Appendix K Process of Data Collection

Appendix K. Process of Data Collection

SFA Procurement Practices Web Survey (Appendix D1). First, FNS will notify Regional Offices about the study via the Email Notification from FNS to Regional Offices (Appendix A1). Then, FNS will notify SAs about the web survey via the Email Notification from Regional Offices to State Child Nutrition Directors (Appendix A2). The Study Team will follow up by contacting the SAs via the Email Notification to State Child Nutrition Directors (Appendix A3). Next, the SAs will notify the selected SFAs about the web survey via the Email Notification to School Food Authority Directors (Appendix A4). After the SFAs have been notified of the study by the SAs, the Study Team will mail a study package out to the selected SFA directors. The package will include a Pre-Survey Notification Letter (Web Survey) (Appendix C1.a), which will explain the purpose of the study and provide instructions on how to access the web survey, and the Study of School Food Authority (SFA) Procurement Practices: Frequently Asked Questions – Web Survey and In-Depth Interview (Appendix B1). Both documents will provide information about the Study Team’s toll-free help line and email help desk. Within one week after the study package is sent, the contractor will send SFAs the Survey Notification Email (Web Survey with Link) (Appendix C1.b), which will contain the SFA’s unique link to the web survey.

The Study Team will send two reminder emails to SFAs who have not completed their web survey. Survey Reminder Email 1 (Web Survey with Link) (Appendix C1.c) will be sent out about two weeks after the initial invitation email and Survey Reminder Email 2 (Web Survey with Link) (Appendix C1.d) will be sent out about four weeks after the initial invitation email. The reminder emails will include survey information, a link to the web survey, contact information for the help desk, and a reminder of the web survey due date.

Toward the end of the data collection period, a member of the Study Team will follow up with nonrespondents by telephone using the SFA Director Telephone Reminder Script (Web Survey) (Appendix C1.e) to encourage web survey completion, answer any questions they may have, and offer an opportunity to complete the web survey over the telephone. If any SFA directors elect to complete the survey via telephone, a trained member of the Study Team will use the SFA Director Telephone Reminder Script (Web Survey) (Appendix C1.e) to greet the respondent and walk them through the web survey (Appendix D1), recording their survey responses using the SFA’s unique survey link.

Web survey responses will be reviewed as they are received. If additional clarifying information is needed, the Study Team will email respondents requesting clarification on particular questions using the Post-Survey Response Clarification Email (Web Survey) (Appendix C2.a). It is anticipated that clarification will be needed from 10 percent of those SFA directors who complete the web survey (560 respondents*0.10 = 56).¹ Should additional clarification be needed after receipt of a response to a clarification email, or if an SFA director does not respond to the email, a member of the study team will call the SFA director using the Post-Survey Response Clarification Phone Call Script (Web Survey) (Appendix C2.b) to obtain clarifying information. It is anticipated that 20 percent of those SFA directors who are sent the Post-Survey Response Clarification Email (Web Survey) (Appendix C2.a) will require additional clarification or not respond to the email (56*0.20 = 11). It is particularly important to ensure that all data collected on the web survey is understood, as this will inform the selection of the SFAs for participation in the IDIs. At the end of the web survey data collection, a Post-Survey Thank You Email (Web Survey) (Appendix C3) will be emailed to all participating SFAs. FNS expects a total of 560 of the 700 SFAs sampled to complete the web survey, an 80 percent response rate.

In-Depth Interviews (Appendix D2). IDIs will be conducted with a total of 100 SFAs that participate in the web survey (Appendix D1). The SFAs selected for the IDIs will be based on their inclusion into one of the models of procurement practices developed from responses to the CN-OPS-II Year 2 survey. It is anticipated that the models will be based on elements of SFA procurement practices (e.g., use of an FSMC) and SFA characteristics (e.g., geographic region, size). The process for developing the models is described in Part B.

SFAs will be recruited to participate in the IDI on a rolling basis. Within four weeks of an SFA’s completion of the web survey, a Pre-Interview Notification Letter (In-Depth Interview) (Appendix C4.a) will be emailed to the SFAs that have been selected for an IDI. The Pre-Interview Notification Letter will be addressed to the SFA director, who will be asked either to serve as a point of contact for scheduling the interview, or to identify another person for this task. The Study of School Food Authority (SFA) Procurement Practices: Frequently Asked Questions – In-Depth Interview (Appendix B2) will also be included as an attachment. Next, one week after emailing the notification letter to selected SFAs, a trained interviewer from the Study Team will begin contacting SFA directors using the Pre-Interview Scheduling Phone Call Script (In-Depth Interview) (Appendix C4.b) to confirm receipt of the letter, answer any questions, and schedule an interview. Approximately two weeks after emailing the initial notification letter, the interviewer will send a Pre-Interview Reminder Email (In-Depth Interview) (Appendix C4.c) to those SFA directors who have not scheduled their IDI. For the remaining SFA directors who have not scheduled their IDI, a second telephone call will be made to them using the Pre-Interview Scheduling Phone Call Script (In-Depth Interview) (Appendix C4.b) to once again attempt to schedule an interview. Within one week of the scheduled interview, the interviewer will send the Participant Confirmation Email (In-Depth Interview) (Appendix C4.d) to the SFA director to confirm the interview date and time.

The interviews will be conducted over the telephone using the semi-structured IDI (Appendix D2), and with the permission of the respondent(s), will be recorded using a conference call interface with recording capability such as WebEx. The interviews are expected to average 90 minutes. If answers remain incomplete after the IDI, the Study Team will follow up with respondents using the Post-Survey Response Clarification Email (In-Depth Interview) (Appendix C5.a). The study team will use the Post-Survey Response Clarification Phone Call Script (In-Depth Interview) (Appendix C5.b) for respondents that do not reply to the email. At the conclusion of the entire data collection, the Thank You Email for Participation in Study (Appendix E) will be sent to all SFAs that participated in the IDI (approximately 100 of the 125 sampled SFAs, assuming an 80 percent response rate).

1 In the Study Team’s prior experience with similar studies, approximately 10 percent of respondents need clarification. As such, it is anticipated that about 10 percent of respondents in the current study will also require clarification.