CIRCUMSTANCES MAKING COLLECTION OF INFORMATION NECESSARY
On September 11, 1993, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12862, “Setting Customer Service Standards,” which clearly defined his vision that the Federal agencies will put the public first. To accomplish this, President Clinton called for a “revolution within the Federal government to change the way it does business.” He expected this process to require continual reform of government practices and operations to the end that, “when dealing with the Federal agencies, all people receive service that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector.”
Section 1(b) of this E.O. requires agencies to “survey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they want and their level of satisfaction with existing services” and Section 1(a) requires agencies to “survey front- line employees on barriers to, and ideas for, matching the best in business.” These Presidential requirements established an ongoing need for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to engage in an interactive process of collecting information and using it to improve program services and processes.
HOW, BY WHOM, AND PURPOSE FOR WHICH INFORMATION IS TO BE USED
The purpose of the survey is to gather information from GARDE funded research participants about their career inclinations and satisfaction with their research experience as it relates to the following subset of objectives of the GARDE program:
Greater inclusion of persons with disabilities (PwDs) in R&D process
Increased collaboration of engineers with and without disabilities
Increased representation of PwDs in engineering careers
Enhanced profile of engineering for disabilities within the engineering research community
Long-term: Improved attainment of career goals for PwDs and engineers working on questions related to disabilities
Collecting this information from non-PI research participants is critical to assessing whether the GARDE program’s stated objectives of greater inclusion, accessibility, and visibility of PwDs in the engineering community are being met. As a data collection tool, this survey will allow us to measure whether progress toward these objectives is improved over time in the GARDE program.
Research participants will be asked about demographic information, achievements or recognition, outreach activities, and career interests and leadership aspirations from before/during/after their participation in GARDE funded research, as well as satisfaction with their research experience.
USE OF AUTOMATION
An invitation to participate will be sent via email, with a link to the web-bases survey provided.
EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION
Not applicable.
SMALL BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS
Not applicable.
CONSEQUENCES OF LESS FREQUENT COLLECTION
Not applicable.
SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES FOR COLLECTION
Not applicable.
FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICE
The agency’s notice, as required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d), was published in the Federal Register on January 12, 2011, at 76 FR 2151 and no substantive comments were received.
OUTSIDE CONSULTATION
Not applicable.
GIFTS OR REMUNERATION
Not applicable.
CONFIDENTIALITY PROVIDED TO RESPONDENTS
No personal information will be collected from participants and none will be documented in any project deliverables. Information will be used for internal purposes only to assess the program’s stated objectives.
QUESTIONS OF A SENSITIVE NATURE
Participants will be asked to list their disability, but no names are collected, and there is an option to decline to provide this information.
ESTIMATE OF BURDEN
Category of Respondent |
No. of Respondents |
Participation Time |
Burden |
Research Respondent (student, intern, postdoc, scientific staff, etc., NO Principal Investigators) |
500 |
10 minutes |
83 hours |
COST TO RESPONDENTS
None
CAPITAL/STARTUP COSTS
Not applicable.
TOTAL
COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
This will be considered a part of the administration of the program and not an additional cost.
CHANGES IN BURDEN
There are no changes in burden. This proposed collection fits within the limits of our generic clearance.
18. PUBLICATION OF COLLECTION
Not applicable.
19. SEEKING APPROVAL TO NOT DISPLAY OMB EXPIRATION DATE
Not applicable.
20. EXCEPTION(S) TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT (19) ON OMB 83-I
There are no exceptions.
STATISTICAL METHODS
B.1. Universe and Sampling Procedures
GARDE-funded principal investigators will be asked in a separate email or conversation to provide contact emails for any research participants on the award. This customer satisfaction survey will then be sent via email to the respondents. Given the relatively small number of potential respondents, we will send the survey to all of them, rather than relying on a smaller subset.
B.2. Survey Methodology
The survey will be web-based, with the invitation to respond sent by email.
B.3. Methods to Maximize Response
It is hoped that by conducting this survey via the Web, rather than in a paper format, respondents will be more likely to respond.
B.4. Testing of Procedures
Pre-testing was done with internal staff to gauge the estimated time needed to complete the survey.
B.5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects of Data Collection
Shannon L. Griswold, PhD
AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow
National Science Foundation
Engineering Directorate
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington, VA 22230
p: 703-292-2548
Attachments
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT |
| Author | JFELDMAN |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-31 |