[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 153 (Tuesday, August 10, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48306-48308]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-19679]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

U.S. Census Bureau


Proposed Information Collection; Comment Request; National Survey 
of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation (FHWAR) Cell 
Phone and Debit Card Test

AGENCY: U.S. Census Bureau.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: 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

[[Page 48307]]

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 October 12, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments to Diana Hynek, Departmental 
Paperwork Clearance Officer, Department of Commerce, Room 6616, 14th 
and Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet 
at [email protected]).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of the information collection instrument(s) and instructions 
should be directed to Deborah Kinnaman at the U.S. Census Bureau, 4600 
Silver Hill Road, Room 7H113, Washington, DC 20233-8400 (or via the 
Internet at [email protected].)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION 

I. Abstract

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Census Bureau 
plan to conduct (covered under separate OMB clearance number 1018-0088) 
the 2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated 
Recreation (FHWAR). The FHWAR data assist Federal and State agencies in 
administering the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration grant programs 
and provide up-to-date information on the uses and demands for 
wildlife-related recreation resources, trends in uses of those 
resources, and a basis for developing and evaluating programs and 
projects to meet existing and future needs.
    In 2011, the majority (about 90%) of FHWAR cases will be conducted 
by Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) in the Census 
Bureau's decentralized telephone centers. The remaining cases (about 
10%) will be conducted by Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing 
(CAPI) in the Census Bureau's regional offices. Because the FHWAR is an 
address-based sample, we predict we will be able to obtain a phone 
number for approximately 50% of the addresses through address-telephone 
match vendors and through research conducted by the telephone centers. 
We will not be able to obtain telephone numbers for approximately 
34,064 cases in sample; these cases will be eligible for a CAPI 
interview. Unfortunately, the budget for the 2011 FHWAR is 
significantly limiting the number of CAPI interviews that we can 
conduct. Therefore, we will subsample and pre-identify approximately 
5,200 cases (out of the 34,064 cases without phone numbers) for the 
CAPI sample.
    All households will be mailed an advance letter prior to 
interviewing explaining the survey and requesting that a household 
member call one of the Census Bureau telephone centers to conduct an 
interview. In addition to the CATI cases, the pre-identified 5,200 CAPI 
cases will be available for CATI interviewing in the telephone centers 
with the expectation that some respondents in these households will 
call the telephone centers to conduct an interview in CATI. The CATI 
operation will begin on April 1, 2011. One month later, the cases that 
were pre-selected for CAPI that have not been conducted in CATI will be 
transferred to field representatives for personal visits in the CAPI 
operation.
    As part of the 2011 FHWAR, we plan to research alternative methods 
to improve response rates and coverage and to maximize the CATI 
operation since budget restrictions have significantly reduced, and 
will continue to reduce, our CAPI sample adding variance to the data. 
The CAPI component is particularly important because we know that 
households with available phone numbers may differ in characteristics 
from those without telephones and those with unlisted phone numbers.
    In an effort to reach households in which a phone number is 
unobtainable, we plan to conduct a test in the first wave of 
interviewing (the FHWAR is conducted in three waves) that includes 
three panels of 500 households each. These panels will be subsampled 
from the 34,064 cases without attainable phone numbers. (The remaining 
27,364 cases of the 34,064 eligible for CAPI will not be selected for 
the 2011 FHWAR.) These 1,500 cases will remain in the CATI sample; they 
will not be transferred to the CAPI operation.
    The first panel will receive an advance letter with a prepaid cell 
phone. The advance letter will request that a household member call the 
telephone center and complete an interview using the cell phone. Census 
Bureau interviewers also will attempt to call these households using 
the cell phone number during the production period.
    The second panel will receive an advance letter and a $25.00 debit 
card. The advance letter will request that a household member call the 
telephone center to complete an interview and accept the debit card as 
a ``thank you'' for participating.
    The third panel will receive only an advance letter that requests a 
household member call the telephone center to complete an interview.

    Note: The data from these three test panels will be analyzed 
separately for research purposes, and therefore will be excluded 
from the final 2011 FHWAR survey data.

    We plan to have two additional panels of all the households from 
our FHWAR survey sample for quality comparison. The first additional 
panel (Panel 4) will be cases that are sent to CAPI in the FHWAR 
survey. The second additional panel (Panel 5) will be the cases from 
our CATI sample. Both of these panels will receive an advance letter 
requesting that a household member call the telephone center to 
complete an interview. The table below outlines the panel sample sizes.

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                       2011 FHWAR Research Panels
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                          Panel                             Sample Size
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1. Advance Letter and Cell Phone........................             500
2. Advance Letter and Incentive.........................             500
3. Advance Letter Only..................................             500
4. Advance Letter with Personal Visit Follow-up.........           5,200
(CAPI)\*\...............................................
5. Advance Letter with Telephone Follow-up (CATI).......          47,891
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\*\ Note: Panels 4 and 5 are FHWAR production sample which will be used
  for comparison.

    The five panels will help us determine whether there are viable 
alternatives to collecting data through a personal visit when we only 
have an address. First, we would like to decide if any of these 
alternatives are feasible. If the operation of collecting the data 
works, (i.e., test respondents call the telephone centers and/or 
contact is made via the cell phone), we want to determine which 
alternative works best in terms of response rates and cost.
    First, we will look at the response rates of the five panels. We 
will consider Panel 4 (Advance Letter with Personal Visit--the current 
method) as the base line for our study. We will compare the response 
rate from this panel to the response rates of Panels 1, 2, and 3. These 
comparisons will help us determine if any of the alternative procedures 
produce response rates equal to or greater than the current method for 
cases without phone numbers. Within the three alternative methods, we 
will consider Panel 3 as a base line and compare its response rate to 
the response rates of Panels 1 and 2. This test will determine which of 
the three alternatives produces the highest response rate. In another 
analysis, we will compare the response rate of the cases with no 
available phone number

[[Page 48308]]

to the response rate of the cases with a phone number (Panel 4 versus 
Panel 5). This will help to determine whether conducting a CATI 
interview differs from conducting a CAPI interview in terms of response 
rates.
    We also will analyze the cost and data quality to decide whether 
sending the household a cell phone or monetary incentive are possible 
options in the survey data collection process. We will analyze the cost 
to determine if we can obtain any savings by introducing either of 
these methods, even if the response rates differ across panels. If this 
study proves successful, it will provide an option for future FHWAR 
surveys and other Census surveys by helping to identify the difference 
between telephone- and no-telephone-available households. This may 
allow us to minimize CAPI interviewing and maximize CATI interviewing.

II. Method of Collection

    Data is collected either by CATI or by CAPI. CATI interviewing is 
scheduled to begin April 1, 2011 and end on June 5, 2011. CAPI 
interviewing is scheduled to begin May 5, 2011 and end on June 5, 2011.

III. Data

    OMB Control Number: None.
    Form Number: None.
    Type of Review: Regular submission.
    Affected Public: Households or Individuals.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,500.
    Estimated Time Per Response:
    Screener--7 minutes;
    Hunting and Fishing--1st Interview--14 minutes;
    Wildlife Watching--1st interview--11 minutes.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours:

 
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                                                                                    Completion
                                                     Number of       Number of       time per      Annual burden
                    Activity                         household      participant      response          hours
                                                    respondents     respondents      (minutes)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Screener........................................           1,500  ..............               7             175
Hunting and Fishing.............................  ..............             246              14              57
Wildlife Observer...............................  ..............             121              11              22
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals\*\...................................           1,500             367  ..............            254
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\*\ Note: The burden hours for Panels 4 and 5 are covered in a separate OMB clearance for the FHWAR survey.

    Estimated Total Annual Cost: No cost to the respondent.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13 U.S.C. Section 8(b).

IV. Request for Comments

    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden 
(including hours and cost) of the proposed collection of information; 
(c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the 
information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the 
collection of information on respondents, including through the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of this information 
collection; they also will become a matter of public record.

Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
[FR Doc. 2010-19679 Filed 8-9-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P