SuptStmt-PartB Farmers Market Questionnaire 2-8-13

2013 Supporting Statement – Part B

Farmers Market Questionnaire

0581-0169

B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

1. DESCRIBE (INCLUDING A NUMERICAL ESTIMATE) THE POTENTIAL RESPONDENT UNIVERSE AND ANY SAMPLING OR OTHER RESPONDENT SELECTION METHOD TO BE USED. DATA ON THE NUMBER OF ENTITIES (E.G., ESTABLISHMENTS, STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS, HOUSEHOLDS, OR PERSONS) IN THE UNIVERSE COVERED BY THE COLLECTION AND IN THE CORRESPONDING SAMPLE ARE TO BE PROVIDED IN TABULAR FORM FOR THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE AND FOR EACH OF THE STRATA IN THE PROPOSED SAMPLE. INDICATE EXPECTED RESPONSE RATES FOR THE COLLECTION AS A WHOLE. IF THE COLLECTION HAD BEEN CONDUCTED PREVIOUSLY, INCLUDE THE ACTUAL RESPONSE RATE ACHIEVED DURING THE LAST COLLECTION.

The respondent universe is the number of market listed in USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory, or around 7,865 at present. This Directory represents all the farmers markets known to exist in the U.S. The sampling procedure proposed is listed below.

Sampling of the Farmers Markets and Survey Administration

Element 1: Farmers Market Directory Update Form

All farmers market respondents will be asked to complete the USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory form first. Responding farmers market managers that completed the form in 2012 will have the ability to access input forms that contain portions of their previously submitted market information (This will reduce the time burden associated with completing the form, since it is anticipated that the vast majority of respondents will have completed a form during the previous year. Based on the 3,445 markets that updated the information between April 27 and June 5, 2012, it is estimated that it will take an average of 8 minutes for new markets to complete the form. Once they complete the form, the data will automatically be stored in a database.

On the last page of the Directory update form, they will be instructed that to make changes in their directory information during the course of the year and to complete the 2014 Directory update form they must apply for and receive USDA E-Authorization. They will also be informed that a link to the E-Authorization web page will be emailed to them within 48 hours.

Annual Farmers Market Survey

Farmers markets that complete and submit the Directory update form will be brought to a Review page for their Directory listing. Here they will see their submitted data in a format similar to how it will appear in the USDA Directory search engine, and will have the opportunity to edit the data to correct errors (e.g., typos, omissions). On this page, they will also be informed that the USDA is also in the process of conducting its 2013 National Farmers Market Survey and asked if they would be willing to complete it. They will be able to: (1) refuse, in which case they will exit the survey and will not receive any further email correspondence concerning the survey, (2) agree, but at a later time, in which case they will receive an email with a personal link to the survey and three reminders over the course of the next three weeks if they do not complete it, or (3) agree to complete the survey at the present time, in which case they will be immediately connected to USDA’s National Farmers Market Managers Survey.

Element 2: Core Component of the Annual Farmers Market Managers Survey

The core component of the Annual National Farmers Market Managers Survey will be completed first and by all respondents, who agreed to take it. It will be data-driven insofar as respondents will only see questions that are specifically relevant to them based on a combination of the data provided on the Directory update form and answers to earlier questions on the survey. It is estimated that it will take 8 minutes for the average respondent to complete. If they do not complete all the core questions, they will be sent a reminder asking whether they would be willing to complete the remainder of the survey, and a link that will allow them to resume at the place where they left off.

Element 3: Special Modules

Nine different modules covering various topics have been submitted for OMB approval. The modules contain a different number of questions and will require different amounts of time on the part of respondents. Three of the modules, Market Performance, Budget and Finance, and Competition, will be administered on an annual basis to proportional random samples of the responding farmers markets. The other six modules will alternatively be administered during odd (2013) and even (2014) years.

Respondents that complete and submit the core survey will automatically proceed to three blocks consisting of 2-3 different special modules. Every year, different modules will be incorporated as part of the survey. They will be combined in 2 blocks so that the time requirement does not exceed 22 minutes and the total time to complete the Directory update form (8 minutes), core survey (8 minutes) and modules (no more than 6 minutes). For example in 2013 there will be three blocks as follows: Block 1 includes modules on Competition and Vendors , Block 2 includes modules on Market Performance and Expansion , and (3) Block 3 will include modules on Budget/Finance and Market Enhancement.

These three blocks of modules will be randomly assigned using a simple random stratified sampling method. Farmers markets will be divided into 8 strata based on the region of the country in which they are located and the average number of vendors selling at the market on a typical market day. Markets with nine or fewer vendors per market day were chosen because markets with this number of vendors are common to newly established markets. Table 1 show the 8 strata and the estimated percentage of markets in each strata based on the 2012 USDA National Farmers Market Directory. Markets in the strata will be alternatively assigned one of the three blocks using sampling proportions designed to achieve a proportional representation of each strata (e.g., Strata 1= 8% of completed surveys). To achieve proportional representation, survey results will be weighted using the 2012 Directory.

TABLE 1. Distribution of Markets in the US

	9 or Fewer Vendors on a Typical Market Day	10 or More Vendors on a Typical Market Day
Region 1: Northeast	7.9%	16.1%
Region 2: Midwest	5.9%	21.2%
Region 3: South	6.8%	18.6%
Region 4: West	3.0%	20.5%

2. DESCRIBE THE PROCEDURES FOR THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION INCLUDING:

- STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY FOR STRATIFICATION AND SAMPLE SELECTION;

- ESTIMATION PROCEDURE;

- DEGREE OF ACCURACY NEEDED FOR THE PURPOSE DESCRIBED IN THE JUSTIFICATION;

- UNUSUAL PROBLEMS REQUIRING SPECIALIZED SAMPLING PROCEDURES, AND

- ANY USE OF PERIODIC (LESS FREQUENT THAN ANNUAL) DATA COLLECTION CYCLES TO REDUCE BURDEN.

The e-mail invitation to participate in the Directory update and voluntary survey will include a web link for the survey website. AMS will announce the Directory update and voluntary market manager survey on the Department’s website, contact farmers market associations, State Departments of Agriculture, and the Farmers Market Coalition to announce the combined Directory update and the National Farmers Market Manager Survey. Theses stakeholders will be informed that the survey can be completed online and we will provide them with the address of the survey website. AMS has made every effort to gather a complete listing of e-mail addresses of farmers markets when farmers market managers update their market contact information on the Directory. Currently AMS has e-mail addresses for 4,652 of the 7,865 (59.1 percent) of markets known to currently exist.

We will again be working with Michigan State University’s Department of Community Agriculture Recreation and Resource Studies to develop the survey website as we did in 2009. In addition to website development, MSU will develop the database used to save data from survey respondents and will import that raw data into an SPSS database for subsequent analysis.

3. DESCRIBE METHODS TO MAXIMIZE RESPONSE RATES AND TO DEAL WITH ISSUES OF NON-RESPONSE. THE ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF INFORMATION COLLECTED MUST BE SHOWN TO BE ADEQUATE FOR INTENDED USES. FOR COLLECTIONS BASED ON SAMPLING, A SPECIAL JUSTIFICATION MUST BE PROVIDED FOR ANY COLLECTION THAT WILL NOT YIELD "RELIABLE" DATA THAT CAN BE GENERALIZED TO THE UNIVERSE STUDIED.

We estimate that 3,500 market managers will update their market listing on USDA’s National Farmers Market Directory. This is a small increase above the 3,445 of market managers that participated in the 2012 Directory update. We believe that 2,000 market manager, (57 percent) will chose to complete USDA’s National Farmers Market Managers Survey, and that a little more than half of the market managers that list their market in the Directory will be willing to spend the additional 14 minutes to complete the market manager questionnaire.

Those managers who listed their market in the Directory but choose not to complete the Survey will be analyzed to determine non-response bias. .

The five questions in the Directory update form that we plan to focus on in our non-response survey analysis are:

3. Are you a manager or a representative of another farmers market in 2013?

12. In 2013, how many different locations will this farmers market operate with the same market name?

13. Please provide information about the physical location (actual place) where the market will operate. If there is not a street address, number or zip code for this location, or you do not know it, please the state, city/ town and a description of the location with the nearest road intersection listed (e.g., on the town center green, mall parking lot at Main St. x Tree St.). The Directory will include this description to assist customers in locating the market. After you enter the information click on the box below and an arrow will appear pointing to the location of the market. If it is not in the correct location of the market in 2013, please drag the arrow to the correct location. If you lose sight of the arrow (by zooming in, for example), you can click anywhere on the map and a new arrow will appear.

18. During which months will this farmers market operate at this location in 2013?

22. On a typical market day, how many producers/ vendors do you expect will be selling at this farmers market at this location in 2013?

The answer to these questions in the Directory update, which captures various elements of market scale and scope, should enable us to identify any major sources of bias that might exist in our sample pool.

4. DESCRIBE ANY TESTS OF PROCEDURES OR METHODS TO BE UNDERTAKEN. TESTING IS ENCOURAGED AS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF REFINING COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION TO MINIMIZE BURDEN AND IMPROVE UTILITY. TESTS MUST BE APPROVED IF THEY CALL FOR ANSWERS TO IDENTICAL QUESTIONS FROM 10 OR MORE RESPONDENTS. A PROPOSED TEST OR SET OF TESTS MAY BE SUBMITTED FOR APPROVAL SEPARATELY OR IN COMBINATION WITH THE MAIN COLLECTION OF INFORMATION.

AMS has tested this collection instrument with MSD staff that manages USDA’s farmers market to evaluate the time necessary to complete the questionnaire and to evaluate the instrument for understanding and clarity.

5. PROVIDE THE NAME AND TELEPHONE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS CONSULTED ON STATISTICAL ASPECTS OF THE DESIGN AND THE NAME OF THE AGENCY UNIT, CONTRACTOR(S), GRANTEE(S), OR OTHER PERSON(S) WHO WILL ACTUALLY COLLECT AND/OR ANALYZE THE INFORMATION FOR THE AGENCY.

AMS has consulted with David Hancock of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistical Service (202-690-2388) and Dr. Edward Mahoney of Michigan State University-Community Recreation and Resource Studies Department (on developing the survey strategy. The AMS/MSD employee who will collect and/or analyze the survey information is Edward Ragland (202-690-1327).

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