[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 144 (Monday, July 28, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43782-43783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-17649]
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NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES
National Endowment for the Arts
Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposals, Submissions,
and Approvals
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), as part of its
continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites
the general public to take this opportunity to comment on the ``Generic
Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service
Delivery '' for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44
U.S.C. 3501 et. seq.). This collection was developed as part of a
Federal Government-wide effort to streamline the process for seeking
feedback from the public on service delivery, This notice announces our
intent to submit this collection to OMB for approval and solicits
comments on specific aspects for the proposed information collection,
DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by
September 27, 2014.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments by one of the following methods:
Web site: www.regulations.gov. Direct comments to Docket
ID OMB-2010-0021.
Email: [email protected].
Fax: 202-682-5577.
Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available
to the public through posting on a government Web site. For this
reason, please do not include in your comments information of a
confidential nature, such as sensitive personal information or
proprietary information. If you send an email comment, your email
address will be automatically captured and included as part of the
comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the
Internet. Please note that responses to this public comment request
containing any routine notice about the confidentiality of the
communication will be treated as public comments that may be made
available to the public notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine
notice.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sunil Iyengar, National Endowment for
the Arts, 400 7th Street SW., Washington, DC 20506-0001, telephone
(202) 682-5424 (this is not a toll-free number), fax (202) 682-5677.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
[[Page 43783]]
Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback
on Agency Service Delivery
Abstract: The proposed information collection activity provides a
means to garner qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an
efficient, timely manner, in accordance with the Administration's
commitment to improving service delivery. By qualitative feedback we
mean information that provides useful insights on perceptions and
opinions, but are not statistical surveys that yield quantitative
results that can be generalized to the population of study. This
feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder
perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an early warning of
issues with service, or focus attention on areas where communication,
training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or
services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and
actionable communications between the Agency and its customers and
stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the
improvement of program management.
The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: Timeliness,
appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of
service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery.
Responses will be assessed to plan and inform efforts to improve or
maintain the quality of service offered to the public. If this
information is not collected, vital feedback from customers and
stakeholders on the Agency's services will be unavailable.
The Agency will only submit a collection for approval under this
generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
The collections are voluntary;
The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on
considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or
burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents
and the Federal Government;
The collections are non-controversial and do not raise
issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions
from respondents who have experience with the program or may have
experience with the program in the near future;
Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected
only to the extent necessary and is not retained;
Information gathered will be used only internally for
general service improvement and program management purposes and is not
intended for release outside of the agency;
Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of
substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
Information gathered will yield qualitative information;
the collections will not be designed or expected to yield statistically
reliable results or used as though the results are generalizable to the
population of study.
Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful
information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized to the
overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative
information will not be used for quantitative information collections
that are designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as
monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such
data uses require more rigorous designs that address: the target
population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame,
the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the
precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed
sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing
potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any
testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding
the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely
to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for
other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative
results.
As a general matter, information collections will not result in any
new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask
questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes,
religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered
private.
Current Actions: Extension of approval for a collection of
information.
Type of Review: Extension.
Affected Public: Individuals and Households, Businesses and
Organizations, State, Local or Tribal Government.
Estimated Number of Respondents Across All Three Years: 15,000.
Below we provide projected average estimates for the next three
years:
Average Expected Annual Number of activities: 3.
Average number of Respondents per Activity: 1,667.
Annual responses: 5,000.
Frequency of Response: Once per request.
Average minutes per response: 15.
Average Expected Annual Burden hours: 1,167.
Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the 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 collection of
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; (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; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide
information. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose
or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the
time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and
utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting,
validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining
information, and disclosing and providing information; to train
personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to
search data sources, to complete and review the collection of
information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
All written comments will be available for public inspection
Regulations.gov.
An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a
currently valid Office of Management and Budget control number.
Dated: July 23, 2014.
Kathy Plowitz-Worden,
Panel Coordinator, Office of Guidelines & Panel Operations.
[FR Doc. 2014-17649 Filed 7-28-14; 8:45 am]
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