that they need the data updated at least every 5 years. The FHWAR Cell Phone and Debit Card Test is a one-time test that will run in conjunction with production in the first wave of 2011 interviewing but data from the test will not be included in the final 2011 FHWAR public use file.

Question 7. Special Circumstances

No special circumstances exist.

Question 8. Consultations Outside the Agency

Census Bureau staff consulted with Martin Barron (NORC) who participated in a study for the National Immunization Survey involving the use of cell phones and debit cards. NORC staff mailed approximately 40 prepaid cell phones to respondents in Arizona and Michigan over two interview quarters. NORC interviewers completed interviews with respondents who called into the telephone center, and they also called some respondents on the cell phone to complete interviews. Those respondents that completed an interview received a $30 incentive. NORC allowed respondents to keep the phones or return them for recycling.

While NORC’s study is similar to our study, there are some major differences. The first major difference is that their study does not include a nationally representative sample. A nationally representative sample is imperative to the FHWAR production survey since each state needs a sufficient sample base in order for the Fish and Wildlife Service to report state level data with acceptable variances. Another significant difference is that NORC used the debit card as a post-paid incentive for completing the survey in conjunction with the use of the cell phone. The purpose of the FHWAR test is to separately analyze response rates for the cell phone sample and the debit card sample. These comparisons will help us determine if any of the alternative procedures produce response rates equal to or greater than sending a Census Bureau Field Representative to households to collect the data. We will also analyze the cost and data quality to decide whether sending the household a cell phone or monetary incentive are possible options in the survey data collection process. We will analyze the cost function to determine if we can obtain any cost saving by introducing either of these methods even if the response rates differ across panels.

On August 10, 2010, we published in the Federal Register (Vol. 75 No. 153) p. 48306 - 48308, a notice of our intent to request information collection authority from OMB, “Proposed Information Collection; National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife- Associated Recreation Cell Phone and Debit Card Test.” In that notice, we solicited public comments for 60 days, ending on October 12, 2010.

We received only one correspondence via email which generally opposed the collection of the survey data.

Question 9. Paying Respondents

One panel in the test will receive a $25.00 debit card. Interviewers will provide the pin number to the household respondent upon completion of the interview. This panel is part of this test that will help us determine which of the three alternatives produces the highest response rate and the best data quality.

Question 10. Assurance of Confidentiality

The Census Bureau will collect data in compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and the OMB Circular A-130. 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 or she discloses any information. An advance letter will be mailed to households in the three panels prior to interviewing that will contain this guarantee of confidentiality. These letters include the information required by the Privacy Act of 1974, explain the voluntary nature of the survey, and state the estimated time required for participating in the survey. In cases where the letter was not received, a statement containing this information will be read to the respondent before the interview begins.

Question 11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

This survey does not ask questions of a sensitive nature.

Question 12. Estimate of Hour Burden

The FHWAR begins with a screener interview. A household respondent is asked questions regarding all household members’ demographics and wildlife-related activities (hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching) in 2011. Those household members who hunt, fish, or observe wildlife between January 1, 2011 and the date of the screener interview will be asked to participate in a detailed interview (Sportsperson and/or Wildlife Watcher Detailed Interviews). Depending on the activities reported, it is possible for a sample member to receive one or both detailed interviews. The below chart contain the estimated burden hours for conducting this test.

Activity	Number of Household Respondents	Number of Detailed Interview Respondents	Completion Time Per Response	Annual Burden Hours
Screener	1,500		7 minutes	175 hours
Hunting and Fishing (Sportsperson Detailed Interview)		246	14 minutes	57 hours
Wildlife Observer (Wildlife Watcher Detailed Interview)		121	11 minutes	22 hours
Totals	1,500	367		254 hours

Question 13. Estimate of Cost Burden

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

Question 14. Cost to Federal Government

We estimate that the total cost to conduct the FHWAR Cell Phone and Debit Card Test will be approximately $135,000. This estimate includes the phone subscription plan and the cost of the incentives.

Question 15. Reason for Change in Burden

The slight increase in burden is attributable to the test data being submitted as new.

Question 16. Project Schedule

The test will be conducted in Wave 1 from April 1 to June 5, 2011. A high level project schedule for test activities follows.

2010
January - May	Planning stages for test
June	Revise instrument to include test screens
September	Choose a provider for the cell phone
	Conduct first formal CATI testing (Systems Test)
October	Develop advance letters and procedures
December	Choose test sample
2011
January	Conduct second formal CATI testing (Verification Test)
February	Develop training materials
	Purchase the cell phones and debit cards
March/April	Activate cell phones
	Mail prenotice postcard for Cell Phone Sample Only
	Mail advance letter packages (debit cards, cell phones, advance letter only)
	Conduct training in the telephone centers
April/May	CATI production begins
June	CATI production ends
July	Test data analysis begins

Question 17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

The expiration date will be displayed in the advance letters sent to the sample households.

Question 18. Exceptions to the Certification

There are no exceptions to the Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.

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