Principal investigator web-survey to gauge their interest in participating in the pilot-testing a tracking system for REU site s

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of
Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3145-0215)
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Principal investigator web-survey to gauge
their interest in participating in the pilot-testing a tracking system for REU site students
PURPOSE:
The Principal Investigator (PI) web-survey will be developed by Mathematica Policy Research
for the National Science Foundation (NSF) in support of the Research Experiences for
Undergraduate (REU) program. The purpose of this PI web-survey is to assess interest among
PIs in participating in the pilot of the REU registration and common application systems.
Requested by NSF REU Project officers (POs), this short three-minute survey contains 4-5
questions that will help POs gauge PIs’ interest in participating in the pilot. POs from 8 NSF
disciplines—biology, engineering, mathematics, geosciences, chemistry, astronomy, physics, and
materials—will send survey links to PIs who have active NSF awards. Mathematica will analyze
the survey data and share results with NSF’s Contracting Officer Representative (COR) and
REU POs in a meeting to decide the two or three disciplines that will be invited to participate in
the pilot study.
DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:
Respondents are principal investigators who are recipients of active NSF awards.
TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)
[x] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form
[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software)
[ ] Focus Group

[ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey
[ ] Small Discussion Group
[ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:
I certify the following to be true:
1. The collection is voluntary.
2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.
3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal
agencies.
4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.
5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential
policy decisions.
6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have
experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.
Name:__Suzanne H. Plimpton, NSF Reports Clearance Officer_______________________
To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:
Personally Identifiable Information:
1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ x ] Yes [ ] No
2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the
Privacy Act of 1974? [ x ] Yes [ ] No
3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ x ] No

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Gifts or Payments:
Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to
participants? [ ] Yes [ x ] No
BURDEN HOURS
Category of Respondent
Individuals – Principal
Investigator (PI)
Totals

No. of
Respondents
556

Participation Time

Burden

3 minutes (0.05 hours)

556

3 minutes (0.05 hours)

1,668 minutes
(28 hours)
1,668 minutes
(28 hours)

Explanation:
Since the POs will send the survey link to PIs, we do not know the total number of respondents
of this survey. We estimate the maximum number of respondents will be the total number of PIs
in active NSF awards in the eight disciplines who had expressed interest in the pilot. We estimate
it will take PIs approximately three minutes to complete the survey if they express interest in
participating in the pilot. If PIs are not interested in participating in the pilot, we estimate it will
take PIs approximately one minute to complete only one question on the survey. For the burden
calculations we consider the maximum possible burden, assuming 100% response rate and 100%
PI’s willingness to participate.
FEDERAL COST: The estimated cost to the Federal government for this data collection is
incorporated with the operations of the program.

Explanation:
This estimate includes the cost to develop the survey, analyze data, and present finding to the
REU POs and COR.
If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please
provide answers to the following questions:
The selection of your targeted respondents
1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential
respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe?
[x ] Yes
[ ] No
If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If
the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of
respondents and how you will select them?
Explanation:
POs will send survey links to PIs who have active NSF awards in eight disciplines who had
expressed interest in the pilot: biology, engineering, mathematics, geosciences, chemistry,
astronomy, physics, and materials. There is a survey version for each of the two pilots—
registration system and common application system (see attachment for a copy of the surveys).
POs will administer only one of the surveys to gauge interest on piloting the system of their

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choice in their discipline. The list of PIs of active NSF awards in those disciplines will define the
universe of potential survey respondents. Currently there are 556 active NSF awards according to
NSF FastLane data.
Administration of the Instrument
1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)
[ x ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media
[ ] Telephone
[ ] In-person
[ ] Mail
[ ] Other, Explain
2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [ x ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the
request.

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