Notice2021-20513
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; Weather and Society Survey, and Using Quick Response Surveys To Build a Public Perception and Response Database
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 22, 2021
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Abstract
The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment preceding submission of the collection to OMB.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 181 (Wednesday, September 22, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 181 (Wednesday, September 22, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 52649-52650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-20513]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment
Request; Weather and Society Survey, and Using Quick Response Surveys
To Build a Public Perception and Response Database
AGENCY: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.
ACTION: Notice of information collection, revised request for comment.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce, in accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), invites the general public and other
Federal agencies to comment on proposed, and continuing information
collections, which helps us assess the impact of our information
collection requirements and minimize the public's reporting burden. The
purpose of this notice is to allow for 60 days of public comment
preceding submission of the collection to OMB.
DATES: To ensure consideration, comments regarding this proposed
information collection must be received on or before November 22, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments to
Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#246540564d414a4a410a504c4b494557644a4b45450a434b52"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="5f1e3b2d363a31313a712b3730323e2c1f31303e3e71383029">[email protected]</span></a>. Please
reference OMB Control Number 0648-xxxx in the subject line of your
comments. Do not submit Confidential Business Information or otherwise
sensitive or protected information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
specific questions related to collection activities should be directed
to Nicole Kurkowski, R2O Team Lead, DOC/NOAA/NWS/OSTI, 1325 East-West
Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301.427.9104,
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1f71767c70737a31746a6d7470686c74765f71707e7e31787069"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="2846414b47444d06435d5a43475f5b43416846474949064f475e">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
A notice of request for a new information collection was previously
published in the Federal Register on August 19, 2021 (86 FR 46681)
regarding this collection. This revised notice incorporates an
additional collection of information and this notice will allow for an
additional 60 days for public comment.
In alignment with the Weather Forecasting and Innovation Act of
2017 (Pub. L. 115-25), two data collections are proposed under this
request. There are no other collections for which these can be merged.
The first proposed information collection request is sponsored by
DOC/NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS)/Office of Science and
Technology Integration (OSTI). Currently, NOAA lacks data and data
collection instruments that articulate and explicate how individuals
receive, interpret, and respond to NOAA information, forecasts, and
warnings for severe, winter, and tropical weather hazards. Furthermore,
NOAA lacks this type of data longitudinally (i.e., collected over
time). Without this type of longitudinal data, NOAA, and the NWS
specifically, cannot determine if it has met its mission of saving
lives and property, propose societal impact performance metrics, nor
demonstrate if progress or improvements have been made, as outlined in
the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017. This
effort aims to advance the Tornado Warning Improvement and Extension
Program (TWIEP)'s goal to ``reduce the loss of life and economic losses
from tornadoes through the development and extension of accurate,
effective, and timely tornado forecasts, predictions, and warnings,
including the prediction of tornadoes beyond one hour in advance (Pub.
L. 115-25)''. This work addresses NOAA's 5-year Research and
Development Vision Areas (2020-2026) Section 1.4 (FACETs). The Weather
and Society Survey also advances the findings of the National Academy
of Science 2012 report, ``Assessment of the NWS Modernization
Program'', in reference to NWS' ``chain of events associated with a
tornado warning'' (p52). This effort also advances the NWS Strategic
Plan (2019-2022) ``Transformative Impact-Based Decision Support
Services (IDSS) and Research to Operations and Operations to Research
(R2O/O2R). Furthermore, the Survey furthers the NWS Weather Ready
Nation (WRN) Roadmap (2013) Sections 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3, 1.1.8, and
3.1.4.
This information would be collected at the Cooperative Institute
for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS) and the University of
Oklahoma's Center for Risk and Crisis Management (CRCM), who has
developed data collection instruments that would allow for more routine
and longitudinal data collection, as the data will be collected on an
annual basis. Furthermore, this team has developed interactive
``dashboards'', or tools, to visualize the aggregated data.
[[Page 52650]]
Respondents include adults (age 18+) who reside in the United
States, recruited by survey companies that maintain large panels of
people who sign up to complete internet surveys, such as Qualtrics and
Survey Sampling International. Respondents will be asked questions
about the ways they have received, interpreted, and responded to NWS
information, forecasts, and warnings for severe, tropical, and winter
weather hazards. Questions about preparedness for specific hazards such
as heat waves, tornadoes, and drought may also be included. This data
collection serves many purposes, including gaining a better
understanding of how key factors within a given population, or
organization, vary over time, location, and across different groups;
the ability to detect gradual trends or abrupt changes in those factors
over time or in response to particular events; and the potential to
explore possible correlations and causal relationships with other
observed variables of interest. These data will be used by the OSTI in
NWS to develop a baseline and performance metrics to improve the
information and services it provides and to help members of the weather
enterprise answer basic questions about the people in the communities
they serve, which is a necessary step towards customizing and improving
risk communication, education, and decision support to meet the
characteristics of the community, including those in vulnerable
populations. The information collected will help identify differences
and best practices between communities and assist NWS in developing new
education and risk communication strategies. The survey data and its
associated dashboard will serve as interactive tools to allow NWS
forecasters, partners, and policymakers to access and explore data for
training and performance evaluation purposes.
The second proposed collection is sponsored through NOAA's FY2021
Weather Program Office's Social Science Program, and addresses the
Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBES) component of meeting
NOAA's Research and Development (R&D) Vision Areas (2020-2026) to
integrate SBES into products, tools, and services that improve weather
and air quality forecasting and societal outcomes.
This proposal aims to create an online survey system for collecting
data on the publics' perception and response to four different hazards:
Tornados, thunderstorm winds over 70 miles per hour (mph), flash
floods, and winter weather. The online surveys will be the building
blocks for a multi-year, cross-sectional database on human perception
and response. The survey system will enable individual National Weather
Service Weather Forecast Offices (WFOs) to disseminate Quick Response
Surveys (QRS) soon after a hazardous event occurs to collect perishable
data on the publics' perceptions and response. Select WFOs will
distribute the QRSs using web links on NWS social media and core
partners' social media or email lists. Surveys will ask the public
questions on timing, location, weather information sources, motivations
and influences for taking protective action to gain insights into how
NWS warning communications interact with these factors to result in
protective action behaviors.
II. Method of Collection
For the first collection, the primary method of data collection
will be a web-based survey interface. Specific questions in the surveys
determine how members of the U.S. public receive, comprehend, and
respond to severe, tropical, and winter weather related information.
Furthermore, these survey items will be translated to Spanish.
The second collection will include online surveys to be implemented
and aggregated using Qualtrics survey software. The surveys will be
displayed on a desktop, tablet or mobile device allowing the public to
take the survey whenever they have internet access. Select WFOs will
distribute the QRSs using web links on NWS social media and core
partners' social media or email lists.
III. Data
OMB Control Number: 0648-XXXX.
Form Number(s): None.
Type of Review: Regular (New information collection).
Affected Public: Individuals or households.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 101,000.
Estimated Time per Response: Response time varies depending on the
survey instrument, but the typical response time is between 10 and 20
minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 7,667.
Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: None.
Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
Legal Authority: 15 U.S.C. Ch. 111, Weather Research and
Forecasting Information.
IV. Request for Comments
We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau
to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is
necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether
the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy
of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed
collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of
the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden
on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone
number, email address, or other personal identifying information in
your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment--including
your personal identifying information--may be made publicly available
at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your
personal identifying information from public review, we cannot
guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Sheleen Dumas,
Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief Information
Officer, Commerce Department.
[FR Doc. 2021-20513 Filed 9-21-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-KE-P
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