SUPPORTING STATEMENT
Generic Testing – Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020
OMB No. 0579-0079
This mini-supporting statement is being submitted to OMB to define the need for conducting qualitative research, in the form of cognitive interviews, for the upcoming Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey.
The Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey, sponsored by the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) and conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), will ask questions about management practices and animal health in cattle feedlots. The management practices in cattle feedlots that are of interest are those that impact product quality, factors associated with shedding of potential foodborne pathogens or commensal organisms in feedlot cattle, antimicrobial usage in cattle feedlots, and the impact of veterinary feed directives in cattle feedlots. The Health Management on U.S. Feedlots in 2020 survey will be conducted in 2021 using in-person enumerated interviews for a 12-month reference period, to be determined. Response to the Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey will be voluntary. The OMB docket to approve the Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey will be submitted by NAHMS.
The purpose of this research study is to conduct no more than 20 exploratory and confirmatory cognitive interviews with operators of cattle feedlots in order to assess respondents’ understanding of the draft questions and the potential measurement error associated with these questions. The goals of these cognitive interviews will be to: understand the respondents’ comprehension of questions and terminology; understand barriers to the retrieval of information requested on the questionnaire, including any record keeping practices; observe the respondents judgement and communication of the information requested, and understand how to align responses to the question/questionnaire’s intent; and, glean ways to reduce respondent burden while maximizing overall response strategies. Respondents for the cognitive testing will be recruited using the NASS list frame.
The current draft of the Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 questionnaire is provided as an attachment, along with potential probes to use during the cognitive testing.
A. JUSTIFICATION
Circumstances making collection of information necessary.
The Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey, sponsored by the National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) and conducted by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), will ask questions about management practices and animal health in cattle feedlots, management practices in cattle feedlots that impact product quality, factors associated with shedding of potential foodborne pathogens or commensal organisms in feedlot cattle, antimicrobial usage in cattle feedlots, and the impact of veterinary feed directives in cattle feedlots. The purpose of this research study is to conduct no more than 20 exploratory and confirmatory cognitive interviews with operators of cattle feedlots in order to assess respondents’ understanding of the draft questions and the potential measurement error associated with these questions. The goals of these cognitive interviews will be to: understand the respondents’ comprehension of questions and terminology; understand barriers to the retrieval of information requested on the questionnaire, including any record keeping practices; observe the respondents judgement and communication of the information requested, and understand how to align responses to the question/questionnaire’s intent; and, glean ways to reduce respondent burden while maximizing overall response strategies.
How, by whom, and for what purpose information is to be used.
The information gathered through the qualitative research will be analyzed by NASS’s Methodology Division and Census and Survey Division, and NAHMS to determine the changes to the format and content of the Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey, as well as the best way to ask questions about the constructs of interest on the survey.
The draft questionnaire is attached to this request. A draft of the types of probe questions asked during the cognitive interviews is also attached.
Use of improved information technology.
The cognitive interviews proposed would be done in person by trained cognitive interviewers from the field or HQ.
4. Efforts to identify duplication.
No additional efforts will be taken to identify duplication. Respondents who are selected for the cognitive interviews will be selected from the NASS list frame.
Methods to minimize burden of small businesses.
For these cognitive interviews, no special efforts will be made to minimize burden of small farm businesses. Ideally, we hope to include operations of varying sizes, with from diverse sales groups.
Consequence if information collection were less frequent.
This is a one-time cognitive interview project. The questionnaire for the survey is due January 1, 2020 for submission with the NAHMS docket. Therefore, these cognitive interviews are planned for September – November 2019, so that any changes can be incorporated into the version submitted to OMB at that time.
Special circumstances.
There are no special circumstances associated with this information collection.
Federal register notice and consultation with outside persons.
Not applicable.
Payments or gifts to respondents.
There are no payments or gifts to respondents.
Confidentiality provided to respondents.
The same confidentiality that is applied to the Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey will be applied to data collected during the cognitive interviews.
Questions of a sensitive nature.
The Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey may ask questions related to veterinarian feed directive usage, which could be considered sensitive.
12. Hour burden and annualized costs to respondents.
All interviews will be conducted by trained cognitive interviewers or survey methodologists who work at either NASS headquarters or one of the NASS Field/Regional Offices.
We plan to conduct a maximum of 20 one and a half hour cognitive interviews for a total of 30 total burden hours. Reporting time of 30 hours is multiplied by $36.84 per hour for a total cost to the public of $1,105.20.
NASS uses the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics (most recently published on March 29, 2019 for the previous May) to estimate an hourly wage for the burden cost. The May 2018 mean wage for bookkeepers was $20.25. The mean wage for farm managers was $38.43. The mean wage for farm supervisors was $24.42. The mean wage of the three is $27.70. To calculate the fully loaded wage rate (includes allowances for Social Security, insurance, etc.) NASS will add 33% for a total of $36.84 per hour.
Total annual cost burden to respondents.
There are no capital/start-up or ongoing operation/maintenance costs associated with this information collection.
Annualized costs to federal government.
Costs for conducting the qualitative research interviews are estimated at $20,000. This will cover expenses for staff payroll, travel, survey analysis, and any other expenses that may be incurred while updating survey materials based on our findings.
Reasons for changes in burden.
This mini-supporting statement addresses the use of burden to conduct testing for the Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey.
Tabulation, analysis, and publication plans.
No data will be published from these tests. Data are for internal use only, but results may be presented at outside conferences or seminars.
Request for approval of non-display of expiration date.
There is no request for approval of non-display of the expiration date.
18. Exceptions to certification statement.
There are no exceptions to the certification statement.
B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS:
Respondent universe, sampling, and response rate.
NASS will use the list frame to identify operations that meet the screening criteria for the Health Management on U.S. Feedlots 2020 Survey. The operations will not be statistically sampled; rather, they will be hand selected based on their size, location, and other important criteria that are identified. HQ staff, NASS State Statisticians, Survey Coordinators, Regional Field Office staff, and NASDA staff will recruit respondents for the interviews.
Procedures for the collection of information.
Interviewers will follow standard pretesting techniques as defined in the original Supporting Statement Part A for the Generic Clearance docket (0535-0248).
Information collected adequate for intended uses.
Operations will be selected based on specific criteria as stated above.
Test of procedures or methods.
Not applicable.
Individuals consulted on statistical aspects of survey.
Selection of methods of testing for this qualitative research was done by the Methodology Division; Chief Cognitive Research Methodologist is Jaki McCarthy, (202) 690-2389. Senior Survey Methodologist is Kathy Ott, (202) 720-1114.
July 2019
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | HancDa |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-14 |