Supplemental and Part B questions

MAFAC Customer Survey

on Climate Information Needs - 2016

1. Supplemental Questions for DOC/NOAA Customer Survey Clearance
   (OMB Control Number 0648-0342)

1. Explain who will be conducting this survey. What program office will be
   conducting the survey? What services does this program provide? Who are the customers? How are these services provided to the customer?

The Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee (MAFAC) and its Climate Resilience Task Force (CRTF) will be conducting the survey to assist it in its work to provide advice to NOAA Fisheries. MAFAC is a Federal Advisory Committee and has been asked to provide recommendations to NOAA Fisheries on topics related to addressing climate change impacts on fisheries, including regarding effective communication strategies for key fisheries audiences and stakeholders. NOAA provides information on past, current, and possible future climate-related changes to fishermen, communities, cooperatives, managers, and Fishery Management Council members to help them make decisions and adapt to the changing climate. This information is provided through a variety of methods including websites, scientific reports, and presentations. The survey will identify ways to increase access, delivery, and use of this information to empower local actions and strategic decision-making that is adaptive to change. It will also strengthen the value proposition of NOAA to provide climate science. The Communications working group determined that a survey of those who are likely to use this information is an essential step in formulating these recommendations.

2. Explain how this survey was developed. With whom did you consult during the development of this survey on content? Statistics? What suggestions did you get about improving the survey?

The survey was developed by members of the MAFAC and CRTF in close consultation with NOAA Fisheries Office of Policy staff, the NOAA Fisheries Climate Change Coordinator, and the NOAA PRA Clearance Officer to ensure the survey elicits information that is responsive to the charge to the working group. The basic survey design was based on a similar communications customer service survey conducted by the NOAA Fisheries Greater Atlantic Regional office and other NOAA customer service surveys. The survey was also reviewed by the full membership of MAFAC. Based on reviewers’ suggestions, the survey questions were amended or adjusted for clarity, to provide options that make it clear MAFAC seeks input from diverse fishery stakeholders (e.g., commercial and recreational fisheries, aquaculture, and other sectors), and to include questions on demographic information. Since it is intended that it serve as a qualitative rather than quantitative survey, a statistician was not consulted.

3. Explain how the survey will be conducted. How will the customers be sampled (if fewer than all customers will be surveyed)? What percentage of customers asked to take the survey will respond? What actions are planned to increase the response rate? (Web-based surveys are not an acceptable method of sampling a broad population. Web-based surveys must be limited to services provided by Web.)

The survey will be conducted using the web-based Survey Monkey platform, as well as by a pdf/printable version that can be filled out and returned as a scan or by mail, for those with limited web access. A link to this survey will be posted on the home pages of the NOAA Fisheries and MAFAC websites, target audiences will receive email announcements using the existing NOAA Fisheries stakeholder email list (FishNews), and MAFAC is reaching out to Fisheries’ partners (MAFAC members, stakeholder group leaders, Fishery Management Councils and Commissions) to share the email announcement with their networks. MAFAC also plans to use social media (Twitter and Facebook) to get the word out about this survey. A printable version of the survey has been developed for audiences that may not regularly use the internet (particularly in remote locations, such as the western Pacific Islands, Alaska villages, etc.) and the team is arranging to have this version of the survey available to download off the MAFAC homepage, distributed, and collected via NOAA or partner regional locations upon request.

The survey will be available for a period of 30 days. As described above, a variety of outreach methods to target stakeholders, ranging from email announcements, to social media, to website stories will be used. We estimate that approximately 5% of stakeholders who receive the FishNews or most MAFAC partner emails will take the survey, and that a smaller percentage of individuals who visit our website or follow NMFS on social media will respond (in part because there is likely a significant amount of overlap among the social media sites). It is hoped that through these efforts, we can obtain survey responses from at least 1,570 individuals over the 30-day survey period. At least one reminder notice in FishNews will be sent to remind people to complete the survey before the deadline.

4. Describe how the results of this survey will be analyzed and used. If the customer population is sampled, what statistical techniques will be used to generalize the results to the entire customer population? Is this survey intended to measure a GPRA performance measure? (If so, please include an excerpt from the appropriate document.)

MAFAC recognizes that they will not necessarily reach the “universe” of all NOAA Fisheries stakeholders; thus, they will conduct a qualitative analysis of the survey responses, and will include some basic descriptive statistics.

The results of this project will be used provide the working group with insight into the types of climate information products NOAA constituents find useful and are interested in receiving, and their preferred mechanisms for receiving such information. They will use the information to formulate targeted recommendations to NOAA about the climate information needs of fishery stakeholders and the communications strategies the agency should use. They will not attempt to generalize results across the entire population. The basic demographic information obtained will be used to provide targeted recommendations to the agency regarding optimal communication strategies for different stakeholder groups. The demographic information will also help identify where there may not be enough information about a particular subgroup, which will enable the working group to focus further research to understand better how to reach or engage those constituents and identify those challenges for NOAA. The results of this survey will be shared with all collaborators and any interested NOAA Fisheries groups.

This survey is not intended to measure a GPRA performance measure.

2. 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 governmental units, households, or persons) in the universe and the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form. The tabulation must also include expected response rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection has been conducted before, provide the actual response rate achieved.

Method of distribution	# of potential respondents	Anticipated response rate	Expected total respondents
FishNews email list	10,000	5%	500
Email to MAFAC partner organizations	2,000	5%	100
Website notice	5,000*	1%	50
Social Media posts - Facebook	58,000*	1%	580
Social Media posts - Twitter	34,000*	1%	340
TOTAL			1570

*There is strong likelihood of overlap between the different social media sites, thus our estimate of response is very conservative.

2. Describe the procedures for the collection, including: the statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection; the estimation procedure; the degree of accuracy needed for the purpose described in the justification; any unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures; and any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) data collection cycles to reduce burden.

This will be a qualitative survey; responses will be reviewed for general information on NOAA Fisheries’ current climate communications efforts and methods. This survey will be conducted one time only for this project. The survey will be distributed broadly in expectation of gaining an understanding of the full spectrum of fishery stakeholders’ interest in information about the effects of climate change on fisheries, fishing communities, and aquaculture. MAFAC has identified the audience by starting with NOAA’s regular stakeholder communication tools (e.g., FishNews, website, Facebook, Twitter) and supplementing that with distribution lists from different stakeholder group-specific distribution lists provided by the diverse membership of MAFAC and the working group.

3. Describe the methods used to maximize response rates and to deal with nonresponse. The accuracy and reliability of the information collected must be shown to be adequate for the intended uses. For collections based on sampling, a special justification must be provided if they will not yield "reliable" data that can be generalized to the universe studied.

At least one reminder notice will be sent to all FishNews subscribers approximately 15 days into the 30 day response period.

MAFAC plans to use the data provided by this survey to develop recommendations for NOAA on the type of climate information stakeholders need and want and the best ways to deliver that information to the diverse group of fishery stakeholders NOAA serves. In the event that fewer than 10 responses for any particular group (using the answers to Question #11) are obtained, this limitation will be noted in the recommendations to NOAA with regard to that particular group.

4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Tests are encouraged as effective means to refine collections, but if ten or more test respondents are involved OMB must give prior approval.

The final survey instrument was developed after testing by select members of the Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee. MAFAC members and NOAA staff were asked to complete the survey and provide comments. That information was used to clarify and refine the draft survey.

5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on the 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.

This is not a quantitative survey and no individuals were consulted for statistical design. However, the following individuals were consulted on the qualitative design of the survey: Sarah Brabson (NOAA), Laurel Bryant, Helen Chabot, Roger Griffis, Adele Irwin, and Heidi Lovett (all of NOAA Fisheries).

The survey results will be collected and analysed by the MAFAC Communications working group, led by Samantha Danchuk (954-519-1295) and Erika Feller (202-374-7760), with support from Helen Chabot, Roger Griffis, Adele Irwin, and Heidi Lovett from NOAA Fisheries.