USAID The Feed the Future Initiative: National Survey of U.S. Adults about Global Food Security
Generic Information Collection under Formative Research and Tool Development
OMB #XXXXXX
Section A: Supporting Statement
November 11, 2019
Contact
Jennifer Cupp
Communications Director, The Feed the Future Initiative
U.S. Agency for International Development, Bureau for Food Security
Principal Investigator
1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20004
Phone: 202-712-4381
E-mail: [email protected]
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary 3
Purpose and Use of the Information Collection 4
Use of Improved Information Technology and Burden Reduction 5
Efforts to Identify Duplication and Use of Similar Information 5
Impact on Small Businesses or Other Small Entities 5
Consequences of Collecting the Information Less Frequently 5
Special Circumstances for Information Collection 5
Federal Register Notice Required by 5 CFR 1320.8(d) for Soliciting Comments 5
Explanation of Any Payment or Gift to Respondents 6
Protection of the Privacy and Confidentiality of Information Provided by Respondents 6
Justification for Sensitive Questions 7
Estimates of Annualized Burden Hours and Costs 7
Estimates of Other Total Annual Cost Burden to Respondents and Record Keepers 8
Annualized Cost to the Federal Government 8
Explanation for Program Changes or Adjustments 9
Plans for Tabulation and Publication and Project Time Schedule 9
Reason(s) Display of OMB Expiration Date is Inappropriate 9
Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions 10
EXHIBITS
Exhibit 12.1: Estimated Annualized Burden Hours 7
Exhibit 12.2: Estimated Annualized Burden Costs 8
LIST OF ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 Authorizing Legislation, Executive Order 12862
Attachment 2 Questionnaire
Attachment 3 NORC AmeriSpeak Privacy Statement
Attachment 4 NORC AmeriSpeak Technical Overview
Attachment 5 NORC AmeriSpeak Standard Profile Variables
Attachment 6 NORC AmeriSpeak Panel Documentation for IRBs
Attachment 7 NORC AmeriSpeak Survey Invitation and Reminder
Attachment 8 Published 60 Day Federal Register Notice
Attachment 9 Published 30 Day Federal Register Notice
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Supporting Statement
A. Justification
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) requests OMB approval for a quantitative research study entitled “National Survey of U.S. Adults about Global Food Security” in support of the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future initiative on global hunger and food security. The research study is a 20-minute nationally-representative survey of U.S. adults conducted for USAID by a professional research company, KRC Research. Executive Order 12862 (Attachment 1) directs Federal agencies to provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector. In order to work continuously to ensure that our programs are effective and meet our customers’ needs, USAID seeks to obtain OMB approval of a generic clearance to collect quantitative survey feedback on its communications and efforts related to global food security.
USAID, through Feed the Future, works on behalf of the American people by supporting partner countries to become self-reliant and capable of leading their own development journeys. Feed the Future invests time, skills, and resources to coordinate partnerships from across sectors to help some of the world’s poorest countries change their way their food systems work. Everyday Americans are one Feed the Future’s important partner groups; the initiative depends on the time and expertise of American volunteers in a variety of capacities. Likewise, it depends on support and engagement from universities, businesses, nonprofits, and NGOs across America and the people who work with them. Therefore, it is critical that Feed the Future understand the level of awareness, support, and interests among the general public so that it can effectively communicate.
No prior research is exists to accomplish the study’s objectives. New primary research is necessary to understand the level of awareness, the opinion landscape, to evaluate communications themes, and to gather insights to achieve these goals.
Feed the Future must reach and inform U.S.-based audiences and members of the general public to clarify and amplify its mission, broaden its pool of potential partners, and engage more diverse audiences. This information collection will be used to gather information and insights to identify key audience segments that will help ensure the efficiency and success of impending future communications initiatives by:
Identifying levels off awareness, knowledge, attitudes and opinions, expectations, interests, and questions related to USAID and Feed the Future;
Collecting insights for informing communications, education, and outreach strategy by understanding which themes resonate most for key audience segments; and
Determining best products, platforms, or channels for communications efforts to reach these segments.
The National Survey of U.S. Adults about Global Food Security will be conducted via a mixed mode approach of both telephone and online surveying of 1,000 voluntary American adult participants using a nationally representative survey sampling method.
The study’s design, management, and analysis will be conducted by KRC Research, a professional research company. KRC Research has contracted NORC at the University of Chicago (NORC) for data collection using NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which has been designed to be representative of the U.S. household population.
The survey instrument is included with this package as Attachment 2. The purpose of specific lines of inquiry from the questionnaire are explained below.
Demographic Questions
The demographic questions in this survey serve two purposes. First, they ensure that the survey is demographically representative of the general American adult population. Second, they allow for Feed the Future to understand and segment the population into groups that have specific levels of knowledge or opinions in common.
Awareness and Attitudes about Global Hunger Questions
These questions gauge different groups’ and audiences’ attention to various topics related to development and global food security, the importance they assign to these issues, and why they feel the issues are important. These questions will provide valuable context that is necessary for understanding opinions about specific Feed the Future messages in the next section. The results will also be useful in their own right for Feed the Future to understand what groups of people are most attuned to issues related to its mission. Feed the Future will be able to identify which types of messages are most important to communicate to which groups base on the groups’ level of attention or support.
Messaging Questions
The questions in this section will help Feed the Future understand which themes and ideas resonate overall and with different audience segments. Results from this section will enable Feed the Future to focus its communications to meet audience information needs.
Engagement Questions
In this final section, questions will collect information to provide Feed the Future with a deep understanding of the media consumption habits and preferences of the American population. When combined with results from the Awareness and Attitudes about Global Hunger section and the Messaging section, findings from these questions will help Feed the Future effectively and efficiently communicate with audiences where they are most likely to be and in a form they would like to receive and are most likely to notice and engage with.
We will use advanced technology to collect and process data to reduce respondent burden and make data processing and reporting more timely and efficient.
All participants will be given the choice of completing each survey online via the web or by telephone with a telephone interviewer. NORC’s AmeriSpeak survey software system supports both Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and web modes, providing an integrated sample management and data collection platform. The NORC AmeriSpeak survey software system also provides opportunities to participate in a web-mode using smartphones; for these panelists, the web-based system renders an optimized presentation of the questions. For all participants regardless of mode, the AmeriSpeak survey technology includes tailored skip patterns and text fills, which allows respondents to move through the questions more easily and minimizes respondent burden.
To USAID and the research agency’s knowledge, there is no other available research to guide USAID in its efforts to optimize its communications as it relates to Feed the Future. There is no reason for another Federal Agency to collect this information.
The Agency has determined that the information it needs is essential, unique, does not exist and is not planned from other sources, and so requests to obtain this information from among the public using primary research.
This
information collection does not involve burden to small businesses or
other small entities.
This is a one-time data collection effort that will identify knowledge, opinions, and interest in USAID and Feed the Future and also identify key audience segments and communications approaches to reach those segments. If the survey is not conducted, USAID will lack an in-depth contextual understanding of the audiences it needs to reach, both old and new. Lack of understanding of its audience segments will hamper USAID’s ability to fulfill its mission in an efficient and effective manner.
There are no plans to replicate this study and therefore there are no other consequences of conducting the study less frequently than this one-time collection that are not mentioned previously.
This data collection effort does not involve any special circumstances as defined by OMB.
A 60 day FRN notice to solicit public comments was published in the Federal Register on 09/06/2019, Volume 84, Number 173, Page Number 46933, Document Number 2019-19209. (See Attachment 8.) One public comment was received and the notice was amended for the 30 day notice period to clarify the survey is voluntary and the information will be used to improve U.S. Government communications and outreach activities.
A
30 day FRN notice was published in the Federal Register on
12/05/2019, Volume 84, Number 234, Page Number 66649, Document Number
2019-26297. (See Attachment
9.)
No public comments were received.
Participants in the National Survey of U.S. Adults about Global Food Security project have voluntarily registered with the AmeriSpeak panel, and per the AmeriSpeak model, rather than being offered cash remuneration, they will be offered survey choice “points” to redeem for rewards which are commonly provided to survey panel respondents who complete online surveys. The points are delivered via the online panel provider to respondents who complete the survey.
For this project, points worth a cash equivalent of $6 will be awarded to panelists for completing the survey. This is the standard amount awarded by NORC for surveys of this length. Providing points to panelists is positively associated with response rates and helps to build trust, and points to help encourage high levels of participation are extremely beneficial to the project, which would otherwise be expected to experience a greater challenge in recruiting and high attrition.
The USAID Privacy Officer has assessed this package for applicability of 5 U.S.C. § 552a, and determined that the Privacy Act does not apply to the overall information collection because:
This survey does not collect any personally identifiable information such as name, home address, personal telephone number, date of birth, social security number; and
The survey information is not transferred to an information system where the survey information is then retrieved by a personal identifier such as those in point 1.
All procedures have been developed, in accordance with Federal, State, and local guidelines, to ensure that the rights and privacy of respondents are protected. No personal identifiers (e.g., full name, address or phone number, social security number, etc.) will be collected or maintained. Surveys done through the online AmeriSpeak panel will use secondary data from already-established records systems to link respondent responses over time. Additional information about the procedures NORC employs to maintain the security of sensitive data for its clients can be found in the Attachment 6.
Every AmeriSpeak panelist is provided a Privacy Statement, which outlines the information that will be collected and how the information will be used. Because each panel member is asked to provide key demographic data such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, state of residence, household income, and more (see Attachment 5 for AmeriSpeak standard profile variables), the Privacy Statement also tells panel members how they can verify the accuracy of their information and how they can request that the information be deleted or updated. Social security numbers of respondents are not collected.
The AmeriSpeak Privacy Statement (see Attachment 3) includes the following:
A promise to treat all AmeriSpeak panelists and their information with respect.
The assurance that participation in any AmeriSpeak study is completely voluntary and that panel members may choose not to answer any questions that they do not wish to answer. Furthermore, panel members may withdraw their participation in AmeriSpeak at any time.
AmeriSpeak will never try to sell the panel member anything or ask for donations.
AmeriSpeak will not share the personally identifying information with any clients unless panel members have given explicit permission to do so. Only survey responses will be shared with clients.
Personal information will never be shared with telemarketers or others who would try to sell panel members anything.
AmeriSpeak has established security measures to protect the security and confidentiality of its panel members.
Panel members control their personal information and have the right to view their personal information or ask AmeriSpeak to delete it.
This study among the general public will not involve questions considered sensitive as defined by OMB except for demographic questions required to assure representativeness of the sample and to assist in the creation of a segmentation which allows USAID to understand its audiences as defined by their knowledge, interest, and support for global food security efforts by the U.S. Government.
Questions that may be considered sensitive include race and ethnicity (asked separately and in compliance with the standards of OMB Directive 15, Race and Ethnicity Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting), religious affiliation and practice, and political identification. These questions are considered necessary because they are inputs for a segmentation. They are a few out of many possible inputs that may help the agency to understand the types or individuals who know about, support, or feel certain ways about Feed the Future. The combination of these and many other variables will afford the agency a robust and clear understanding of where to expend its communication resources, and what messages to communicate to certain groups. Without including these questions, the segmentation will be less precise and less effective.
These potentially sensitive questions are voluntary, and respondents have the choice to select “prefer not to say” for those that are not already recorded by NORC’s AmeriSpeak panel (such as political affiliation). Because respondents have opted in to the panel and are accustomed to answering survey questions of this nature, we do not have reason to expect that many will avoid these questions. The AmeriSpeak Support Team email address, [email protected], and telephone number, 888-326-9424, are available for respondents to contact if they need help or have questions about the project or its questions. Phone interviewers are also trained in handling respondent concerns.
The recruitment and interviewing period for this study’s survey is three to six weeks. During that time, 2,200 AmeriSpeak panelists are expected to be contacted. We will collect full survey responses from 1,000 individuals and expect another 1,200 to be screened out as part of the recruitment of the 1,000 nationally representative total. Screening questions are part of the survey and not a separate document (Attachment 2). All respondents will participate in this study only once.
Estimated annualized burden hours are shown in Exhibit 12.1. The burden hours are based on an 20-minute median survey. The screening portion of the questionnaire will take no more than one minute per response. Total respondent burden hours are estimated at 353.04.
Exhibit 12.1: Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
Respondent activity |
No. of respondents |
No. responses / respondent |
Total responses |
Avg. burden / resp. (hours) |
Total burden hours |
National Survey of U.S. Adults about Global Food Security |
1,000 |
1 |
1,000 |
.333 |
333 |
Screened households |
1,200 |
1 |
1,200 |
.0167 |
20.04 |
Total |
- |
- |
2,200 |
- |
353.04 |
The annualized costs to the participants are described in Exhibit 12.2. To estimate the hourly wage rate of those involved in this study, we have used information from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Results from the latest BLS Occupational Employment Statistics survey (conducted in May 2018) were released on March 29, 2019 and form the basis of the estimates below. (Source: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.t01.htm)
The mean hourly wage for “all occupations,” the best available analogue for this study’s representative general public audience, is $24.98. The total estimated cost of the burden to participants is approximately $8,818.94, which represents the total burden hours multiplied by the average hourly wage rate ($24.98).
Exhibit 12.2: Estimated Annualized Burden Costs
Respondent activity |
No. of respondents |
No. responses / respondent |
Total burden hours |
Average hourly wage |
Total respondent cost |
National Survey of U.S. Adults about Global Food Security |
1,000 |
1 |
333 |
$24.98 |
$8,318.34 |
Screened households |
1,200 |
1 |
20.04 |
$24.98 |
$500.60 |
Total |
- |
- |
353.04 |
- |
$8,818.94 |
The data collection does not impose a financial burden on respondents, nor will respondents incur any expense other than the time spent completing the survey. Therefore, there are no additional respondent costs associated with start-up or capital investments, operations, maintenance, or equipment.
Exhibit 14.1 provides the annualized cost to the government, which totals $1157,621.20 using the 2019 OPM Washington DC locality salary schedule. Managing the USAID responsibilities for the project will require the expertise of two USAID staff.
Exhibit 14.1: Annualized Cost to the Government
Expense Type |
Expense Explanation |
Annual Costs (dollars) |
Cost of USAID staff time |
USAID staff hours |
$1,621.20 |
Subtotal, Direct Costs |
$1,621.20 |
|
Contract Costs |
Professional Services |
$90,000.00 |
Direct Costs for NORC Panel and Survey |
$66,000.00 |
|
Subtotal, Contract Costs |
$156,000.00 |
|
Total Cost to the Government |
$157,621.20 |
This is a new program.
Immediately following OMB approval, information collection will begin and conclude in the span of an estimated two to three months. The project timeline is detailed in exhibit 16.1.
The results of this study will not be published publicly. Rather, the results will be delivered to USAID for the purposes of optimizing its communications, as outlined above. Reporting will include a topline questionnaire of results for all survey questions in Word or PDF, data file(s) and crosstab data which do not include names or specific personally identifiable information, and a PowerPoint report with charts, tables, and narrative-form analysis. The results will be presented to USAID directly after the delivery of these materials.
Exhibit 16.1: Project Time Schedule
Activity |
Time Schedule |
OMB ICR submission process |
- |
Program and test survey instrument |
Immediately following approval; process to take 5 days |
Conduct soft launch of survey (online) for pre-testing and evaluation |
Immediately following testing; Process to take 2-3 days |
Review soft launch data for accuracy |
Immediately following soft launch; process to take 1 day |
Conduct interviews |
Immediately following soft launch review; process to take 21-35 days (3-5 weeks) |
Perform final quality control review of full data file, data processing, coding, cross-tabulations, and multivariate analysis for segmentation |
Immediately following conclusion of fielding; process to take 14-21 days (2-3 weeks) |
Prepare and deliver topline questionnaire with results for each question and final data file to USAID |
Immediately following preceding review and analysis; process to take 5 days |
Prepare and deliver full report to USAID |
Immediately following topline questionnaire; process to take 14 days (2 weeks) |
Presentation of findings to USAID |
Immediately following strategic report; process to take 1 day |
We do not seek approval to eliminate the expiration date.
There are no exemptions to the certification.
National
Survey of U.S. Adults about Global Food Security: Supporting
Statement A
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| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-22 |