SUPPORTING STATEMENT - PART A
Scholar Survey and Sponsoring Facilities (SF) Survey – 0704-DSSS
1. Need for the Information Collection
The information gathered through the “Scholar Survey” and “SF Survey” will inform the Department of Defense (DoD) on the Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship for Service Program. The purpose of these surveys is to gain a better understanding of scholars’ and sponsoring facilities' (SF) perspective on the program and its impact on the scholar.
The SMART Program is authorized through U.S. Code Title 10,§ 2192a “Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Defense Education Program”.
DoD Instruction (DoDI) 1025.11: DoD Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education Programs and Activities (August 2022) establishes policies, responsibilities, and procedures for data collection efforts that support DoD STEM education programs and activities. DoDI 1025.11 authorizes coordinating and collecting data on STEM education programs in accordance with Public Law 111 – 358.
This proposed data collection will provide insights to the program that may inform the SMART Program Office within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E) as they manage the SMART Scholarship for Service Program.
2. Use of the Information
Background: Both surveys are part of a third-party evaluation of the SMART Program. The purpose of the scholar survey is to gain a deep perspective of SMART scholars who are participating or have participated in the program, understanding their perspective on how the SMART program operates, identifying program processes that are working well, suggesting what could be improved in the program, and determining the detailed outcomes of the program. The purpose of the SF survey is to gain a perspective of DoD facilities who are participating in the program, understanding their perspective on how the SMART program operates, identifying program processes that are working well, and suggesting what could be improved in the program. Both surveys aim to help improve the SMART Program.
Recruitment and Sampling: The universe of potential respondents to the scholar survey includes adults (approximately age 20 and up) who are or have participated in the SMART Program (i.e., received SMART scholarship and stipend funds while attending school and committing to work for DoD after they graduate). The universe of potential respondents to the SF survey includes DoD personnel who work at SMART SF. The Institute of Defense Analyses (IDA) is a non-profit, Federally-Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC) that conducts independent analyses for the DoD and other government agencies. For this evaluation, IDA will request the support contractor for SMART to email a link to the online survey and a description of the program evaluation survey (see attachment: “SMART Scholar_Recruitment Email” and “SMART SF Recruitment Email”). The support contractor regularly sends emails to the SMART scholars and SFs, so this will not be a burden to the support contractor. Potential respondents will read the invitation and then decide whether they wish to respond by clicking a static link that takes them to the survey. In regards to the scholar survey, there have been approximately 3,000 SMART scholars who have completed at least one year in the program, and we expect an estimated 50% response rate for the scholar survey. There are approximately 120 active SMART SFs, and we expect an estimated 50% response rate for the SF survey.
Collection: Both surveys will be administered online using a password-protected Qualtrics account Qualtrics is a Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) certified program. All respondents will receive the same survey instrument (see attachment: “SMART_2.0 Scholar Survey_08.08.22” and “SMART_2.0 SF_08.05.22”). Respondents to the scholar survey will answer questions about their experiences with the SMART Program, to include the application process, degree pursuit, and post-graduation employment with DoD. Respondents to the SF survey will answer questions about the SF’s use of the SMART Program, to include outreach, selection of scholars, scholar professional development opportunities, hiring of scholars, and retention. Respondents to both surveys retain the ability to skip any survey question they do not wish to answer. Respondents may also end the survey at any time without penalty. Respondents return the collection by clicking a button (indicated by a right arrow) on the last page of the survey, which logs their answers in a Qualtrics database attached to the survey.
Data Processing: The IDA research team has exclusive access to the Qualtrics account receiving survey responses. Once data collection is complete, all survey responses will be downloaded from Qualtrics to an IDA-issued computer protected by encryption and multi-factor authentication. The IDA research team will analyze collected data in the programming language ‘R’ using a variety of statistical techniques, with the goal of identifying program outcomes and processes that are working well and what could be improved. Results will be delivered in a report to the sponsoring office, who may use them to inform future programming.
3. Use of Information Technology
100% of responses will be collected electronically, since both surveys are exclusively being administered through Qualtrics, an online survey application. IDA will ask the SMART Program support contractor to distribute an invitation to the surveys through group email lists that they regularly use to interact with SMART Scholars and SF representatives. The email will contain a link to the online survey and a description of the effort, to their most recent cohort of participants. Potential respondents will read the invitation and then decide whether they wish to provide feedback by clicking a static link that takes them to the survey.
4. Non-duplication
The information obtained through this collection is unique and is not already available for use or adaptation from another cleared source. The centralized nature of this data collection (i.e., using one survey to collect data on multiple programs) may reduce the potential duplication of effort compared to if each program attempted to gather the information individually.
5. Burden on Small Businesses
This information collection does not impose a significant economic impact on any small businesses or entities. By IDA collecting this information there is a potential reduced burden on the government in managing the program and the contracted business that supports the SMART Program execution in that they can benefit from the results of this collection without needing to expend the resources to gather the information.
6. Less Frequent Collection
This is expected to be a one-time collection.
7. Paperwork Reduction Act Guidelines
This collection of information does not require collection to be conducted in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines delineated in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).
8. Consultation and Public Comments
Part A: PUBLIC NOTICE
A 60-Day Federal Register Notice (FRN) for the collection published on Monday, November 11, 2022. The 60-Day FRN citation is 87 FRN 72972.
No comments were received during the 60-Day Comment Period.
A 30-Day Federal Register Notice for the collection published on Thursday, June 29, 2023. The 30-Day FRN citation is 88 FRN 42051.
Part B: CONSULTATION
The SMART Program Office was consulted with a draft of both surveys in the spring of 2022. Some revisions to the surveys were made to reduce the overall length of the surveys and to address pertinent information.
9. Gifts or Payment
No payments or gifts are being offered to respondents as an incentive to participate in the collection.
10. Confidentiality
A Privacy Act Statement is not required for this collection because we are not requesting individuals to furnish personal information for a system of records.
A System of Record Notice (SORN) is not required for this collection because records are not retrievable by PII.
A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is not required for this collection because PII is not being collected electronically.
Under Disposition Authority Number DAA-0330-2021-0009-0001 from the National Archives and Records Administration, the SMART Program Disposition Schedule for participants is 30 years upon completion of service commitment or upon repayment of funds.
11. Sensitive Questions
At the end of the scholar survey, there is a series of standard demographic questions, to include items for respondent to self-identify their race, ethnicity, and gender. The purpose of these questions is to understand the racial and ethnic composition of the sample, which offers insight into the types of people being served by SMART.
The issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion in education is important and relevant to the SMART Program. No other questions considered sensitive are being asked in this collection.
There are no questions in the SF survey that could be considered sensitive.
12. Respondent Burden and its Labor Costs
Part A: ESTIMATION OF RESPONDENT BURDEN
Collection Instrument(s)
SMART 2.0 Scholar Survey
Number of Respondents: 1,800
Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1
Number of Total Annual Responses: 1,800
Response Time: 30 minutes
Respondent Burden Hours: 900 hours
SMART 2.0 SF Survey
Number of Respondents: 60
Number of Responses Per Respondent: 1
Number of Total Annual Responses: 60
Response Time: 15 minutes
Respondent Burden Hours: 15 hours
Total Submission Burden
Total Number of Respondents: 1,860
Total Number of Annual Responses: 1,860
Total Respondent Burden Hours: 915 hours
Part B: LABOR COST OF RESPONDENT BURDEN
Collection Instrument(s):
SMART 2.0 Scholar Survey
Number of Total Annual Responses: 1,800
Response Time: 30 minutes
Respondent Hourly Wage: $20
Labor Burden per Response: $10
Total Labor Burden: $18,000
SMART 2.0 SF Survey
Number of Total Annual Responses: 60
Response Time: 15 minutes
Respondent Hourly Wage: $40
Labor Burden per Response: $10
Total Labor Burden: $600
Overall Labor Burden
Total Number of Annual Responses: 1,860
Total Labor Burden: $18,600
For the Scholar respondent burden, we based off of the average internship stipend provided to scholars when they complete a summer internship. This is true not only of the SMART Program, but other similar DoD internship programs. See the following reference:
Kolodrubetz, Daniel W., Pang, Alexis A., Dobbins, Christian, Moses, Franklin L., Fedele, Emily A. and Belanich, James. 2021. Portfolio Review of DoD's Work Experience Programs: Developing a STEM Workforce. IDA Document D-22721.
Page 36
“For undergraduates, typical programs (e.g., CQL and HCI-AWP) involved stipends in the range of $4,500 to $7,200 for a 10-week summer program, which averages out to about $17/hour. Several of the programs for graduate students included working part time during semesters and potentially during school breaks; these programs averaged a little over $20/hour”.
For SF respondent burden, we estimated an hourly salary of $40/hour, which would roughly add up to a little more than $80k annual salary. Using the OMB GS (Rest of US Locality) pay scale that would be a GS-10, Step 10 or a GS-12, step 1. The SF respondents, based on the points-of-contact that we have at each of our SFs, are likely in the GS-9 to GS-12 range (most hold positions in workforce development, human resources, etc.). See the following reference: https://www.federalpay.org/gs/locality/rest-of-us.
13. Respondent Costs Other Than Burden Hour Costs
There are no costs to respondents other than the labor burden costs addressed in Section 12 of this document to complete this collection.
14. Cost to the Federal Government
Part A: LABOR COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Collection Instrument(s)
SMART 2.0 Scholar Survey
Number of Total Annual Responses: 1,800
Processing Time per Response: 0.1 hours
Hourly Wage of Worker(s) Processing Responses: $50
Cost to Process Each Response: $5.00
Total Cost to Process Responses: $9,000
SMART 2.0 SF Survey
Number of Total Annual Responses: 60
Processing Time per Response: 0.1 hours
Hourly Wage of Worker(s) Processing Responses: $50
Cost to Process Each Response: $5.00
Total Cost to Process Responses: $300
Overall Labor Burden to the Federal Government
Total Number of Annual Responses: 1,860
Total Labor Burden: $9,300
Part B: OPERATIONAL AND MAINTENANCE COSTS
Cost Categories
Equipment: $0
Printing: $0
Postage: $0
Software Purchases: $3,000
Licensing Costs: $0
Other: $0
Total Operational and Maintenance Cost: $3,000
Part C: TOTAL COST TO THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
Total Labor Cost to the Federal Government: $9,300
Total Operational and Maintenance Costs: $3,000
Total Cost to the Federal Government: $12,300
15. Reasons for Change in Burden
This is a new collection with a new associated burden.
16. Publication of Results
The results of the information collection will be aggregated as findings along with non-survey findings to be provided to the SMART Program Office. The findings of the program evaluation may also be discussed with members of the DoD STEM community. It is expected that the report on the results from this information collection will be published within 9 months of collection. Individual respondent results will not be published.
17. Non-Display of OMB Expiration Date
We are not seeking approval to omit the display of the expiration date of the OMB approval on the collection instrument.
18. Exceptions to “Certification for Paperwork Reduction Submissions”
We are not requesting any exemptions to the provisions stated in 5 CFR 1320.9.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Kaitlin Chiarelli |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2023-09-15 |