PH LawSupporting_Statement_PART-B

Public Health Law Training and Technical Assistance Needs Assessment of State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Health Department Staff

OSTLTS Generic Information Collection Request

OMB No. 0920-0879

Supporting Statement – Section B

Submitted: May 16, 2012

Program Official/Project Officer

Lindsay Culp

Public Health Analyst

Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support

4770 Buford Highway, MS E-70, Atlanta, GA 30341

404-498-0456

404-498-6882

[email protected]

Section B – Data Collection Procedures

1. Universe and Respondent Selection

The respondent universe includes two populations: (1) 1,589 employees of a state, local, tribal or territorial (STLT) health department subscribing to the CDC Public Health Law News registered in the GovDelivery e-mail tool and (2) 124 attorneys providing counsel to STLT public health agency staff identified through a roster maintained by the Public Health Law Program. While all attorneys (124) providing counsel to STLT public health agencies will be invited to participate in the assessment, a total of 345 (21%) representatives from the 1,589 STLT subscribers will be randomly selected to provide a representative sample that is generalizable to the STLT population of subscribers. This sample provides a confidence interval (margin of error) of 5 and a confidence level of 95%.

There is no way to ensure that the number of responses from the individual groups in Table B-1 will match the estimated Ns. This is the first time this data collection has been performed. However, based upon an examination of the response rates of similar studies, we anticipate a response rate of 80% or higher for this data collection. Any variation from the estimated N will be noted in the survey results and reports.

Table B-1: Potential Respondent Universe

Entity	Potential Respondent	N
State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Health Departments	STLT Official or Employee subscribing to CDC Public Health Law News	345
STLT Attorneys	Attorneys serving as counsel to STLT public health agencies	124
Total Universe of Potential Respondents		469

2. Procedures for Collecting of Information

Respondents will complete a one-time web-based survey, and will be recruited through an e-mail sent to a random sample of the CDC Public Health Law News subscriber list and to attorneys from PHLP’s roster of attorneys representing STLT public health agencies (see Attachment E – Survey Invitation Email). This e-mail will contain instructions for participating and a link to the online survey and informed consent form. Eligible respondents include all STLT public health-related agency officials and employees.

Data will be collected via Survey Monkey, a web-based questionnaire allowing respondents to complete and submit their responses electronically. This method was chosen to reduce the overall burden on respondents. The survey was designed to collect the minimum information necessary for the purposes of this project (i.e., limited to 38 survey questions).

The survey will remain open for 10 business days to allow ample time for respondents to complete the survey. Reminders will be emailed on day 7 of the survey. Reminders will only be used for non-respondents (see Attachment F – Reminder Email).

This survey will be administered one time as an evaluation of STLT public health law-related training and technical assistance needs. The CDC Public Health Law Program will collect and maintain survey data. Survey data collected by the lead staff will be transferred to an Excel spreadsheet for conducting basic descriptive analyses and for producing data charts and tables for reporting.

3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates

A reminder email will be sent to non-respondents 3 days before the end of the data collection to increase response rates. Additionally, lead staff will monitor the number of respondents excluded from the assessment because they are not STLT public health-related agency staff. On business day 5, we will conduct a second sample of subscribers equal to the number of respondents who were excluded in order to maximize the response rate. This This second wave of invitees will receive the same email invitation to participate as the original invitees.

We plan to leave the survey open 10 business days. Higher response rates will yield more reliable information; however, no scientific inferences will be made.

4. Test of Procedures

The evaluation will be conducted remotely. The survey questions were reviewed by members of the CDC Law SAG and by CDC partners to ensure content and readability is appropriate. The web-based version of the questionnaire was pilot tested by five CDC public health practitioners. Feedback from this group was used to refine questions as needed, ensure accurate programming, and establish the time required to complete the survey.

5. Contact for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection

Lindsay Culp, JD, MPH

Public Health Analyst

Public Health Law Program

Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Montrece Ransom, JD, MPH

Senior Public Health Analyst

Public Health Law Program

Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Karen Mumford, PhD

Health Scientist

Research and Outcomes Branch

Office for State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Support

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS – Section B

Note: Attachments are included as separate files as instructed.

5. Survey Invitation Email

6. Reminder Email