[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 193 (Wednesday, October 5, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61664-61666]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-25679]
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Notices
Federal Register
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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 193 / Wednesday, October 5, 2011 /
Notices
[[Page 61664]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Economic Research Service
Notice of Intent To Request New Information Collection
AGENCY: Economic Research Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to send
comments regarding any aspect of this proposed information collection.
This is a new collection for the National Food Study.
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received on or before
December 5, 2011 to be assured of consideration.
ADDRESSES: Address all comments concerning this notice to Mark Denbaly,
Food Economics Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, 355 E St., SW., Room 05N09, Washington, DC 20024-3221.
Comments may also be submitted via fax to the attention of Mark Denbaly
at 202-245-4779 or via e-mail to [email protected]. Comments will
also be accepted through the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the online instructions for submitting
comments electronically.
All written comments will be open for public inspection at the
office of the Economic Research Service during regular business hours
(8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday) at 355 E St., SW.,
Washington, DC 20024-3221.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will
be a matter of public record. 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 of the proposed collection of
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used; (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 those who are to respond, including use of
appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological
collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information contact Mark
Denbaly at the address in the preamble. Tel. 202-694-5390.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: National Food Study.
OMB Number: 0536-XXXX.
Expiration Date: Three years from the Date of Approval.
Type of Request: New Collection.
Abstract: The National Household Food Acquisition and Purchase
Study (the National Food Study) will be conducted over a six-month
period from April through September 2012. The survey will collect
nationally representative data from 5,000 households, including 1,500
households participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program). Each participating
household will be asked to provide the pertinent information over a
one-week period. Legislative authority for the planned data collection
is Section 17 (a)(1) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, 7 U.S.C.
2026. This section authorizes the Secretary to enter into contracts
with private institutions to undertake research that will help improve
the administration and effectiveness of the SNAP in delivering
nutrition-related benefits.
The information to be collected by the National Food Study is
necessary to assess and understand the relationships among: (1) Foods
purchased for consumption at home and away from home over a one-week
period, as well as foods acquired through food and nutrition assistance
programs (both public and private); (2) household access to food,
including locations where food is acquired and distance to acquisition
points; (3) number of meals and snacks consumed by each household
member during a one-week period; and (4) household characteristics,
including income, participation in federal food assistance programs,
non-food expenditures, food security, health status, and diet and
nutrition knowledge of the primary food shopper.
This survey will provide data not currently available to program
officials and researchers, thereby broadening the scope of economic
analyses of food choices made by U.S. households and how those choices
influence diet quality and reflect decisions about participation in
food assistance programs. The information to be collected by the survey
is necessary to assess and understand the relationships among: (1) The
types of foods and beverages households purchase, including those
obtained and consumed away from home; (2) the nutritional quality of
these foods and beverages; (3) the types of food retailers within
proximity to households; (4) the influence of household income and food
prices on purchases of food brought home and food consumed away from
home; (5) levels of food security and the relationships between food
security and types of food purchases; (6) levels of dietary knowledge
and the relationship with types of food purchases; and (7) differences
in food acquisition and food security outcomes between SNAP
participants and nonparticipants.
This nationally representative survey will collect data from a
planned 5,000 households selected at random from within 50 Primary
Sampling Units (counties or groups of counties) in 27 States. The
sample will be selected from an address-based sampling frame.
Households residing at selected addresses will be asked to complete a
brief screener to determine eligibility. Eligible households will be
asked to participate in the one-week survey. The primary respondent,
identified as the primary food shopper, will be asked to use a handheld
scanner provided by the study to scan barcodes on all foods brought
into the home for a one-week period. All members of the household age
11 years and older will be asked to keep a food diary of all foods that
they acquire and consume away from home during the one-week period;
primary respondents will report the food diary information for all
household members via brief telephone interviews three times during the
week. The primary
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household respondent will also be asked to complete two interviews: (1)
Household Interview 1 will be conducted in person by a field
interviewer at the start of the data collection week and will collect
information about household demographics, food shopping, and
participation in food assistance programs; (2) Household Interview
2 will be conducted in person at the end of the data
collection week and will collect information about non-food
expenditures, income, health status, diet and nutrition knowledge, and
food security. The primary household respondent will be asked to
complete two paper forms: (1) the Meals and Snacks form contains a grid
with checkboxes to indicate the meals and snacks consumed by each
household member on each day of the one-week data collection period;
(2) the Respondent Feedback form contains four questions about
household participation in the survey, to be completed at the end of
the data collection week. To conduct the economic analyses of household
food choice behavior, data from state agencies about participation in
food programs may be used in combination with collected data. Any state
data obtained will be kept strictly confidential. The confidential
program data and linked files will be used solely for statistical and
economic research purposes that inform program administration, not for
enforcement purposes.
All study instruments will be kept as simple and respondent-
friendly as possible. Responses are voluntary and confidential. Study
instruments and procedures were tested during the National Food Study
Field Test, conducted from February through May 2011. The field test
collected data from 400 households selected at random from within two
Primary Sampling Units (counties), and tested the efficacy of two
alternate survey protocols for collecting food data and two different
incentive levels for time spent completing the forms.
Responses from the National Food Study will be combined for
statistical purposes and reported only in aggregate or statistical
form. Two sets of data files will be prepared from survey data: (1)
Public use data files that will not contain any personal identifiers
like names and addresses of respondents; and (2) restricted-access
files that will contain all data items in the public use files, plus
geocodes for households and public locations (stores and restaurants)
where foods were acquired.
Affected Public: Respondent groups include: (1) Households
participating in SNAP; (2) non-SNAP households with incomes below 100%
of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL); (3) non-SNAP households with
incomes between 100% and 185% of the FPL; and (4) non-SNAP households
with incomes above 185% of the FPL.
Estimated Number of Respondents: The estimated number of
respondents includes: (1) 24,675 households screened for income
eligibility (it is expected that 19,740 households, or 80 percent, will
complete the screener and 4,935, or 20 percent, will not); (2) of the
7,726 households expected to be determined to be eligible for the
survey after completing the screener, 5,795 (75 percent) are expected
to agree to participate and complete Household Interview 1 and
collect food data, and 1,932, (25 percent) will not; (3) of the 5,795
households who complete Household Interview 1 5,099 (88
percent) are expected to complete reporting of food obtained for home
preparation and consumption, three Telephone interviews to report food
away from home, and Household Interview 2, while 695 (12
percent) will not; (4) of the 5,795 households who complete Household
Interview 1, 4,925 (85 percent) are expected to complete the
Meals and Snacks form and Respondent Feedback form, and 869 (15
percent) will not; and (5) of the expected 13,892 food diaries to be
completed (i.e., an average of 2.4 family members per household),
12,225 diaries (88 percent) are expected to be completed and 1,667 (12
percent) will not.
Estimates of the percentages of respondents who will agree to
complete the forms are based on the National Food Study Field Test
(conducted from February through May 2011) and, insofar as possible, on
experience with previous data collections of similar complexity.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 6.51 (average).
Estimated responses per respondent are as follows: all 24,675 sampled
households will be asked to respond to the screener once; an estimated
7,726 survey-eligible households will be asked to respond to Household
Interview 1 once; and an estimated 5,795 households completing
Household Interview 1 will be asked to respond to Household
Interview 2 once.
The estimated 5,795 households completing Household Interview
1 will be asked to complete reports on and scan food brought
into the home, with an estimated frequency of three times during the
seven-day data collection period. An estimated 13,892 family members
aged 11 and above (an average of 2.4 members per household) will be
asked to complete seven daily food diaries for food not brought home.
An estimated 5,795 households will be asked to report food diary
information over the telephone three times, complete the Meals and
Snacks form on each of 7 days, and complete the Respondent Feedback
form once.
Estimated Total Annual Responses: 160,755.
Estimated Time per Response: 0.23 hours. As shown in the table
below, the estimated time of response varies from 0.02 hours (1 minute)
to 0.58 hours (35 minutes) per instrument for respondents and from 0.02
hours (1 minute) to 0.08 hours (5 minutes) per instrument for non-
respondents. These estimates of respondent burden are based on the
National Food Study field test.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: 37,562.55 hours. See
the table below for the estimated total annual burden for each type of
instrument.
Reporting Burden
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Estimated
Estimated Responses Estimated total annual
Description number of annually per Total annual average number hours of
respondents respondent reponses of hours per response
response* burden
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Household screener:
Completed interviews........ 19740 1.00 19740 0.17 3290.00
Attempted interviews 4935 1.00 4935 0.08 411.25
(including Short Form for
Refusals)..................
Household Interview 1:
Completed interviews........ 5795 1.00 5795 0.42 2414.38
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Attempted interviews........ 1932 1.00 1932 0.08 160.96
Household Interview 2:
Completed interviews........ 5099 1.00 5099 0.58 2974.51
Attempted interviews........ 695 1.00 695 0.05 34.77
Reporting food obtained for home
preparation or consumption:
Completed reports........... 5099 3.00 15297 0.17 2549.58
Attempted reports........... 695 1.00 695 0.05 34.77
Food diary:
Completed reports........... 12225 7.00 85573 0.25 21393.27
Attempted reports........... 1667 3.00 5001 0.08 416.75
Telephone reporting of ``food
away from home``:
Completed interviews........ 5099 3.00 15297 0.25 3824.37
Attempted interviews........ 695 1.00 695 0.08 57.95
Meals and Snacks Form:
Completed interviews........ 4925 7.00 34477 0.02 574.62
Attempted interviews........ 869 1.00 869 0.02 14.49
Respondent Feedback Form:
Completed interviews........ 4925 1.00 4925 0.08 410.44
Attempted interviews........ 869 1.00 869 0.02 14.49
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Total responding burden. 24,675 6.51 160,755 0.23 37562.55
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* Estimates are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Dated: September 27, 2011.
Sarahelen Thompson,
Acting Administrator, Economic Research Service, U. S. Department of
Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2011-25679 Filed 10-4-11; 8:45 am]
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