82 FR 41666 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request; 60-Day Notice for Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery

NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES
National Endowment for the Arts

Federal Register Volume 82, Issue 169 (September 1, 2017)

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.

[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 169 (Friday, September 1, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41666-41667]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2017-18551]


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NATIONAL FOUNDATION ON THE ARTS AND THE HUMANITIES

National Endowment for the Arts


Proposed Collection; Comment Request; 60-Day Notice for Generic 
Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service 
Delivery

AGENCY: National Endowment for the Arts, National Foundation on the 
Arts and the Humanities.

ACTION: Notice.

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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: Written comments are due by October 31, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: 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, or send 
via email to [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For specific questions related to 
collection activities, please contact Melissa Menzer, 202-682-5548, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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.
    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.

[[Page 41667]]

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 is used only internally for general 
service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended 
for release outside of the agency;
     Information gathered is not used for the purpose of 
substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
     Information gathered yields qualitative information; the 
collections are not 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.
    Below we provide projected average estimates for the next three 
years:
    Estimated Number of Respondents Across All Three Years: 15,000.
    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.

    Dated: August 29, 2017.
Kathy Daum,
Director, Administrative Services, National Endowment for the Arts.
[FR Doc. 2017-18551 Filed 8-31-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 7537-01-P