Supplementary and Part B questions

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 Office of the National Marine Sanctuaries’ (ONMS’s) Greater Farallones Association will be conducting this research. The Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) staff and Sanctuary Advisory Council (SAC) volunteers will be conducting this survey. This survey will collect information about customer satisfaction associated with recreational activities that visitors engage in within GFNMS. The visitors (local and/or non-local) to the sanctuary have access to beaches and coastline, sanctuary visitor canters, or other sanctuary sponsored exhibits. This survey will help to assess staff’s effectiveness of messaging and marketing sanctuary activities and opportunities. GFNMS provides many ecosystem services to both users and non-users of the natural and cultural resources. This effort will collect data from users on their experience in the sanctuary.

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?

GFNMS has developed a marketing plan. This survey is designed to assess if visitors to the area know they are in a sanctuary, understand how they are using the sanctuary and their satisfaction with it, and how people are learning about the area. This survey was developed in coordination with site staff and ONMS HQ staff. It was suggested by ONMS HQ and GFNMS staff to also assess visitors’ interaction with sanctuary resources, including wildlife.

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.)

ONMS volunteers will collect data. A short on-site customer satisfaction survey has not been conducted by ONMS in the past. However, ONMS has conducted longer on-site surveys. These longer surveys typically receive a 90-95% response rate. Given the response time for this survey is only a few minutes, we expect to see similar response rates to past surveys. Respondents who do not have time to complete the survey will be given a postcard with a weblink to Survey Monkey to complete the survey at a more convenient time. Additionally, postcards will be placed on parked vehicles at the access sites with a link to Survey Monkey for the survey.

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.)

The goal is to help GFMS staff to assess the success of their marketing plan. The information will be used to improve GFNMS marketing and messaging. Further, the level of satisfaction with recreational activities and sanctuary awareness will help managers and the Sanctuary Advisory Council to better understand how different user groups are satisfied and use sanctuary resources.

Several sites along the coast of GFNMS will be sampled. The number of sampling hours will be distributed based upon the intensity of use found in a previous ONMS study (http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/socioeconomic/farallones/non-consumptive-use.html). A combination of in-person interviews and placing mailers with the Survey Monkey link on cars at the access sites will be used. However, no rigorous statistical methods will be used to select participants from the population, and the data do not directly contribute to a GPRA measure.

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 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.

This survey has not been conducted before, so it is difficult to provide the expected response rate. However, as stated previously, based on longer on-site surveys, the expected response rate is between 90 and 95%.

Persons	Expected Response Rate	Complete Surveys
1,000	75%	750

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.

Statistical Method for Stratification and Sample Selection

ONMS is not using statistical methods to identify individual respondents at each site. However, the distribution of sampling hours and surveys will be determined using spatial use data collected in 2011. (http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/science/socioeconomic/farallones/non-consumptive-use.html).

Estimation Procedure and Accuracy

ONMS does not need to extrapolate the results to the population and will therefore not need to estimate population parameters from the collected data. This also means that the accuracy of the estimates in not meaningful to calculate.

Unusual Problems Requiring Specialized Sampling Procedures

None are required.

Periodic Data Collection Cycles

This request is for annual collection – the collection occurs once annually.

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.

ONMS plans to increase the response rate by conducting in-person surveys and providing postcards with a web link to Survey Monkey to those who are not able to conduct the survey on-site.

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 survey was reviewed by ONMS leadership and staff prior to its launch. It was reviewed with several ONMS site staff involved in developing GFNMS Marketing Plan and with GFNMS SAC. Once the survey has been approved, a couple days of field sampling will be completed prior to full implementation to learn how many surveys can be completed on-site per hour. This will help to inform how many hours of sampling will be needed at each site to collect desired number of surveys.

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.

Danielle Schwarzmann

Economist

NOAA/NOS/Office of National Marine Sanctuaries

1315 East West Hwy., SSMC4, 11th floor

Silver Spring, MD 20910

Telephone:  240-533-0705

E-mail: [email protected]

Bob Leeworthy

Chief Economist

NOAA/NOS/Office of National Marine Sanctuaries

1305 East West Hwy., SSMC4, 11th floor

Silver Spring, MD 20910

telephone:  (240) 533-0647

e-mail:  [email protected]

Jenn Gamurot

Sanctuary Advisory Council Coordinator

Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary

991 Marine Drive

San Francisco, CA 94129

[email protected]

415-970-5252