Supporting Statement A - 2017 SPPA_FINAL

Supporting Statement A:

2017 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts

Introduction

This request is for clearance of the 2017 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) to be conducted by the Census Bureau in July 2017 as a supplement to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s Current Population Survey (CPS). The SPPA is the field’s premiere cross-sectional survey of individuals’ attendance and involvement in arts and cultural activity. The data are circulated to interested researchers, and they are the basis for a range of NEA reports and independent research publications. The SPPA provides primary knowledge on the extent and nature of participation in the arts in the United States. Earlier SPPA surveys were conducted in 1982, 1985, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2008, and 2012, all of which were conducted by the Census Bureau except the 1997 study, which was conducted by a private contractor, Westat Inc.

1. Justification

A.1. Necessity of Information Collection

The NEA, pursuant to its mandate “to support projects and productions that will encourage public knowledge, education, understanding and appreciation of the arts” (USC2O, Section 954 (5)) and “to develop and implement a practical system of national information and data collection and public dissemination on the arts and their audiences, including trends in audience participation” (USC 20, Section 954 (q)), has entered into an interagency agreement with the Census Bureau to conduct the SPPA. The Census Bureau is authorized to collect data under Title 13, United States Code, Section 182 (see Attachment A).

As a national survey, the SPPA will serve as a sound base from which to make estimates of participation rates in the various arts and cultural activities addressed by this study. National data from the SPPA has appeared regularly in the Social Indicators chapter of the Analytical Perspectives, Budget of the United States Government. The SPPA data also provide information on the characteristics of the population participating in the arts through various means, including attendance at live performances or watching or listening to artistic content through media devices.

A.2. Needs and Uses of the Data

The 2017 SPPA will provide measures of participation in the arts and other cultural activities from a nationally representative sample of adults ages 18 and older. The information to be collected from adults includes attendance at live arts events, engagement in the arts through media, creation and performance of art, and adults’ current and past experiences learning about art or arts-related skills. Since access to the arts is a major agency goal, measuring the wide range of possible ways the American public can participate in arts is of critical importance.

The sample design is such that, in addition to the capability of making national estimates, it will also be possible to generate estimates for sub regions of the nation and for approximately 32 individual states and 11 large metropolitan areas. Thus, researchers, policymakers and arts administrators are able to study the patterns of participation across various population subgroups and to look for correlates of participation in artistic and other cultural activities at the national, regional, state, and local levels. The data from this study will better enable policymakers and arts administrators to make essential decisions based on such things as the size and characteristics of the current audiences for arts and current populations actively creating or learning art in 2017.

The 2017 SPPA will be the eighth such study spanning more than three decades, which allows for ongoing assessment of the arts activities beginning with the 1982 SPPA and continuing through the 1985, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2008, and 2012 SPPA surveys. These data allow policymakers, researchers and arts administrators to assess how the nature of adults’ participation in the arts has changed over time. Data from previous SPPA surveys have been widely used by policymakers and scholars because of their unique scope and statistical precision. A listing of published research notes and reports based on SPPA data is provided in the appendix (see Attachment B).

A.3. Use of Information Technology

The supplemental questions are designed to obtain the required information while keeping respondent burden to a minimum. The proposed items and interviewer procedures were developed over years of consultation with the Census Bureau, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and other government agencies. The use of computer-assisted personal and telephone interviewing is deemed the most appropriate collection methodology.

A.4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

A few other surveys ask questions regarding participation in the arts. One is the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which includes questions about arts participation, but it is designed to capture how people spend their time on an average day. Because many forms of arts participation are done infrequently, the ATUS is not a great substitute for the SPPA given its limitation to a typical day. The Annual Arts Benchmark Survey asks a subset of questions included in the SPPA and, begun in 2013, is fielded in years between when the SPPA is fielded every five years. No other survey provides a comparable level of detail on the American public’s participation in the arts, has as large a sample size, or obtains as high a response rate as the SPPA. Only the SPPA can produce reliable estimates for the arts participation activities of the U.S. adult population with breakouts for demographic and geographic subgroups.

A.5. Minimizing Burden in Small Businesses or Small Entities

Not applicable. The collection of public participation in the arts information does not involve small businesses or other small entities.

A.6. Consequences of Less Frequent Data Collection

The goal of NEA is to conduct the SPPA once every five years to coincide with the Economic Census, which provides complementary data to the SPPA, specifically on the budgets of arts organizations (dance companies, symphonies, operas, etc.).

A.7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances that apply to the 2017 SPPA.

A.8. Public Comment and Consultations Outside the Agency

A notice was published in the Federal Register on October 23, 2015, to solicit comments on the 2017 SPPA prior to submission of this OMB clearance request. (A copy of this notice is in Attachment G.) No public comments were received in response to this notice. The second Federal Register notice was published on January 21, 2016. (A copy of this notice is in Attachment H.)

To inform the development of the 2017 SPPA, an extensive planning study was conducted in 2015. The NEA contracted MBK Analytics, LLC who convened four virtual discussion forums comprised of 26 researchers, arts administrators, arts funders, and representatives of local, state, and regional arts service organizations. Discussion forum participants spent time independently reviewing the 2012 SPPA questionnaire; each forum received unique questions about the merits and relevance of SPPA questions to their field. MBK Analytics, LLC worked with the SurveyLab at the University of Chicago to conduct 9 interviews to cognitively test earlier drafts of 2017 SPPA instrument. Additionally, MBK Analytics team members met with NEA staff in person and maintained regular email and telephone communication to discuss the survey questionnaire.

The 2017 questionnaire maintains many of the valued “trend” questions asked in 2012 and prior years in the first core module. A new second core will approach questions of arts engagement from a new perspective, including a different method for responding to frequency questions; these response options will be tested in the pilot and if these do not work as intended, we will revert to using the same frequency response options as Core 1. The. Half of the random sample will be given each core. Unlike previous SPPAs, the 2017 SPPA will also probe more deeply into how frequently people engage with the arts, particularly in terms of arts creation as well as access to the arts through media; these response options were modeled after response items from the Taking Part Survey, administered by the Department of Culture Media and Sport in the United Kingdom. Respondents will also be asked about the locations in which they attended the arts, as well as motivations for arts attendance (a question that was tested and validated in the 2012 General Social Survey). The technology and social media module has been updated to reflect current and changing practices of access via technology. And finally, we hope to include a new module focused on access to arts activities and information. We plan to randomly rotate four modules as we have done in the past so that each respondent will complete one of the two cores and two of the four possible modules, with one final set of questions that is given to each respondent regardless of which core they received and which two random modules they received.

   

A.9. Paying Respondents

The Census does not make any payments or provide any gifts to individuals participating in the CPS.

A.10. Assurance of Confidentiality

The Census Bureau will collect the supplement data in compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974 and the OMB Circular A-130. Each sample household receives an advance letter approximately one week before the start of the initial CPS interview (see Attachment C). The letter includes the information required by the Privacy Act of 1974, explains the voluntary nature of the survey, and states the estimated time required for participating in the survey. Interviewers must ask if the respondent received the letter and, if not, provide a copy and allow the respondent sufficient time to read the contents. Also, interviewers provide households with the pamphlet How the Census Bureau Keeps Your Information Strictly Confidential, which further states the confidentiality assurances associated with this data collection effort and the Census Bureau’s past performance in assuring confidentiality (see Attachment D). All information given by respondents to Census Bureau employees is held in strict confidence under Title 13, United States Code, Section 9. Each Census Bureau employee has taken an oath to that effect and is subject to a jail penalty or substantial fine if he/she discloses any information given to him or her.

A.11. Questions of a Sensitive Nature

The 2017 SPPA does not include any questions of a sensitive nature.

A.12. Estimate of Hour Burden

The estimated respondent burden is 6,000 hours for fiscal year (FY) 2017. This is based on an average 10-minute interview for each of the 36,000 persons age 18 years and older in the supplement universe. This estimate was based on the time required to answer similar questions in past SPPA Supplements.

The actual respondent burden is dependent upon the size of the household and the characteristics of its occupants. In some households two supplement questionnaires will be asked.

A.13. Estimate of Cost Burden

There are no costs to respondents other than that of their time to respond.

A.14. Cost to Federal Government

The estimated cost to the government of the SPPA Supplement is $705,000, which will be borne by the NEA. The CPS program is anticipated to cost $91 million in FY 2016. Those costs are borne by the Census Bureau, the BLS, and other government agencies.

A. 15 Reasons for Program Changes

The 2017 SPPA is a new data collection that will provide data for comparison with prior SPPA surveys.

A.16.    Project Schedule

The SPPA will be pilot tested in approximately 200 households in winter/spring 2016. Main data collection will occur in July 2017, since the 2017 SPPA will be a supplement to the July 2017 CPS. Processing of this supplement will commence in August 2017. The public use file will be released in the spring of 2018. A summary report from NEA is expected to be available in the fall of 2018.

A.17. Request to Not Display Expiration Date

We do not wish to display the assigned expiration date of the information collection. The CPS requires two OMB control numbers and two expiration dates because the survey consists of two parts: the basic questionnaire and a supplemental questionnaire, which differs from month to month. The OMB control number and expiration date for conducting the Basic CPS are included in the survey’s advance letter (Attachment C). To avoid confusion, the expiration date of the supplemental questionnaire is not included in the letter.

A.18. Exceptions to the Certification

There are no exceptions to the certification.

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