Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request, 54885-54887 [2012-21947]

Download as PDF 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born to American citizens overseas, the foreign-born question that asked if the owner was born in the United States has been replaced by a new question that asks if the owner was born a citizen of the United States.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 VerDate Mar<15>2010 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 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 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. PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 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
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