Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 232 / Friday, December 2, 2011 / Notices 75521 

a license. The prospective exclusive 

license will be royalty-bearing and will 

comply with the terms and conditions 

of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 CFR 404.7. The 

prospective exclusive license may be 

granted unless, within thirty (30) days 

from the date of this published Notice, 

the Agricultural Research Service 

receives written evidence and argument 

which establishes that the grant of the 

license would not be consistent with the 

requirements of 35 U.S.C. 209 and 37 

CFR 404.7. 

Richard J. Brenner, 

Assistant Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2011–30967 Filed 12–1–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–03–P 

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. 

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 a generic clearance that 

will allow the Economic Research 

Service to conduct a variety of 

quantitative data collections. 

DATES: Written comments on this notice 

must be received on or before January 

31, 2012 to be assured of consideration. 

ADDRESSES: Address all comments 

concerning this notice to Nathaniel 

Higgins, Resource and Rural Economics 

Division, Economic Research Service, 

U.S. Department of Agriculture, 355 E 

St. SW., Room 6S-18, Washington, DC 

20472. Comments may also be 

submitted via fax to the attention of 

Nathaniel Higgins at (202) 694–5602 or 

via email to nhiggins@ers.usda.gov. 

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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

further information contact Nathaniel 

Higgins at the address in the preamble. 

Tel. (202) 694–5602. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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., Room 6S–18, Washington, DC 

20472. 

All responses to this notice will be 

summarized and included in the request 

for Office of Management and Budget 

approval. All comments and replies 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. 

Title: Formative Data Collections for 

Informing Policy Research. 

OMB Number: 0536–XXXX. 

Expiration Date: Three years from the 

date of approval. 

Type of Request: New collection. 

Abstract: The anticipated generic 

clearance will authorize research in 

furtherance of an ongoing initiative to 

use insights from behavioral economics 

to provide economic intelligence, 

research, and analysis to inform 

agricultural resource and conservation 

policies, including those related to 

development of markets and incentives 

for environmental services, reduced 

greenhouse gas emissions and 

renewable energy production, and to 

improve food choices and weight 

outcomes, particularly among children 

and low income adults. 

The specific purpose of this generic 

clearance is to allow ERS to develop and 

implement state-of-the-art research 

methodologies to evaluate policies for 

its customers in response to both 

specific requests and in anticipation of 

future need. This generic clearance will 

be particularly useful when ERS is 

tasked with evaluating prospective 

policies. 

ERS envisions using a number of 

research techniques, as appropriate to 

the individual investigation. These 

include laboratory and field techniques, 

exploratory interviews, pilot 

experiments, and respondent debriefing. 

In all cases, participation will be 

voluntary and time commitments will 

be minimal (10–90 minutes). Laboratory 

and field techniques are two 

methodologies based on comparison of 

outcomes over groups that have been 

randomized into different treatments. 

Information obtained from 

randomized comparison studies (lab 

and field techniques) will be used to 

develop and calibrate models of 

behavior. ERS uses behavioral models to 

estimate a variety of policy outcomes, 

for instance the level of farmer 

participation in voluntary conservation 

programs under alternative contract 

terms or changes in the nutritional 

quality of meals chosen when healthy 

items are displayed more prominently. 

Variation in behavioral response can 

have important implications for 

performance measures such as 

economic efficiency and effectiveness, 

and can help predict unintended 

consequences of policy-design options. 

Improved models of behavior will help 

policymakers and program managers as 

they face decisions that affect 

agriculture, nutrition and the 

environment. 

Authority: These data will be collected 

under the authority of 7 U.S.C. 2204(a) and 

sec. 501 of the Rural Development Act of 

1972 (7 U.S.C. 2661). Individually 

identifiable data collected under this 

authority are governed by 7 U.S.C. 2276, 

which requires USDA to afford strict 

confidentiality to non-aggregated data 

provided by respondents. This Notice is 

submitted in accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13 

(44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) and Office of 

Management and Budget regulations at 5 CFR 

part 1320. ERS also complies with OMB 

Implementation Guidance, ‘‘Implementation 

Guidance for Title V of the E–Government 

Act, Confidential Information Protection and 

Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA)’’, 

72 FR 33362, June 15, 2007. 

Affected Public: Respondents will 

include Individuals and households. 

Estimated Number of Respondents and 

Respondent Burden 

The proposed generic clearance will 

enable a number of separate data 

collections. No data collection is 

estimated to take longer than 90 minutes 

per respondent, including the time 

required for respondents and nonrespondents to review instructions and 

participate in the data collection. 

The estimated number of respondents 

participating in data collections under 

this generic clearance over a three year 

period is 1,800. The maximum total 

estimated response burden for all of 

those participating in the study is 2,300 

hours. 


jlentini on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
75522 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 232 / Friday, December 2, 2011 / Notices 

Dated: November 9, 2011. 

Mary Bohman, 

Acting Administrator, Economic Research 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2011–30969 Filed 12–1–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–18–P 

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS 

Notice of a Public Meeting of the 

Wyoming Advisory Committee to the 

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights 

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to 

the provisions of the rules and 

regulations of the U.S. Commission on 

Civil Rights (Commission) and the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act 

(FACA) that a planning meeting of the 

Wyoming Advisory Committee to the 

Commission (Committee) will convene 

by conference call at 10 a.m. (MDT) on 

Monday, December 19, 2011. The 

purpose of the meeting is to discuss 

next steps after project selection. 

This meeting is available to the public 

through the following toll-free call-in 

number: (800) 516–9896, conference ID: 

8334. Any interested member of the 

public may call this number and listen 

to the meeting. Callers can expect to 

incur charges for calls they initiate over 

wireless lines, and the Commission will 

not refund any incurred charges. Callers 

will incur no charge for calls they 

initiate over land-line connections to 

the toll-free telephone number. Persons 

with hearing impairments may also 

follow the proceedings by dialing 711 

for relay services and 1-(800) 516–9896, 

followed by Conference ID: 8334. 

Members of the public are entitled to 

submit written comments; the 

comments must be received in the 

regional office by January 19, 2012. 

Comments may be mailed to the Rocky 

Mountain Regional Office, U.S. 

Commission on Civil Rights, 999 - 18th 

Street, Suite 1380 South, Denver, CO 

80202, faxed to (303) 866–1050, or 

emailed to ebohor@usccr.gov. Persons 

who desire additional information may 

contact the Rocky Mountain Regional 

Office by email at ebohor@usccr.gov or 

by phone at (303) 866–1040. 

Records generated from this meeting 

may be inspected and reproduced at the 

Rocky Mountain Regional Office, as 

they become available, both before and 

after the meeting. Persons interested in 

the work of the Committee are directed 

to the Commission’s Web site, http:// 

www.usccr.gov, or may contact the 

Rocky Mountain Regional Office at the 

above email or street address. 

To ensure that the Commission 

secures an appropriate number of 

telephone lines for the public, persons 

are asked to contact the Rocky Mountain 

Regional Office 10 days before the 

meeting date either by email at 

ebohor@usccr.gov, or by phone at (303) 

866–1040. 

The meeting will be conducted 

pursuant to the rules and regulations of 

the Commission and FACA. 

Dated in Washington, DC, November 28, 

2011. 

Peter Minarik, 

Acting Chief, Regional Programs 

Coordination Unit. 

[FR Doc. 2011–30979 Filed 12–1–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6335–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for clearance the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

chapter 35). 

Agency: U.S. Census Bureau. 

Title: 2012 Survey of Income and 

Program Participation Computer Audio 

Recorded Interviewing Field Test. 

OMB Control Number: None. 

Form Number(s): SIPP–CARI 2012 DR 

105(L)—Director’s Letter English; SIPP– 

CARI 2012 DR 105(L)(SP) 2012— 

Director’s Letter Spanish; SIPP–EHC 

4006A Brochure ‘‘SIPP You Represent 

Your Nation;’’ SIPP/CARI Automated 

Instrument. 

Type of Request: New collection. 

Burden Hours: 1,890. 

Number of Respondents: 1,890. 

Average Hours per Response: 1 hour. 

Needs and Uses: The U.S. Census 

Bureau requests authorization from the 

Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) to conduct a Computer Audio 

Recorded Interviewing (CARI) 

technology field test using the 2012 

Survey of Income and Program 

Participation Event History Calendar 

(SIPP–EHC) Field Test questionnaire. 

Computer Audio Recorded 

Interviewing is a data collection method 

that captures audio along with response 

data during computer-assisted personal 

and telephone interviews (CAPI & 

CATI). A portion of each interview is 

recorded unobtrusively, with the 

respondent’s consent, and the sound file 

is returned with the response data to a 

central location. By reviewing the 

recorded portions of the interview, 

quality assurance (QA) analysts can 

evaluate the likelihood that the 

exchange between the field 

representative (FR) and respondent is 

authentic and follows critical survey 

protocol as defined by the sponsor and 

based on best practices. 

The Census Bureau will conduct the 

SIPP CARI test using the 2012 SIPP– 

EHC automated instrument and 

computer-assisted personal interviewing 

(CAPI) in 6 of the 12 Regional Offices. 

The SIPP CARI questionnaire will have 

the recording capability in use during 

the interview. The only content change 

to the instrument is the addition of a 

consent question which will record the 

respondent’s permission to audio record 

responses. Additionally, approximately 

25 specific questions are programmed 

for recording for each person’s 

interview. 

This is the second CARI field test 

conducted by the Census Bureau. The 

first CARI field test was used to conduct 

behavior coding for the 2010 American 

Community Survey Content Test in late 

2010. The Census Bureau is conducting 

this test to determine if the deployment 

of CARI will have any significant impact 

on response rates and item level 

responses. Previous tests for CARI have 

proven the capability of the technology. 

Other tests have also been conducted on 

non-voluntary surveys and proved 

promising. However, it is important for 

the Census Bureau to obtain information 

on the impact of this technology on data 

quality indicators for voluntary 

demographic surveys. If the test proves 

successful, this technology would be a 

major asset for all programs using 

computer assisted personal and 

telephone modes of data collection to 

assist in meeting quality objectives. 

The 2012 SIPP CARI test will be 

conducted between May and June 2012. 

We will implement the CARI technology 

on a portion of the 2012 SIPP–EHC data 

collection instrument. This test will be 

conducted on a separate sample than 

that of the 2012 SIPP–EHC field test. 

In addition to the actual recording 

capability, the CARI Interactive Data 

Access System has been developed as a 

monitoring system that allows for the 

analysis of audio and image files to be 

conducted immediately after 

completion and transmission of the 

interview. The system is an innovative, 

integrated, multifaceted monitoring 

system that features a configurable webbased interface for behavior-coding, 

quality assurance and coaching. The 

system assists in coding interviews for 

measuring question and interviewer 

performance and the interaction 

between interviewers and respondents. 

The 2012 SIPP CARI field test 

instrument will be evaluated in several 

domains including field implementation 

issues and data quality vis-a`-vis the 

SIPP 2011 and 2012 field test results. 


jlentini on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with NOTICES