Supporting Statement for NSF Centers for Chemical Innovation Survey Pre-tests

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine
Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 3145-0215)
TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: NSF Centers for Chemical Innovation Survey Pretests
PURPOSE:
The core mission of the Division of Chemistry in the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
(MPS) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) is to support innovative research, integrated with
education, in the chemical sciences. In fiscal year 2004, the Division of Chemistry introduced the
Centers for Chemical Innovation (CCI) Program (initially called Chemical Bonding Centers) to support
research centers focused on major, long-term, fundamental chemical research challenges. The Division
of Chemistry has initiated a comprehensive assessment to evaluate the extent to which and in what ways
the CCI program is achieving its goals.
To evaluate the activities and outcomes of the CCI program, Abt Associates plans to gather participant
feedback from two online surveys. The first survey will ask Principal Investigators/Co-investigators
about their experience participating in research grant activities funded through the CCI program. The
purpose of this survey is to understand the role of the center in research, collaboration, and broader
impacts; to assess grantee satisfaction with the center structure and the two-phase funding model; to
document outcomes; and to describe the challenges they encountered. The second survey will collect
data from graduate and postdoctoral students participating in CCI-funded activities to understand the
role of CCI in training and career development. Survey items that are used or adapted from existing
instruments are indicated by footnotes in the Appendix.
The survey pilot tests requested under this Fast Track Clearance will allow the evaluators to refine these
instruments and more accurately determine burden estimates based on participant feedback (survey
instruments appear in Appendix A). Ultimately, we will submit the final refined instruments for OMB
PRA clearance for full-scale data collection.
DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:
Survey respondents fall into two groups, both of which participated in CCI-funded grant projects: 1)
Principal Investigators/ Co-Investigators and 2) graduate and postdoctoral students. The evaluator will
administer both surveys to current and former participants on all Phase I and Phase II grants awarded
between 2010 and 2016. Although this study focuses primarily on Phase II activities and outcomes, we
also include PIs/co-investigators from Phase I awards that did not receive Phase II funding. PIs/coinvestigators from Phase I awards provide important information on what is achievable in a three-year
timeframe, the challenges they experienced, and whether the work began during this phase continued
after the end of the grant.
To minimize possible recall bias and to ensure that respondents have had sufficient experience with CCI,
the sample was limited to the individuals included in annual reports between the years of 2012–13 and
2016–17. In total, approximately 300 PIs/co-investigators affiliated with 14 CCIs (5 Phase I-only and 9
Phase I/II) and 1,400 students/postdocs affiliated with 9 Phase II CCIs met this selection criterion.
For the survey pilot tests requested under this Fast Track Clearance, the evaluators will randomly select
15 Principal investigators/Co-Investigators and 30 graduate and postdoctoral students.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)
[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form
[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software
[ ] Focus Group

[ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey
[ ] Small Discussion Group
[X] Other: Web-based Survey

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? [ ] Yes [ X ] No
3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No
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
NSF CCI-funded Grant PIs/Co-Investigators
NSF CCI-funded Grant Graduate/Postdoc Students
Totals Burden Hours

No. of
Respondents
15
30

Participation
Time (hours)
0.5
0.5

Burden
(hours)
7.5
15
23

FEDERAL COST:
The estimated cost to the Federal Government for the full survey data collection activities described in
this request for approval is $281,836. This cost estimate includes instrument development and piloting,
data collection, and data processing and analysis for administering surveys with study participants, and
will be included in the standalone collection planned after this pilot is conducted.
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
For the total number of participants from the NSF CCI-funded grant project participants (300
researchers and 1400 graduate/postdoc students), respondents for the survey pre-test will represent a
stratified random selection of all CCI program participants from the 2012 through 2016 cohorts. Fifteen
PI/PDs and co-PI/PDs across six centers will participate in the survey pilot test. Ten of the 15 PI/PDs
are former PIs and five are current. Six PI/PDs are from Phase I centers and nine are from Phase II
centers. Thirty graduate students (n=19) and post-doctoral students (n=11) across 11 centers will
participate in the survey pilot test. Nineteen of the 30 graduate and postdoctoral students are former
students and 11 are current.
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.