Supporting Statement B

Effective Educational Campaigns for Private Well Owners

OSTLTS Generic Information Collection Request

OMB No. 0920-0879

Supporting Statement – Section B

Submitted: May 12, 2014

Program Official/Project Officer

Angela Salazar

Public Health Advisor

Health Studies Branch, NCEH, CDC

4770 Buford Highway NE MS-F60

Phone: 770.488.3949

Email: [email protected]

Fax: 770.488.3450

Section B – Data Collection Procedures

1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods

Data will be collected across all 50 states from 100 environmental health staff at state, local, and tribal environmental health and agricultural departments who are government employees and who conduct outreach to private well owners. A total of 100 departments will be included in the assessment. 70 of these departments were identified through the University of Illinois Private Well Class program and have been identified from 27 states (Please see Attachment C), and the other 30 will be selected from additional programs across the 50 states, identified through an internet search.

The Private Well Class at the University of Illinois is an online program consisted of a set of ten lessons intended to provide basic knowledge of geology, hydrology, well construction, water system components, source water protection, well water sampling, and treatment that together would allow a well owner to become a better steward of their water system. The Private Well Class was marketed nationally to various well owners and stakeholders including state health departments, cooperative extension, state regulatory agencies, drillers’ organizations, and other relevant stakeholders. In all, over 400 entities were contacted to inform them of the availability of the class materials. In completing this effort, the UI learned of 70 well owner outreach programs ongoing throughout the country. These 70 will be contacted and asked to participate.

Nearly 500 additional well owner outreach programs have been identified through an internet search. However, most of these programs are nearly identical in scope and method, offering testing for well water quality. This assessment would benefit from including programs with more diverse objectives, goals, and methods beyond just offering a sampling activity, and 50 departments have been identified that will provide that diversity. Those 50 will be ranked by the value they bring to the data collection and then the top 30 will be added to the assessment. The 20 departments not added to the assessment will be held as a candidate list of possible replacements for the original 100, should any of the original 100 decide to not participate in the data collection. All respondents will fit in the OSC respondent universe.

2. Procedures for the Collection of Information

Data will be collected through a one-time web-based instrument administered to the respondent population, which will be made up of environmental health staff at state, local, and tribal environmental health and agricultural departments who are government employees and who conduct outreach to private well owners.

Potential respondents will be contacted by email to determine their willingness to participate (see Attachment D for the script for the initial email). Those indicating they will participate will be sent a 2^nd email with instructions for filling out the data collection instrument that includes a unique link specific to them in Survey Monkey ®. (see Attachment E for the instruction email script). A reminder email will be sent after a week if the participant has not completed the data collection instrument (see Attachment F for the reminder email script). We plan to give the respondents three weeks to complete the data instrument. To address non-responses, alternate participants will be chosen from our candidate list. Those who do not respond to the initial email (estimated to be less than 10% of potential participants) will be called after two weeks to solicit their participation (see Attachment G for phone script).

Data from the participant responses will be collected and stored in a database maintained by the University of Illinois. Data will be transferred to SPSS for statistical assessment. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses will be performed. Quantitative analyses will involve using descriptive statistics to determine frequency distributions and corresponding variances for responses to the relevant questions. Responses will be cross-tabulated to compare independent variable responses including advertising methods, incentives to participate, number and type of partners/stakeholders, reasons for conducting outreach program, type of outreach program, and outreach program scale. Both factor analysis and coding analysis will be used to assess the data. Qualitative thematic analyses will be performed on open-ended, descriptive questions to compile recommendations for improving outreach to well owners and assessing the participant’s experiences with their own outreach program performance. The descriptive questions will increase the utility of the statistical analysis by providing context about each outreach program that the quantitative data cannot provide (past experiences and how they affected current approaches to outreach, etc.).

3. Methods to Maximize Response Rates, Deal with Nonresponse

Although participation is voluntary, efforts will be made to maximize the rate of response. An initial email, email notification and a reminder email will be sent to maximize response rates (Attachment D, E, and F). If there is no initial response, the potential participant will be called to solicit their participation (Attachment G). It is estimated that 90% of the potential participants will respond to the first or second email, minimizing the number of potential phone calls. If someone who has agreed to participate does not within the allotted time frame, the next potential participant on our candidate list will be contacted and asked to participate. The participant who failed to comply will have their unique link removed to avoid participation at a later date.

4. Test of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken

The online data collection instrument was pilot tested by four UI Private Well Class staff. Feedback from these tests was used to refine questions and establish the estimated time required to complete the data collection instrument. In the pilot test, the average time to complete the questions, including time for reviewing instructions, gathering needed information and completing the data collection, was 15 minutes, with a range of 12-20 minutes. Our estimate for the total burden, including additional time to review the email requesting participation, is 18 minutes.

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

The data collection was designed by the project leads, with support from the UI Survey Research Laboratory. The project leads will also collect and analyze the data. Statistical consulting will be provided by the UI Statistics Office and by CDC Project Specialists

Steven D. Wilson Brian K. Miller, Ph. D

Groundwater Hydrologist Director, IL Water Resources Center

Illinois State Water Survey Director, IL-IN Sea Grant

University of Illinois University of Illinois

217-333-0956 217-244-9329

[email protected] [email protected]

Sowmya Anand Lorraine C. Backer, PhD, MPH

Coordinator of Research Programs Senior Scientist/ Epidemiologist

Survey Research Laboratory National Center for Environmental Health

University of Illinois Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

217-333-2219 770-488-3426

[email protected] [email protected]

Adrianne Holmes, MPH Ekta Choudhary, MS, MPH, PhD

COR Technical Guidance Environmental Hazards & Health Effects

NCEH, CDC NCEH, CDC

770-488-3404 770-488-3825

[email protected] [email protected]

Angela Salazar Colleen Martin, MSPH

Public Health Advisor Public Health Advisor

Health Studies Branch, NCEH, CDC Health Studies Branch, NCEH, CDC

770-488-3949 770-488-1468

[email protected] [email protected]

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS – Section B

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ATTACHMENT C: State List

ATTACHMENT D: Initial E-mail Script

ATTACHMENT E: E-mail Script Instructions

ATTACHMENT F: Reminder E-mail Script

ATTACHMENT G: Phone Call Script