1024-0224 NPS Programmatic Form - JICA

OMB Control Number: 1024-0224

Current Expiration Date: 5-31-2019

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Programmatic Review and Clearance Process

for NPS-Sponsored Public Surveys

The scope of the Programmatic Review and Clearance Process for NPS-Sponsored Public Surveys is limited and will only include individual surveys of park visitors, potential park visitors, and residents of communities near parks. Use of the programmatic review will be limited to non-controversial surveys of park visitors, potential park visitors, and/or residents of communities near parks that are not likely to include topics of significant interest in the review process. Additionally, this process is limited to non-controversial information collections that do not attract attention to significant, sensitive, or political issues. Examples of significant, sensitive, or political issues include: seeking opinions regarding political figures; obtaining citizen feedback related to high-visibility or high-impact issues like the reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park, the delisting of specific Endangered Species, or drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

							Submission Date: 1/12/2017
Project Title: Visitor Experience in Jimmy Carter National Historic Site
Abstract (not to exceed 150 words)
Jimmy Carter National Historic Site (JICA) was established for the preservation of five historic buildings and 650 acres of various agricultural lands in and around the incorporated city of Plains, Georgia. The purpose of this collection is to better understand a variety of common visitor experience topics ranging from visitor motivations to demographics to perceptions of future opportunities at the site. Results will be used to inform future visitor use management and incorporated into an ongoing design concept plan being conducted by JICA.
Principal Investigator Contact Information
Name:			Peter Newman
Title:			Professor
Affiliation:			The Pennsylvania State University
Address:			801 G Donald H Ford Building, University Park, PA 16802
Phone:			814-863-7849
Email:			[email protected]
Park or Program Liaison Contact Information
Name:		Barbara Judy
Title:		Superintendent
Park:		Jimmy Carter National Historic Site
Address:		300 North Bond Street Plains, GA 31780
Phone:		(229) 824-4576
Email:		[email protected]
	Project Information
	Where will the collection take place? (Name of NPS Site)					Jimmy Carter National Historic Site (JICA)
	Sampling Period			Start Date: April 1, 2017		End Date: April 30, 2017
	Type of Information Collection Instrument (Check ALL that Apply)
	 Mail-Back Questionnaire				 Face-to-Face Interview			 Focus Groups
	 On-Site Questionnaire				 Telephone Survey
	Other (list)
	Will an electronic device be used to collect information?  No  Yes (type of device) iPad tablet computer
	Survey Justification:
	Social science research in support of park planning and management is mandated in the NPS Management Policies 2006 (Section 8.11.1, “Social Science Studies”). The NPS pursues a policy that facilitates social science studies in support of the NPS mission to protect resources and enhance the enjoyment of present and future generations (National Park Service Act of 1916, 38 Stat 535, 16 USC 1, et seq.). NPS policy mandates that social science research will be used to provide an understanding of park visitors, the non-visiting public, gateway communities and regions, and human interactions with park resources. Such studies are needed to provide a scientific basis for park planning and development. Jimmy Carter National Historic Site (JICA) was established in 1987 in Plains, Georgia. This site is unique in that Park locations are woven through the town of Plains. Other points of interest within Plains are not part of the Park, but lie within the Jimmy Carter Preservation District. These sites together impact visitors’ experiences. To date, little is known about visitation to JICA. Other than a transportation report, conducted in 2016, that provided information about visitor transportation, pedestrian safety, wayfinding issues, and other transportation issues within Plains, GA, there is nothing that provides an understanding of visitor motivations, expectations, and demographics. This information is now needed to inform visitor management and planning at JICA. As visitation to the site continues to increase, so does the significance of visitor management. JICA is beginning a planning process that will help guide future visitation at the site. In order to inform this planning effort, the need for more information on visitors has been identified. The outcomes from visitor surveys will be used to inform potential management options as the park plans for upcoming changes to the site and seeks to engage future visitors.

Survey Methodology

1. Respondent Universe:

All adult visitors over 18 years of age visiting Jimmy Carter NHS between April 1 and April 30, 2017.

2. Sampling Plan/Procedures:

A systematic sample of all visitors during the 14 day sampling period at the locations listed in the table below:

Location	Sampling Days Per Site	Number of visitor contacted per day
Plains High School	5	26
Boyhood Farm	4	33
Plains Depot	5	27

The sampling dates will be selected randomly and by stratifying weekend and week-day sampling days.

The sampling design is based on the 2016 NPS visitation statistics for JICA (https://irma.nps.gov/Stats/Reports/Park/JICA). We will randomly intercept visitors at 10 minute intervals (dependent upon visitor traffic). Sampling days will be stratified by day of the week and locations (Plains High School, Boyhood Farm, and Plains Depot) during a 14-day sampling period (April 1 to April 30th, of 2017) between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM. Strata will include a.m. and p.m., weekday and weekend, and sampling location. We will be rotating to different sites during the same day. For example, we will have an a.m. sample at the High School, and on the same day, have a p.m. sample at the Depot. This will provide for a more representative sample of temporal and spatial visitor experiences across the site. Questionnaires will be completed on site. This process will continue each day throughout the sampling period. If the visitor refuses, information used for non-response bias testing will be recorded as described in the section below.

3. Instrument Administration:

The initial contact with all visitors will be used to explain the study and determine interest in participating in the study. This should take approximately 1 minute. Once the visitor agrees to participate, a trained researcher will hand them a laminated (re-usable) copy of the questionnaire. Each respondent will be provided instructions that they will use the survey to provide verbal responses that the researcher will record using a tablet computer.

The research assistant will use the following script when working with potential respondents:

Hello, the mangers here at Jimmy Carter National Historic Site are interested in understanding more about visitor experiences in the park. I am asking a random sample of visitors to take a short survey that will gather information about their experiences and expectation while in the park. Your participation is voluntary and your responses will be anonymous. This should only take about 10 minutes to complete. Would you be willing to participate?”

If YES: “Thank you. Who in your group (who is at least 18 years old) has the next birthday? Would you be willing to participate in the study?”

The surveyor will provide the instructions for completing the survey.

If NO: “Do you mind if I ask you one question?”

• “What is the primary location you are planning to visit today while you are here today?”

“Thank you. I hope you enjoy your visit.”

4. Expected Response Rate/Confidence Levels:

According the 2016 National Park Service Visitor Use Statistics, there were 5,832 visitors for the month of April. Given this unique location and the spatial distribution of each sampling site we will assume that nearly all visitors will stop at all three locations given. Therefore, we will have an equal distribution the number of visitors contacted across all sites. A sample size of 400 visitors is considered acceptable and will allow for generalizations of this particular population with a 95% confidence interval that the survey findings will be accurate to within ±5 percentage points. Based on similar studies, we expect a 70% response rate. With a 70% response rate, we could expect 280 respondents.

Expected Response Rates
Location	Number of Initial Contacts	Expected Response Rate	Expected Number of Responses	Margin of Error +/- %	Confidence Level
Plains High School	133	70%	93	.05	95
Boyhood Farm	132	70%	92	.05	95
Plains Depot	135	70%	95	.05	95
TOTAL	400	70%	280	.05	95

5. Strategies for dealing with potential non-response bias:

In addition to asking all visitors that do not agree to participate to respond to the non-response survey question, the surveyors will record the following observational information in a survey log:

• time and day of contact,

• gender,

• group size,

• number of adults and children in group, and

• potential language barrier

This process will continue throughout the sampling period at each location. This information will be used to determine any non-response bias. Any non-response bias will be reported in final reports

5. Description of any pre-testing and peer review of the methods and/or instrument (recommended):

This study uses similar methods and survey questions that have been used in other visitor use monitoring studies, though adopted for appropriate context. The questions included in the survey instrument were designed, reviewed and pretested by the following: PI, research staff and graduate students, scientists in the Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management Department at Pennsylvania State University with expertise in survey research, staff at the Southeastern Regional Office of the NPS, and JICA staff. Additionally, survey questions were reduced and truncated, to only include approved pool of known questions/topics (or slight variations specific to JICA), and therefore reduce burden time. Pre-testing for clarity and estimated burden time was conducted with graduate and undergraduate students at Pennsylvania State University.

Burden Estimates

We plan to approach 400 potential participants. We expect that the initial contact time will take one minute per person (400 x 1 minute = 7 hours). From the 400 originally contacted, we expect that 70% (n=280) will agree to complete the survey. This will take an additional 10 minutes (280 x 10 minutes = 47 hours).

We expect that 30% (n = 120) of visitors will refuse to participate in the study. For those individuals, we will record their reason for refusal and ask them to answer a non-response check question that will be recorded on the study log (additional observational data will be collected as well). Base on similar studies by the researchers, we have experienced that 20% of visitors refusing to complete an on-site survey will also refuse to answer the non-response questions as well. Therefore, we expect that of the 120 visitor that refuse to complete the on-site survey 20% (n=24) will also refuse to answer the non-response question. We estimate that it will take 96 visitors less than one minute to respond to the request to answer the non-response question (96 x 1 minute = 2 hours).

The total burden for this collection is estimated to be 56 hours.

Estimated Total Number

Estimation of Time (minutes)

Estimation of Burden (hours)

Initial Contacts

400

Initial Contact

1

Initial Contact

7

Nonresponse Survey

96

Nonresponse Survey

1

Nonresponse Survey

2

Responses

280

To complete response

10

To complete response

47

Total Minutes

12

Total Hours

56

Reporting Plan

1. Analyze data and prepare reports: May 2017 – September 2017

   1. Product: draft reports with visitor frequencies and descriptive statistics regarding visitor experience in JICA.

   2. Product: compiled final draft report for Management, reviewed by colleagues and chief of Resources.

2. Write final report to JICA Management Team: December 31, 2017

   1. Product: final report to JICA management staff

   2. Product: Presentation of survey results