Supporting Statement B

Assessing the Utility of The Community Guide Website and Products Among State, Tribal, Local and Territorial (STLT) Email subscribers

OSTLTS Generic Information Collection Request

OMB No. 0920-0879

Supporting Statement – Section B

Submitted: December 19, 2012

Program Official/Project Officer

Katherine Wilson, PhD, MPH, CHES

Dissemination and Implementation Team Lead, Community Guide Branch

Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services

Epidemiology and Analysis Program Office

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

1600 Clifton Road, MS E-69, Atlanta, GA  30329

Phone number: 404-498-0980  

Fax Number: 404-498-1177

[email protected]

Section B – Data Collection Procedures

1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods

There are 2,734 subscribers to The Community Guide website, registered in the GovDelivery e-mail tool. Because the GovDelivery list only contains email addresses of subscribers, we reviewed the full list of 2,734 in an attempt to identify all respondents who based on their email extensions, do not work for STLT health agencies. Email addresses affiliated with federal agencies (e.g., CDC, NIH, DOD, and etc.) , as well any addresses with international extensions (e.g., .au, .ca, etc.) were removed from the list. We also removed addresses with domain names that are clearly not associated with STLT health agencies (e.g., prevent.org, ama.org, dowcorning.com, etc.). Using this approach, 409 subscribers were removed from our list, for a remaining total of 2,326 subscribers.

The remaining 2, 326 subscribers include email addresses with .com, .net, .org, .info, or .edu extensions for several reasons. First, upon reviewing the list of subscribers, we learned that some health departments are now using commercial, non-profit, or other types of extensions that are not obviously affiliated with a health department. For example, the Orange County Health Agency in California uses the .com extension for emails (@ochca.com) as does Niagara County in New York (@niagaracounty.com). The city of Berkeley (including its Public Health Division) uses the .info extension for staff emails (@cityofberkeley.info) and the Miami County Health department in Ohio uses the .net extension (@miamicountyhealth.net). Second, we found that some health agencies (e.g., Northern Larimer County in Colorado) use .org extensions (@healthdistrict.org) and some are using commercial email accounts, such as yahoo.com or gmail.com for staff (e.g., Custer County Health Department.) Many tribal governments use .com extensions as well, such as Choctaw Nation Health Services (@cnhsa.com). Third, we kept subscribers with .edu extensions because we believe that some STLT subscribers may be using personal email addresses to subscribe to The Community Guide website. These personal email addresses could use any number of extensions, including .edu, if for example, subscribers have an academic affiliation or use an alumni email account for personal email. After keeping all of these subscribers, the final list of potential survey respondents is 2,326 of the 2,734 people subscribed to The Community Guide website.

We have chosen to send the survey to such a large sample of subscribers because we have absolutely no information on these individuals other than their email addresses. As a result, we cannot determine any characteristics about the audience of subscribers to The Community Guide or how they may be using the guide. We do however, include a filter or “screener” question to confirm their eligibility (i.e., employment status at a STLT health agency) to complete the survey. The survey will terminate for all respondents who report that they do not work for a STLT health agency.

Table B-1: Potential Respondent Universe

Entity	Potential Respondent	N
Subscribers to The Community Guide Website	Individuals working for STLT health departments	2,326
Total Universe of Potential Respondents		2,326

2. Procedures for the Collection of Information

Data will be collected through a one-time web-based survey administered to the respondent population. Eligible respondents are individuals who work in STLT health agencies. An email notification (see Attachment E) will be sent to all respondents with a link to the survey. The survey will be open for 3 weeks to allow ample time for respondents to complete and submit. Reminder emails will be sent on days 7, 14, and 20 to non-respondents (see Attachment F).

The survey will be administered one time to gather feedback about The Community Guide website and tools and products based on the site. Data will be collected and stored in survey software maintained by Westat, as respondents submit their completed surveys. Data will be transferred to Excel for conducting basic descriptive analyses and producing data charts and tables for reporting.

3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates and Deal with Nonresponse

The data collection will be open for three weeks to maximize the number of responses. Email notification and reminder emails will be sent to maximize response rates. The web survey software will only send reminder emails to those who have not yet responded. Reminder emails will be sent on days 7, 14 and, 20. The notification will be sent by the Westat project director (see Attachments E & F).

4. Test of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken

Desk reviews were conducted with 2 staff from CDC’s Community Guide branch to ensure that the survey gathers feedback on aspects of The Community Guide website that are relevant to STLT audiences. Questions for the survey were informed by feedback gathered from cooperative agreements with partner organizations including Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) and National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO. Wording and structure of the survey was informed by reviewing other instruments used to collect data from STLTS audiences.

The web-based version of the survey was pilot tested by 6 public health professionals. Feedback from this group was used to refine questions as needed, ensure accurate programming of skip patterns, and establish the estimated time required to complete the survey. In the pilot test, the average time to complete the survey, including time for reviewing instructions, gathering needed information and completing the survey, was 7 minutes. Based on these results, the estimated time range for actual respondents to complete the survey is 6-8 minutes.

5. Individuals Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data

The data collection was designed by Westat, contractor to the Community Guide Branch, under the direction and guidance of Kathi Wilson, Dissemination and Implementation Team Lead, Community Guide Branch. Westat will collect and analyze the data.

Katherine Wilson, PhD, MPH, CHES

Dissemination and Implementation Team Lead, Community Guide Branch

Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services, Epidemiology and Analysis Program Office

1600 Clifton Road, MS E-69, Atlanta, GA  30329

Phone number: 404-498-0980  

Fax Number: 404-498-1177

[email protected]

1825 Century Center, Atlanta, GA 30345

Phone:404.498.0365 Fax: 404.498-0340

Email: [email protected]

Erika Reed-Gross, MHS

Senior Study Director

Westat

2971 Flowers Road South, Suite 214

Atlanta, GA 30341

Phone: 770-455-4897 Fax: 770-455-4899

Email: [email protected]

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS – Section B

Note: Attachments are included as separate files as instructed.

E. Email notification of The Community Guide Web Survey of STLT Email Subscribers

F. Email reminders (days 7, 14, 20) to complete The Community Guide Web Survey of STLT Email Subscribers