2120-0707 2015 A

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

Survey of Airman Satisfaction with Aerospace Medical Certification Services

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Explain the circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), through the Office of Aerospace Medicine (OAM), is responsible for the medical certification of pilots and certain other personnel under 14 CFR 67 to ensure they are medically qualified to operate aircraft and perform their duties safely. In the accomplishment of this responsibility, OAM provides a number of services to pilots, and has established goals for the performance of those services. This is a biennial survey designed to meet the requirement to survey stakeholder satisfaction under Executive Order No. 12862, “Setting Customer Service Standards,” and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA).

The survey of airman satisfaction with Aeromedical Certification Services assesses airman opinion of key dimensions of service quality. These dimensions, identified by the OMB Statistical Policy Office in the 1993 “Resource Manual for Customer Surveys,” are courtesy, competence, reliability, and communication. The survey also provides airmen with the opportunity to provide feedback on the services and a medical certificate application tool they use. This information is used to inform improvements in Aeromedical Certification Services. The survey was initially deployed in 2004, and deployed again in 2006, 2008, 2012, and 2014 (OMB Control No. 2120-0707). Across collections, minor revisions have been made to the survey items and response options to reflect changes in operational services and survey technology. In the current collection, format changes have been made to accommodate multiple administration modes (i.e., paper, desktop computer, and mobile device), reduce the burden on the individual respondent, and potentially improve the response rate.

2. Explain how, by whom, how frequently, and for what purpose the information will be used. If the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support information that will be disseminated to the public, then explain how the collection complies with all applicable Information Quality Guidelines.

• The survey will be available for completion either electronically or hard copy

• The survey will be administered by the Human Factors Research Lab of the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute with the support of Xyant Technologies, Inc.

• Demographic information will be collected from respondents, but any information disseminated to the public will be presented in aggregate form

• The information obtained from the survey will be used to brief the Federal Air Surgeon, the Regional Flight Surgeons, and the Director of the Civil Aerospace Medical Institute following the survey closing.

• Data will be used by the senior managers of OAM to:

  • Evaluate stakeholder satisfaction with aeromedical certification services provided by or on behalf of the FAA

  • Identify areas in which improvements in service delivery can be made

  • Assess changes in stakeholder satisfaction as a result of those improvements

• All publications of data would be provided in a technical report or journal article

• The information from the survey will also be briefed in the Federal Air Surgeon’s Medical Bulletin

• It is anticipated that the information collected will be disseminated to the public or used to support publicly disseminated information. As explained in the preceding paragraphs, the information gathered has utility. The Office of Aerospace Medicine will retain control over the information and safeguard it from improper access, modification, and destruction, consistent with OAM standards for privacy of information. See response to Question 10 of this Supporting Statement for more information on the OAM guarantee of privacy. Prior to dissemination, the information will be subjected to quality control measures and a pre-dissemination review pursuant to Section 515 of Public Law 106-554.

NOTE: See supporting documentation for the 2014 survey results and briefing slides.

3. Describe whether, and to what extent, the collection of information involves the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological techniques or other forms of information technology.

• Invitation to participate in survey delivered by U.S. mail

  • Pilots will be asked to complete the survey online

  • Information on how to complete the survey online

    • Internet address

    • Unique ID and password for each pilot

    • Responses are anonymous and no personally identifying information will be collected

  • Pilots can request to complete a paper survey if they cannot or do not want to complete the survey online. We anticipate that 70% of respondents will complete the survey online.

• For online surveys

  • Incomplete surveys are saved and can be modified by the pilot

  • Once submitted, pilot no longer has access to the survey

• Online surveys can be completed 24/7 for 90 days from when the invitation was mailed

• Reminders to complete survey will be sent to all participants via U.S. mail

4. Describe efforts to identify duplication.

• No other information sources have been identified which would provide the required information

• Airmen are the sole source of information for their satisfaction and feedback regarding aeromedical certification services provided by or on behalf of the FAA.

5. If the collection of information involves small businesses or other small entities, describe the methods used to minimize burden.

• Collection of information does not involve small businesses.

6. Describe the consequences to the Federal program or policy activities if the collection is not conducted or is conducted less frequently.

• Failure to collect the stakeholder satisfaction data from airmen will seriously jeopardize Office of Aerospace Medicine efforts to improve its customer service.

• Failure to collect the information will result in the Office of Aerospace Medicine being in non-compliance with the Executive Order 12862 and GPRA.

7. Explain any special circumstances that require the collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with OMB guidelines.

• No special circumstances exist

8. Provide information on the PRA Federal Register Notice that solicited public comments on the information collection prior to this submission. Summarize the public comments received in response to that notice and describe the actions taken by the agency in response to those comments. Describe the efforts to consult with persons outside the agency to obtain their views on the availability of data, frequency of collection, the clarity of instructions and recordkeeping, disclosure, or reporting format (if any), and on the data elements to be recorded, disclosed, or reported.

• A 60-day notice for public comments was published on April 9, 2015, vol. 80, no. 68, pages 19107-19108. No comments were received.

9. Explain any decisions to provide payments or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

• No payments or gifts will be provided to respondents

10. Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents and the basis for assurance in statute, regulation, or agency policy.

All data provided will be kept private to the extent possible by law. To preclude the identification of individual responses, all identifying information will be removed from the survey data prior to use by the FAA. Only analyses and reports of aggregate data will be produced and released. The opinion data will be collected, analyzed, and reported in accordance with guidelines from the Office of the Secretary of Transportation on Customer Service Standards.

11. Provide additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

• No questions of a sensitive nature relating to sexual behavior, religious attitudes, or other matters commonly considered private, will be asked.

12. Provide an estimate in hours of the burden of the collection of information.

• In-house pre-testing suggests 10-15 minutes to complete either version of the survey

• Based on previous administration of the survey, it is anticipated that 35% of the surveys will be returned based on survey returns from the 2014 administration, resulting in 3,769 usable surveys.

  • Approximately 96.3% of the returned surveys were completed online at the 2014 administration (≈ 3,632)

  • Approximately 3.7% of the returned surveys were completed by paper at the 2014 administration (≈ 137)

Annual hour burden: It is estimated that, on average, respondents will require about 10-15 minutes to complete either the printed or online versions of the survey. The estimated hour burden for each data collection cycle would be 792 hours under the most likely response rate of 35% (9,051 x 35% response rate x 15 minutes = 584 annual burden hours). The estimated cost per data collection cycle, at a cost of $13 per respondent (based on 15 minutes to complete and an annual household income of $106,240 for pilots per Bureau of Labor Statistics data), would be approximately $30,329 (2,333 x $13 = $30,329).

13. Provide an estimate of the total annual cost burden to the respondents or record-keepers resulting from the collection (excluding the value of the burden hours in Question 12 above).

• None

14. Provide estimates of annualized cost to the Federal government.

Cost to Federal Government for each year the survey is administered.

The estimated biennial cost to the Federal government for collecting airman satisfaction data is about $26,000, based on a return rate of 35%, with approximately 70% (1,633) of the respondents taking the survey online, and the 30% (700) completing the printed version. The estimate of online participation rate is based on previous administrations of similar surveys distributed to aviation personnel.

Research assistants, technicians, and data entry clerks from Xyant Technology will assist in this project. The tasks they will perform with cost estimates included are as follows:

Product/Delivery	Projected Cost
Background	$ 539.00
Comment Transcription & Coding	$ 6,127.00
Database Build	$ 3,030.00
Distribution	$ 1,183.00
Methodology Description	$ 108.00
Online Survey Dist/Tech Support	$ 762.00
Item Reports	$ 3,557.00
Printing and mailing	$ 8,500.00
Process and Scan	$ 2,440.00
*TOTAL	$ 26,246.00

*FAA Researcher time: The mission of the Flight Deck Human Factors Research Division employees at CAMI is to support FAA research projects which originate from requests made by various offices within the agency. The proposed questionnaire is such a project. No new employees will be hired to conduct this project. PC & B expenses will be incurred for current employees whether or not this project is undertaken. Thus, it is not necessary to include the cost of FAA employee time.

15. Explain the reasons for any program changes or adjustments.

• No changes or adjustments have been made. The reason for administering the survey is to capture trend data and use feedback to improve organizational operations.

16. For collections whose results will be published, outline the plans for tabulation and publication.

• Results will be disseminated through several publication channels

  • The OAM technical report series

  • Federal Air Surgeon’s Bulletin

  • Aviation trade press, including Airline Pilot and the AOPA magazine

  • Presentations at scientific meetings and publication in scientific journals

• Data will be presented at the aggregate level

NOTE: See supporting documentation for the 2014 survey results and briefing slides.

17. If seeking approval to not display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection, explain the reasons why display would be inappropriate.

• Not applicable

18. Explain each exception to the certification statement.

• No exceptions

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