Supporting Statement Part B - Telephone Interviews

Department of Transportation

Office of the Chief Information Officer

SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR

Generic Clearance OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION SURVEYS

FMCSA Audience Research

The primary purpose of these collections will be for internal management purposes; there are no plans to publish or otherwise release this information.

Part B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS

1. Describe potential respondent universe and any sample selection method to be used.

The activities under this clearance will use purposive nonprobability sampling methods to ensure we talk to FMCSA stakeholders with a broad range of experiences and perceptions. More specifically, we will employ an expert sampling method for the safety advocate audience.

Results will not be used to make statements representative of the universe of study, to produce statistical descriptions (careful, repeatable measurements), or to generalize the data beyond the scope of the sample. The specific sample planned for each individual collection and the method for soliciting participation will be described fully in each collection request.

The qualitative instruments included in this clearance are to be used by communication and outreach officers to improve messaging and outreach methods from framing and approach perspectives. As such, we are interested in uncovering the broad range of issues and perceptions that impact the reception and interpretation of safety information. But, as stated above, we will not seek to quantify the relative prevalence or importance of the issues here.

The samples associated with this collection are not subjected to the same scrutiny as scientifically-drawn and stratified, quantitative samples where estimates are published or otherwise released to the public.

2. Describe procedures for collecting information, including statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection, estimation procedures, degree of accuracy needed, and less than annual periodic data cycles

The specifics of data collection methods and procedures will be provided with each collection request. FMCSA expects to use the following:

• Safety advocates/experts: In-person and telephone interviews

Note on the recruitment of “safety advocates/expert.”

We have not provided a screening or recruitment script to ensure study participants for this group meet certain criteria. Rather, since this is felt to be a smaller, more readily identifiable universe, we plan to work with FMCSA to identify known organizations and individuals whose input would be valuable for the study. During this process, we will ensure a wide range of organizational viewpoints are included among these interviews to minimize any systematic bias.

FMCSA will work to identify and vet approximately 30 individuals we will reach out through email and by phone to schedule the 15 interviews. We are assuming not all potential participants will be willing or able to participate, therefore are identifying more respondents than necessary.

3. Describe methods to maximize response rate.

Information collected through these stakeholder samples will not be used to generalize conclusions to the entire stakeholder populations.

4. Describe tests of procedures or methods. 

Pretesting may be done with internal staffs, a limited number of external colleagues, and/or stakeholders who are familiar with the programs and products.

5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection.

Each program will obtain information from statisticians in the development, design, conduct, and analysis of customer/partner service surveys, when appropriate. This statistical expertise will be available from agency statisticians or from contractors and FMCSA will include the names and contact information of persons consulted in the specific information collection requests submitted under this generic clearance.

Robert Bailey

SalterMitchell Research Director

703-683-2240

Mokbul Khan

FMCSA Survey Technical Advisor

202-366-3870