Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 54885-54887 [2012-21947]
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TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2012 / Notices
which were in business in 2011, will be
mailed out in the first phase scheduled
to begin June 2013, with two follow-up
mailings at six-week intervals. Closeout
of this phase of the mailout operations
is scheduled for October 2013. The
second phase mailout of approximately
900,000 questionnaires to sole
proprietorships and new partnerships
and corporations operating in 2012 is
scheduled to begin in May 2014, with
two follow-ups at six-week intervals.
Closeout of mailout operations is
scheduled for August 2014. Upon
closeout of the survey, the response data
will be edited and reviewed.
For the 2012 SBO, significant changes
have been made to the program. These
changes include the following:
• To reduce the SBO sample size,
mailing and processing costs, and
respondent burden, the Census Bureau
is expanding its use of direct data
substitution from existing sources, such
as the American Community Survey
(ACS) and the Decennial Census.
• Select businesses will be mailed the
new 2012 SBO–2 short form with 39
fewer questions to answer than the 2012
SBO–1 long form.
• Spanish-language paper versions of
the SBO–1 and SBO–2 forms,
respectively designated as the SBO–1S
and SBO–2S forms, will be available
upon request.
• The first eight questions on the
2007 SBO–1 form have been reorganized
into three questions on the 2012 SBO–
1 and SBO–2 forms to improve
navigation through these forms.
• To eliminate confusion for business
owners born to American citizens
overseas, the foreign-born question that
asked if the owner was born in the
United States has been replaced by a
new question that asks if the owner was
born a citizen of the United States.
• The veteran question has been
revised and expanded to collect
information on whether the veteran was
service-disabled, served on active duty
or as a reservist during the survey year,
served on active duty at any time, and
served on active duty after September
11, 2001. The revised and expanded
wording for the veteran categories and
the collection of the additional service
characteristics reflects input received
during consultations with many leaders
in the veteran community. Input was
received from, among others, the
Department of Defense, the Veterans
Administration, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, the U.S. House of
Representatives Committee on Veterans’
Affairs, the Senate Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs, the Small Business
Administration, the American Legion,
the Veterans Entrepreneurship Task
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18:45 Sep 05, 2012
Jkt 226001
Force (VET-Force), and the American
Veterans (AMVETS).
• Interest from researchers on the
possible correlation between intellectual
property rights and business success led
to the addition of a question on whether
the business owned a copyright,
trademark, granted patent, or a pending
patent.
Using principles of questionnaire
design and methodological research,
cognitive interviews were completed
with eighty-three respondents in three
rounds of interviews. Upon completion
of each round of interviews, the
interview team met, decided on the
changes to the form, and made revisions
based on the findings and
recommendations.
The survey collects data on the
gender, ethnicity, race, and veteran
status for up to four persons owning the
majority of rights, equity, or interest in
the business. These data are needed to
evaluate the extent and growth of
business ownership by women,
minorities, and veterans in order to
provide a framework for assessing and
directing federal, state, and local
government programs designed to
promote the activities of disadvantaged
groups.
The SBA and the MBDA use the SBO
data when allocating resources for their
business assistance programs.
The Census Bureau merged its 2007
SBO data product with its 2007 Profile
of U.S. Exporting Companies data
product to create a first-ever report that
provides the ownership characteristics
of classifiable U.S. exporters by gender,
ethnicity, race, and veteran status, and
their export values by country. This
report is planned again for the 2012
data.
The data are also widely used by
private firms and individuals to
evaluate their own businesses and
markets and to write business plans and
loan application letters, by the media for
news stories, by researchers and
academia for determining firm
characteristics, and by the legal
profession in evaluating the
concentration of minority businesses in
particular industries and/or geographic
areas.
Affected Public: Business or other forprofit; Not-for-profit institutions; State,
local or Tribal governments.
Frequency: Every 5 years.
Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory.
Legal Authority: Title 13 of the United
States Code (USC), Sections 131, 193,
and 224.
OMB Desk Officer: Brian HarrisKojetin, (202) 395–7314.
Copies of the above information
collection proposal can be obtained by
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54885
calling or writing Jennifer Jessup,
Departmental Paperwork Clearance
Officer, (202) 482–0336, Department of
Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington,
DC 20230 (or via the Internet at
jjessup@doc.gov).
Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB
Desk Officer either by fax (202–395–
7245) or email (bharrisk@omb.eop.gov).
Dated: August 31, 2012.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012–21932 Filed 9–5–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review;
Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will
submit to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for clearance the
following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C.
chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: 2013 Survey of Income and
Program Participation, Event History
Calendar Field Test.
OMB Control Number: 0607–0957.
Form Number(s): SIPP–EHC
105(L)2013–Director’s Letter; SIPP–
EHC–105(L)(SP) 2013—Director’s Letter
Spanish; SIPP–EHC 4006A Brochure;
SIPP/CAPI Automated Instrument.
Type of Request: Revision of a
currently approved collection.
Burden Hours: 6,300.
Number of Respondents: 6,300.
Average Hours per Response: 1 hour.
Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census
Bureau requests authorization from the
Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) to conduct the 2013 Survey of
Income and Program Participation Event
History Calendar (SIPP–EHC) Field Test.
The Census Bureau’s SIPP–EHC
computer-assisted personal interviewing
(CAPI) will use an Event History
Calendar (EHC) interviewing method
and a 12-month, calendar-year reference
period in place of the current SIPP
questionnaire approach that uses a
sliding 4-month reference period. The
Census Bureau also plans to use
Computer Assisted Recorded Interview
(CARI) technology for a sample of the
respondents during the 2013 SIPP–EHC.
The Census Bureau is re-engineering the
SIPP to accomplish several goals
E:\FR\FM\06SEN1.SGM
06SEN1
TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
54886
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2012 / Notices
including re-engineering the collection
instrument and processing system,
development of the EHC in the
instrument, use of the administrative
records data where feasible, and
increased stakeholder interaction.
The main objective of the SIPP has
been, and continues to be, to provide
accurate and comprehensive
information about the income and
program participation of individuals
and households in the United States.
The survey’s mission is to provide a
nationally representative sample for
evaluating: (1) Annual and sub-annual
income dynamics, (2) movements into
and out of government transfer
programs, (3) family and social context
of individuals and households, and (4)
interactions among these items. A major
use of the SIPP has been to evaluate the
use of and eligibility for government
programs and to analyze the impacts of
modifications to those programs. The reengineering of SIPP pursues these
objectives in the context of several goals
including cost reduction, improved
accuracy, increased relevance and
timeliness, reduced burden on
respondents, and increased
accessibility. The 2013 SIPP–EHC will
collect detailed information on cash and
non-cash income (including
participation in government transfer
programs) once per year.
A key component of the reengineering process involves the
proposed shift from the every-fourmonth data collection schedule of
traditional SIPP to an annual data
collection schedule for the reengineered survey. To accomplish this
shift with minimal impact on data
quality, the Census Bureau proposes
employing the use of an event history
calendar to gather SIPP data. The 2013
SIPP–EHC will re-interview respondents
interviewed in 2012, collecting data for
the previous calendar year as the
reference period. The content of the
2013 SIPP–EHC will closely match that
of the 2012 SIPP–EHC. The SIPP–EHC
design does not contain freestanding
topical modules as in the current
production SIPP instrument; however, a
portion of traditional SIPP topical
module content is integrated into the
main body of the 2013 SIPP–EHC
interview. The EHC allows recording
dates of events and spells of coverage
and should provide measures of
monthly transitions of program receipt
and coverage, labor force transitions,
health insurance transitions, and others.
The 2013 SIPP–EHC will be the second
test using dependent data in
conjunction with calendar methods to
reduce burden and improve quality, and
the first opportunity to re-engage
VerDate Mar<15>2010
18:45 Sep 05, 2012
Jkt 226001
respondents who either refused to
participate or could not be located for
the 2012 SIPP–EHC wave 2 interviews.
Further, the 2013 SIPP–EHC will be the
final dry-run prior to administration of
the SIPP–EHC as the production SIPP
instrument in early CY 2014.
During the field period for the 2012
SIPP–EHC, a separate sample was
interviewed using the same instrument,
but with Computer Assisted Recorded
Interview (CARI) technology
implemented. For a sample of the
respondents during the 2013 SIPP–EHC
audio recordings will again be used. The
Census Bureau is using CARI during
data collection to capture audio along
with screen images and data values for
responses during the computer-assisted
personal interviews (CAPI). With the
respondent’s consent, a portion of each
interview is recorded unobtrusively and
both the sound file and screen images
are returned with the response data to
a central location for coding. The CARI
technology will again be used in
conjunction with the 2013 SIPP–EHC.
Portions of both the 2012 wave 2 SIPP–
EHC and 2012 wave 1 SIPP–EHC (CARI)
samples will be recorded as part of the
2013 SIPP–EHC administration. In 2012
the CARI respondents were first
interviewed and recorded as a separate
sample utilizing a CARI enabled version
of the 2012 SIPP–EHC instrument. In
2013, the CARI sample will be
combined with the SIPP–EHC sample,
which will test the capability of the
SIPP–EHC instrument to perform
multiple paths during the same
interview period. In 2013, the SIPP–
EHC CARI sample is a Wave 2
interview, while the 2012 SIPP–EHC
sample will be in its third wave. The
CARI recordings will not be limited to
only the previously recorded cases;
instead, the sample being recorded in
2013 will contain both previously
recorded cases and some Wave 3 SIPP–
EHC cases. This is a critical evaluation,
as evidence from external surveys
(Panel Study of Income Dynamics—
PSID) suggests that simply asking the
consent question could be associated
with a significant increase in survey
length. External researchers at the
Institute for Social Research at the
University of Michigan suspect that
improved FR adherence to protocol is
one of the sources for the longer
interviews. Additionally, we need
information on the association between
CARI, interview length, and interview
quality.
As a quality assurance tool, the
recorded portions of the interview allow
quality assurance analysts to evaluate
the likelihood that the exchange
between the field representative and
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
respondent is authentic and follows
critical survey protocol as defined by
the sponsor and based on best practices.
The 2013 SIPP–EHC field test
instrument will utilize the CARI
Interactive Data Access System (CARI
System), an innovative, integrated,
multifaceted monitoring system that
features a configurable web-based
interface for behavior coding, quality
assurance, and coaching. This system
assists in coding interviews for
measuring question and interviewer
performance and the interaction
between interviewers and respondents.
The 2013 SIPP–EHC Field Test will be
conducted in all 6 Census Regional
Offices from January through March of
2013. Approximately 3,000 households
are expected to be interviewed for the
2013 SIPP–EHC field test, which is
comprised of approximately 2,000 cases
returning for a third wave from the 2012
SIPP–EHC and approximately 1,000
cases returning for a second wave from
the 2012 SIPP–EHC CARI. We estimate
that each household contains 2.1 people
aged 15 and above, yielding
approximately 6,300 person-level
interviews in the field test. Interviews
take one hour on average. The 2013
SIPP–EHC will not be using the recontact experiment previously used in
the 2012 SIPP–EHC.
The 2013 SIPP–EHC Field Test will
continue the EHC methodology
implemented in the 2012 Field Test
instrument. The EHC is intended to help
respondents recall information in a
more natural ‘‘autobiographical’’
manner by using life events as triggers
to recall other economic events. For
example, a residence change can in
many cases occur contemporaneously
with a change in employment. The
entire process of compiling the calendar
focuses, by its nature, on consistency
and sequential order of events, and
attempts to correct for otherwise
missing data. For example, unemployed
respondents may undertake a lengthy
job search before becoming employed.
The 2013 SIPP–EHC Field Test
instrument will be evaluated in several
domains including field implementation
`
issues and data comparability vis-a-vis
the 2008 SIPP Panel and administrative
records. Distributional characteristics
such as the percent of persons receiving
TANF, Food Stamps, Medicare, who are
working, who are enrolled in school, or
who have health insurance coverage
reported in the EHC will be compared
to the same distributions from the 2008
SIPP Panel. The primary focus will be
to examine the quality of data that the
new instrument yields for low-income
programs relative to the current SIPP
and other administrative sources. The
E:\FR\FM\06SEN1.SGM
06SEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 173 / Thursday, September 6, 2012 / Notices
field test sample is focused in lowincome areas in order to increase the
‘‘hit rate’’ of households likely to
participate in government programs.
Results from the 2010–2013 Field
Tests and the 2008 SIPP Panel will be
used to inform final decisions regarding
the design, content, and implementation
of the SIPP–EHC for its production
beginning in 2014.
Affected Public: Individuals or
households.
Frequency: One time.
Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C.,
Section 182.
OMB Desk Officer: Brian HarrisKojetin, (202) 395–7314.
Copies of the above information
collection proposal can be obtained by
calling or writing Jennifer Jessup,
Departmental Paperwork Clearance
Officer, (202) 482–0336, Department of
Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington,
DC 20230 (or via the Internet at
jjessup@doc.gov).
Written comments and
recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent
within 30 days of publication of this
notice to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB
Desk Officer either by fax (202–395–
7245) or email (bharrisk@omb.eop.gov).
Dated: August 31, 2012.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief
Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012–21947 Filed 9–5–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510–07–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Census Bureau
Proposed Information Collection;
Comment Request; 2013 Census Test
U.S. Census Bureau,
Commerce.
ACTION: Notice.
AGENCY:
The Department of
Commerce, as part of its continuing
effort to reduce paperwork and
respondent burden, invites the general
public and other Federal agencies to
take this opportunity to comment on
proposed and/or continuing information
collections, as required by the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,
Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C.
3506(c)(2)(A)).
DATES: To ensure consideration, written
comments must be submitted on or
before November 5, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments
to Jennifer Jessup, Departmental
TKELLEY on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
VerDate Mar<15>2010
18:45 Sep 05, 2012
Jkt 226001
Paperwork Clearance Officer,
Department of Commerce, Room 6616,
14th and Constitution Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20230 (or via the
Internet at jjessup@doc.gov).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information or
copies of the information collection
instrument(s) and instructions should
be directed to Jason Machowski, Census
Bureau, HQ–3H468F, Washington, DC
20233; (301) 763–4173 (or via email at
jason.d.machowski@census.gov).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
I. Abstract
During the years preceding the 2020
Census, the Census Bureau will
continue to pursue its commitment to
reducing the costs of conducting a
decennial census, while maintaining the
level of quality achieved for previous
ones. A primary decennial census cost
driver is the employment of a large
temporary staff to collect data from
members of the public from which the
Census Bureau received no reply via
initially offered response options.
Increasing the number of people who
take advantage of self-response options
(such as completing a paper
questionnaire and mailing it back to the
Census Bureau) can contribute to a less
costly census with high-quality results.
The 2013 Census Test will give the
Census Bureau an opportunity to
investigate a variety of different
strategies and methods aimed at
increasing the use of self-response
options in a decennial census. An
overall objective of the Census Bureau is
to increase participation by making it
easier for respondents to know about
and to respond to the decennial census.
As part of this data collection, the
Census Bureau will test different
strategies for contacting the public to
notify and to remind them about the
decennial census. In addition, the
Census Bureau will offer multiple
modes to self-respond.
The 2013 Census Test will also
encompass research in additional key
areas. One area pertains to testing
different field data collection
procedures for obtaining data from those
who do not self-respond to the
decennial census. Another area involves
collecting data on attitudes regarding
contact strategies, response modes, and
other proposed methods of data
collection. The Census Bureau will
recontact a sample of those who selfresponded, those who responded to a
Census Bureau employee, and those
who did not respond at all. The data
collection to obtain respondent attitudes
will be conducted by telephone.
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54887
The results from the 2013 Census Test
will inform Census Bureau planners
who are guiding the design of additional
2020 Decennial Census research on the
topics summarized briefly above and
discussed in more detail below.
Contact Strategies—In the past, the
Census Bureau sent a letter to most
areas of the country alerting households
that a census questionnaire was on its
way. Then the Census Bureau delivered
a questionnaire, which contained a
unique Census ID. The Census Bureau
also sent a follow-up mailing in the
form of a postcard to remind
respondents to return their
questionnaires, if they had not already
done so.
For this test, the Census Bureau is
intending to use multiple contact modes
to notify respondents to participate in
the census, to provide them instructions
for completing a census questionnaire,
and to remind them to respond. In
addition to mail, the Census Bureau is
considering contacting respondents by
email and text messages using contact
information purchased from commercial
data vendors. In advance of this test, the
Census Bureau will address any policy
issues surrounding the use of email and
text messages.
The email and text messages will
contain an interactive link to a Census
Bureau Internet site that respondents
can click on to respond to the census.
The Census Bureau plans to embed into
the link an identifier that is unique to
the respondent and their notification
mode (for example, the same respondent
with both an email and text account
may have a unique identifier for each
one). This identifier will allow the
Census Bureau to measure the
effectiveness of each mode of
notification and to determine any
response differences by demographic
group or geographic area (such as urban,
suburban, and rural).
In addition to altering the mode of
contact, the Census Bureau will vary
both the content of messages sent and
the timing of when respondents will
receive them. This testing will help the
Census Bureau to develop effectively
worded messages and delivery
schedules that are optimized for each
mode of contact. The Census Bureau
will measure the effectiveness of
differing mode, message content, and
time of delivery on the response rate.
This analysis will include breakdowns
by various demographic populations.
Self-Response Options—Respondents
will initially have the option to respond
to this test via the Internet, or through
telephone questionnaire assistance
using a toll-free number and speaking
with an operator. The Census Bureau
E:\FR\FM\06SEN1.SGM
06SEN1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 173 (Thursday, September 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54885-54887]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-21947]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. chapter 35).
Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
Title: 2013 Survey of Income and Program Participation, Event
History Calendar Field Test.
OMB Control Number: 0607-0957.
Form Number(s): SIPP-EHC 105(L)2013-Director's Letter; SIPP-EHC-
105(L)(SP) 2013--Director's Letter Spanish; SIPP-EHC 4006A Brochure;
SIPP/CAPI Automated Instrument.
Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Burden Hours: 6,300.
Number of Respondents: 6,300.
Average Hours per Response: 1 hour.
Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census Bureau requests authorization from
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to conduct the 2013 Survey of
Income and Program Participation Event History Calendar (SIPP-EHC)
Field Test.
The Census Bureau's SIPP-EHC computer-assisted personal
interviewing (CAPI) will use an Event History Calendar (EHC)
interviewing method and a 12-month, calendar-year reference period in
place of the current SIPP questionnaire approach that uses a sliding 4-
month reference period. The Census Bureau also plans to use Computer
Assisted Recorded Interview (CARI) technology for a sample of the
respondents during the 2013 SIPP-EHC. The Census Bureau is re-
engineering the SIPP to accomplish several goals
[[Page 54886]]
including re-engineering the collection instrument and processing
system, development of the EHC in the instrument, use of the
administrative records data where feasible, and increased stakeholder
interaction.
The main objective of the SIPP has been, and continues to be, to
provide accurate and comprehensive information about the income and
program participation of individuals and households in the United
States. The survey's mission is to provide a nationally representative
sample for evaluating: (1) Annual and sub-annual income dynamics, (2)
movements into and out of government transfer programs, (3) family and
social context of individuals and households, and (4) interactions
among these items. A major use of the SIPP has been to evaluate the use
of and eligibility for government programs and to analyze the impacts
of modifications to those programs. The re-engineering of SIPP pursues
these objectives in the context of several goals including cost
reduction, improved accuracy, increased relevance and timeliness,
reduced burden on respondents, and increased accessibility. The 2013
SIPP-EHC will collect detailed information on cash and non-cash income
(including participation in government transfer programs) once per
year.
A key component of the re-engineering process involves the proposed
shift from the every-four-month data collection schedule of traditional
SIPP to an annual data collection schedule for the re-engineered
survey. To accomplish this shift with minimal impact on data quality,
the Census Bureau proposes employing the use of an event history
calendar to gather SIPP data. The 2013 SIPP-EHC will re-interview
respondents interviewed in 2012, collecting data for the previous
calendar year as the reference period. The content of the 2013 SIPP-EHC
will closely match that of the 2012 SIPP-EHC. The SIPP-EHC design does
not contain freestanding topical modules as in the current production
SIPP instrument; however, a portion of traditional SIPP topical module
content is integrated into the main body of the 2013 SIPP-EHC
interview. The EHC allows recording dates of events and spells of
coverage and should provide measures of monthly transitions of program
receipt and coverage, labor force transitions, health insurance
transitions, and others. The 2013 SIPP-EHC will be the second test
using dependent data in conjunction with calendar methods to reduce
burden and improve quality, and the first opportunity to re-engage
respondents who either refused to participate or could not be located
for the 2012 SIPP-EHC wave 2 interviews. Further, the 2013 SIPP-EHC
will be the final dry-run prior to administration of the SIPP-EHC as
the production SIPP instrument in early CY 2014.
During the field period for the 2012 SIPP-EHC, a separate sample
was interviewed using the same instrument, but with Computer Assisted
Recorded Interview (CARI) technology implemented. For a sample of the
respondents during the 2013 SIPP-EHC audio recordings will again be
used. The Census Bureau is using CARI during data collection to capture
audio along with screen images and data values for responses during the
computer-assisted personal interviews (CAPI). With the respondent's
consent, a portion of each interview is recorded unobtrusively and both
the sound file and screen images are returned with the response data to
a central location for coding. The CARI technology will again be used
in conjunction with the 2013 SIPP-EHC. Portions of both the 2012 wave 2
SIPP-EHC and 2012 wave 1 SIPP-EHC (CARI) samples will be recorded as
part of the 2013 SIPP-EHC administration. In 2012 the CARI respondents
were first interviewed and recorded as a separate sample utilizing a
CARI enabled version of the 2012 SIPP-EHC instrument. In 2013, the CARI
sample will be combined with the SIPP-EHC sample, which will test the
capability of the SIPP-EHC instrument to perform multiple paths during
the same interview period. In 2013, the SIPP-EHC CARI sample is a Wave
2 interview, while the 2012 SIPP-EHC sample will be in its third wave.
The CARI recordings will not be limited to only the previously recorded
cases; instead, the sample being recorded in 2013 will contain both
previously recorded cases and some Wave 3 SIPP-EHC cases. This is a
critical evaluation, as evidence from external surveys (Panel Study of
Income Dynamics--PSID) suggests that simply asking the consent question
could be associated with a significant increase in survey length.
External researchers at the Institute for Social Research at the
University of Michigan suspect that improved FR adherence to protocol
is one of the sources for the longer interviews. Additionally, we need
information on the association between CARI, interview length, and
interview quality.
As a quality assurance tool, the recorded portions of the interview
allow quality assurance analysts to evaluate the likelihood that the
exchange between the field representative and respondent is authentic
and follows critical survey protocol as defined by the sponsor and
based on best practices. The 2013 SIPP-EHC field test instrument will
utilize the CARI Interactive Data Access System (CARI System), an
innovative, integrated, multifaceted monitoring system that features a
configurable web-based interface for behavior coding, quality
assurance, and coaching. This system assists in coding interviews for
measuring question and interviewer performance and the interaction
between interviewers and respondents.
The 2013 SIPP-EHC Field Test will be conducted in all 6 Census
Regional Offices from January through March of 2013. Approximately
3,000 households are expected to be interviewed for the 2013 SIPP-EHC
field test, which is comprised of approximately 2,000 cases returning
for a third wave from the 2012 SIPP-EHC and approximately 1,000 cases
returning for a second wave from the 2012 SIPP-EHC CARI. We estimate
that each household contains 2.1 people aged 15 and above, yielding
approximately 6,300 person-level interviews in the field test.
Interviews take one hour on average. The 2013 SIPP-EHC will not be
using the re-contact experiment previously used in the 2012 SIPP-EHC.
The 2013 SIPP-EHC Field Test will continue the EHC methodology
implemented in the 2012 Field Test instrument. The EHC is intended to
help respondents recall information in a more natural
``autobiographical'' manner by using life events as triggers to recall
other economic events. For example, a residence change can in many
cases occur contemporaneously with a change in employment. The entire
process of compiling the calendar focuses, by its nature, on
consistency and sequential order of events, and attempts to correct for
otherwise missing data. For example, unemployed respondents may
undertake a lengthy job search before becoming employed.
The 2013 SIPP-EHC Field Test instrument will be evaluated in
several domains including field implementation issues and data
comparability vis-[agrave]-vis the 2008 SIPP Panel and administrative
records. Distributional characteristics such as the percent of persons
receiving TANF, Food Stamps, Medicare, who are working, who are
enrolled in school, or who have health insurance coverage reported in
the EHC will be compared to the same distributions from the 2008 SIPP
Panel. The primary focus will be to examine the quality of data that
the new instrument yields for low-income programs relative to the
current SIPP and other administrative sources. The
[[Page 54887]]
field test sample is focused in low-income areas in order to increase
the ``hit rate'' of households likely to participate in government
programs.
Results from the 2010-2013 Field Tests and the 2008 SIPP Panel will
be used to inform final decisions regarding the design, content, and
implementation of the SIPP-EHC for its production beginning in 2014.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Frequency: One time.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C., Section 182.
OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained
by calling or writing Jennifer Jessup, Departmental Paperwork Clearance
Officer, (202) 482-0336, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th and
Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at
jjessup@doc.gov).
Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice
to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245)
or email (bharrisk@omb.eop.gov).
Dated: August 31, 2012.
Glenna Mickelson,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-21947 Filed 9-5-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P