V-C STATE COLLEGE AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD of SCHOOL DIRECTORS 131 WEST NITTANY AVENUE • STATE COLLEGE PENNSYLVANIA • 16801-4899 TELEPHONE: 814-231-1016 • FAX: 814-231-4130

To: Board of Directors From: Jim Leous/Communications Subcommittee Date: April 4, 2013 Re: Recommendation of SSRS The Communications Subcommittee of the State College Area School Board recommends the selection of Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS) to conduct a representative survey of the community regarding the State College High School project. The specific goals of the survey are to:

1. Identify those design options which have a substantial amount of community support, and those which have little or no community support;

2. Develop a better understanding of the community's willingness/ability to pay for a project; and

3. Further inform the community regarding the status, timeline, and scope of the project. With that outlined, we recommend the Board charge the Communications Subcommittee to collaborate with SSRS to help develop the survey questions, accept the attached proposal to provide their surveying services for the district and select Option #4 of the survey proposal options. It is our belief that the larger sample population and on-line options would be more favorable to our community. Thank you. Submitted by, Jim Leous, Chair, on behalf of the Board Communications Subcommittee

Proposal to Conduct a High School Project Community Opinion Survey

March 19, 2013 Prepared for:

State College Area School District

Board of School Directors and Robert J. O’Donnell, Superintendent of Schools

131 W. Nittany Avenue

State College, PA 16801

Prepared by: Deb Winneberger, Account Executive

David Dutwin, PhD, Executive Vice President Social Science Research Solutions

484-840-4376 dwinneberger@ssrs.com

ddutwin@ssrs.com

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Introduction The State College Area School District (SCASD) is interested in conducting a survey among the residents in the school district community regarding their opinions on the High School Project. The specific goals of the research are to:

• Identify which options have a substantial amount of support in the community (or identify which options have the most/least community support).

• Develop a better sense of the community’s ability/willingness to afford a project in the context of other budget demands.

As experts and specialists in social science research, the SSRS research team is especially well-suited to conduct this study. Our research team has firsthand knowledge of, and experience with, conducting quantitative research projects specifically with regard to community surveying and opinion polling. SSRS is a full service survey research firm that specializes in creative problem-solving and informed analysis to meet its clients’ research goals. SSRS provides the complete set of analytical, administrative and management capabilities needed for successful project execution. Our staff is committed to producing the highest quality work in all phases of project execution, working flexibly with SCASD to ensure needs are met, and communicating with SCASD board members and project staff in order to ensure a common understanding at all points of the project’s timeline. The following sections of this proposal present the scope of work, project schedule, SSRS’s related capabilities, project staffing and costs associated with conducting the High School Project Research. History of SSRS Social Science Research Solutions is a sister company to ICR/International Communications Research. ICR was started by Fred Soulas in May 1983. AUS, a New Jersey-certified Women Business Enterprise global market research and consulting firm, purchased ICR in 1985. The principals of SSRS (Melissa Herrmann and David Dutwin, Ph.D.) led the Social Science Research Group at ICR from 1998 to late 2008. During these ten years, they gained a reputation for conducting many types of survey research, from small-scale omnibus studies to large-scale custom research projects; from basic data-delivery studies to projects requiring extensive multivariate analysis and reporting; and from fast-turnaround general population polls to extensive and complex studies of specialized low-incidence populations.

Today, SSRS is a division of AUS, drawing from the various strengths of the AUS family. Through its affiliation with AUS, SSRS and ICR share resources and experience with the other AUS business units - Centris, a research firm that targets in-home technology including data, video, and

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voice; Marketing Systems Group (MSG), one of the premiere sampling and database management companies in the U.S.; STR, a cutting-edge data collection center; RoyaltySource® valuation services; and AUS Consultants, who provide expertise in the utility industry.

SSRS has a staff of 50 employees including programmers, coders, project managers, and operational directors at our Media, PA headquarters, and more than 200 telephone interviewers in four sites across the nation. We are managed by a core of dedicated professionals with advanced degrees in the social sciences, who partner with clients interested in conducting high-quality social science, opinion, or population research. In the industry, we are renowned for our intricate sample designs and our experience with all modes of data collection, including those involving multimodal formats. We have been in the forefront of research utilizing addressed-based sampling (ABS) designs and multimodal formats to conduct surveys. We have presented publicly at the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Conference about our use of ABS, taught short courses at the AAPOR Conference and PAPOR (Pacific Chapter of the American Association for Public Opinion Research) Conference on addressed-based sampling. Also, in Survey Practice, a leading online journal devoted to advances in public opinion research, we published results of AB sampling design experiments conducted across several Health Insurance Surveys. General Project Specifications For the SCACD High School Project Research, we will execute an address based sampling design (ABS) mail survey with an option to also allow for residents to complete the survey online. SSRS has executed large-scale studies using this type of sampling methodology. Compared to a telephone based survey, for purposes of this study in the community, address-based sample offers excellent coverage and the best option. SSRS’s chief methodologist, David Dutwin, has designed and executed numerous ABS survey designs. In addition, Dr. Dutwin has taught several courses on address based sampling for the American Association of Public Opinion Research and is considered an expert in these types of study design. Sampling Plan Telephone interviewing today is more challenging than ever, given the persistent decline in the proportion of households that can be reached using a “landline” telephone. Currently cell phone only households are close to 40%. Unfortunately, cell phone interviewing is a more expensive alternative because a disproportionate number of cell users are under the age of 18 and must subsequently be screened out of the interview; and others will get screened out of the study since they are not residents of the State College Area School District.

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For purposes of this study, the address-based design is more precise than either cell phones or landlines, as ABS sample can be selected based on a specific address and neighborhood. Instrument Capitalizing on our vast experience in survey design, SSRS is happy to serve as an active partner in the questionnaire design stages of the SCASD study. Our proposed project staff has more than fifty years of combined experience developing and implementing surveys. The volume and diversity of surveys we have fielded has provided us with unique insight into the effectiveness of various question-wording and ordering options. We understand how to avoid nonresponse in surveys of this kind by asking questions in a way that is comfortable for respondents, making sure that they understand the questions as the researchers intend them to be understood. This pertains to the basic questions as well as specific questions about the high school project options. Upon final approval of a questionnaire, SSRS will format and if opted program the survey into its online-interviewing system. For estimating purposes, the following assumptions have been made for the design options:

• 500 or 1000 interviews with adults ages 18 and older who are registered to vote.

• Surveys will be collected among those who do not qualify for purposes of weighting to the demographics of the community

• Average length of the interview will be 10 minutes, including screener and demographics.

• Coding for one open-ended and two “other-specify” questions. • Two mailings to boost response rate (to be handled by the SCASD

directly) • Data entry and tabulations of all returned mail surveys against

one banner of cross tabulations ABS Field Procedures The AB sample file would be generated of a random selection of SCASD residential addresses currently in use based on the United States Postal Service (USPS) Delivery Sequence File (DSF). The DSF is a computerized file that contains information on all delivery addresses serviced by the USPS, with the exception of general delivery.1 The DSF is updated weekly and contains home and apartment addresses as well as Post Office boxes and other types of residential addresses for mail delivery.

1 See http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/509.htm.

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SSRS will append the file with an identifying match code number for tracking which households return the survey. This file will be emailed to SCASD along with the formatted questionnaire so SCASD can print and mail the surveys. Included in a SCASD outgoing envelope along with the survey will be a cover letter on SCASD letterhead and a Business Reply envelope (which will be shipped to SCASD by SSRS). SRSS will work with the school district in wording the cover letter and in designing the survey instrument prior to printing by SCASD. The cover letters on SCASD letterhead will be signed by an SCASD official asking residents to participate in the survey. To boost response rate, up to two mailings will be sent by SCASD to selected households; one at the start of the field and a second after two weeks in the field to households who had not yet responded. Both mailings will include the survey. Data Weighting SSRS will weight the final data in two stages, described below. The first stage will develop a “baseweight” (design weight) to correct for any disproportionate stratification that may have been executed as part of the sampling plan. In addition, we develop other typical base weight adjustments, such as correcting for the number of adults in the household and non-response. Following the base-weighting process, we will use an iterative proportionate fitting (IPF) procedure to develop final weights that allow projection to the overall population. IPF (“raking”) uses least-squares curve fitting algorithms to obtain a unique weight for each case that minimizes the root mean square error (RMSE) across multiple dimensions simultaneously. Then it applies these weights to the data and repeats the procedure using the newly obtained marginal counts to obtain yet another set of weights. This process is repeated for a specified number of iterations or until the difference in the RMSE between successive steps becomes less than a specific minimum value. This study would employ an IPF procedure using the statistical software, QBAL. QBAL not only is “industry standard” software for sample balancing post-stratification but also allows for the application of a pre-existing weight to the input data for the sample balancing process. As such, the pre-weight described above will be entered into the program, and post-stratification targets will be entered for age, race/ethnicity, gender, tenure (homeownership), and education based on U.S. Census American Community Survey estimates. Delivery of Data SSRS provides our partners with clean and fully labeled SPSS datasets for virtually every project we complete. Supplying our clients with data

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tabulations as well as a detailed, sophisticated report of methodology and a final PowerPoint report is also a routine part of our work. At the end of field, SSRS would deliver the cleaned, weighted data files in a predetermined agreed upon format, along with a data dictionary and codebook, and a complete methodology detailing the survey construction, data manipulations, and output construction. Proposed Project Timeline

Element Timeline from Project Execution

Questionnaire Development and Approval

Weeks 1-2

Sample Generation Weeks 1-2 Production and Mailing of Survey Instrument

Week 3

Second Mailing of Survey Instrument Week 5 End of Field Week 8 Data Reduction and Tabulation Weeks 9-10 Report Delivery End of Week 10

We recommend a six week field as this allows respondents time to respond and leads to optimal response rates. However, we can conduct the study in a four week field if necessary. Cost Proposal Below are the budgets for the various options for the project. All options assume that the State College Area School District will handle the printing, mailing and postage costs for sending out the surveys to residents. SSRS will provide a sample file of residences to mail to and will also provide an updated file after two weeks for which households to eliminate from second mailing. Surveys will need to be printed with an individual code number for identifying which surveys were returned so they can be excluded from the second mailing. SSRS will provide Business Return Envelopes to be included in the mailings. SCASD will provide the letter, questionnaire and outside mailing envelope including the outgoing postage.

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Option 1: 500 mail only

surveys

Option 2: 1000

mail only

surveys

Option 3: 500

surveys with

online option

Option 4: 1000 surveys

with online option

Number of initial mailings (by SCASD) 3750 7500 3400 6750 Estimated number of second mailings (by SCASD) 3562 7125 3230 6412 Expected Mailed Returns to SSRS 700 1300 560 1040 Total Completes including those that do not qualify 700 1300 700 1300 Proposed Budget $26,700 $31,900 $30,100 $34,950

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Proposal Validity Period This proposal will remain valid for SCASD’s acceptance for a minimum of one hundred twenty (120) days after the Submittal Deadline, to allow for time for evaluation, selection, and any unforeseen delays. Contract The last two pages of this proposal consist of SSRS’s standard contract for market research services. If you would like to move forward with this project, please take a moment to review this document and, if there are no issues with the proposal or contract, please sign and return to SSRS. Modifications can be made upon review and approval by our Contracting Department.

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RESEARCH CONTRACT

SSRS agrees to furnish all personnel and services to conduct this project in accordance with the attached proposal. Additional exhibits can be included by referencing this agreement. Confidentially SSRS shall treat all information received from the CLIENT under this Agreement as confidential and shall not use such information for any purpose other than to fulfill its obligations. SSRS's obligation of confidentiality shall not apply to information which, at the time of receipt, is in the public domain, information SSRS possessed at the time of receipt thereof from the CLIENT and was not acquired directly or indirectly from the CLIENT; or information which SSRS received from a third party who did not require SSRS to hold it in confidence. Ownership and Use of Data If this project is being conducted for the exclusive use by the CLIENT, the CLIENT shall have ownership rights to all results, whether or not these results have been specifically included in the report(s) to the CLIENT. If this project is being conducted as part of a program designed for more than one customer, the CLIENT's ownership rights are limited to the report(s) provided, and are not exclusive. The CLIENT agrees that, prior to any public release of the study findings, the release will be presented to SSRS for review and clearance as to accuracy and proper interpretation. In the public release SSRS will be credited with doing the research unless we ask not to be. If the study findings publicly disclosed by the CLIENT are incorrect, distorted or incomplete in SSRS's opinion, SSRS shall have the right to make its own release of any or all study findings necessary to make clarification. Completed questionnaires, computer tapes, discs and any other data are and shall remain the property of SSRS. All such information shall be stored by SSRS for a period of three months after delivery of the report to the CLIENT and may be destroyed by SSRS after such period. SSRS shall not disclose the identity of respondents and any respondent-identifiable information to CLIENT, except in specifically-described research situations, such as validation or modeling. CLIENT hereby agrees to maintain the confidentiality of the identity of any respondents and any respondent-identifiable information disclosed to it. If this data is to be used in any way that requires SSRS, or any related group, to provide additional documentation or testimony SSRS will be reimbursed for all out of pocket costs and all time at its normal billing rates. If SSRS needs to use employees that do not normally have a billing rate an hourly rate will be developed by SSRS and it will not exceed 3 times the employee’s hourly payroll rate. Any assistance SSRS requires from its attorneys, vendors or outside experts will be billed without markup. Force Majeure Except as otherwise provided in this Agreement, each party shall be excused for failures and delays in performance caused by war, civil war, riots or insurrections; laws, proclamations, ordinances or regulations of any federal, state or local government; or strikes, floods, fires, explosions or other disturbances beyond the control and without the fault of such party. Any party claiming any such excuse for delay or nonperformance shall give proper notice thereof to the other party. Limitation of Liability Neither party shall be liable to the other for any indirect, incidental, punitive or consequential damages (including, without limitation, lost profits) regardless of whether such party is informed of the possibility that same may exist. Although all reasonable care and skill is used in the preparation of results, SSRS will not have any liability for any loss arising from or in connection with CLIENT’s interpretation of such results. Liability of SSRS shall be limited to the estimated sales price, including revisions, of the project for which liability is asserted or indemnification is sought. The CLIENT agrees to indemnify and hold harmless SSRS and its Officers, agents, employees and subcontractors against all claims against them for personal injury or wrongful death or property damage caused by distribution or the use of any products supplied by, or used at the direction of the CLIENT or his agents and from all costs and expenses (including reasonable attorney's fees) and suits which may be brought against SSRS, its Officers, agents, employees and subcontractors on account of such personal injury or wrongful death or property damage.

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Changes All revisions to this agreement must be in writing and agreed to by both parties. SSRS may need to revise the price if the specifications in the attached exhibit materially differ from the actual results. Governing Law This contract shall be governed and construed in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A client who has a dispute, disagreement or controversy with respect to the work shall be resolved by binding arbitration conducted in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The client must file for arbitration within 90 days of the date of the invoice in dispute. Court and arbitration proceedings will be at a mutually agreed location or in Delaware County, Pa. Termination This agreement shall continue in effect until canceled. CLIENT will pay for all services performed and all non-cancelable work contracted for through the date of termination. Payment Agreements do not require a purchase order or have other billing requirements unless specified in the attachment exhibit. Invoices are due in US dollars on presentation. Interest may be charge at 1½% per month on amounts unpaid 30 days from the date of the invoice. For studies estimated to be completed within two months, 50% of the project will be billed upon acceptance, with the remaining billed after the delivery of the project. If the attachment has a time frame longer than two months, 25% will be billed upon acceptance of the agreement and monthly progress billing will be made. Out-of-pocket costs such as postage and incentives must be paid before that part of the project is undertaken. CLIENT agrees to reimburse SSRS reasonable collection fees and costs, including arbitration costs and attorney fees, for all unpaid amounts due under this contract. Contract is contingent on credit approval. SSRS, at its sole option, can suspend work or terminate projects when payment is past due. Checks are payable to SSRS and mailed to: 155 Gaither Drive, Suite A, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054. Payment by wire is credited to AUS, Inc. at WellsFargo Bank, Account 2000010815063, ABA # 121000248; ACH# 121000248, International Swift# WFBIUS6S. EIN is 23-2776958. Foreign payments must use the exchange rate in effect on the date of payment. Call AUS Treasury Department, 856-234-9200, for wire assistance. This Agreement may be executed in one or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be an original, but all of which together shall constitute one and the same agreement. SSRS, a division of AUS Marketing Research Systems, Inc. Client: ___________________________________ ______________________________________ Account Executive Authorized by: ______________________________________ A duly authorized representative ____________________________________ Print Name:_________________________________ Title:__________________________________ Address: Date:_______________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ Email address: Phone: Date: ____________________ ____________ Email address: _________________________________________