TMDL Website Customer Satisfaction Survey

MEMORANDUM

DATE: February 14, 2008

SUBJECT: Request for Clearance of TMDL Web site Customer Satisfaction Survey under Voluntary Customer Satisfaction ICR 1711.05, OMB No. 2090-0019, Expiration Date August 31, 2009.

FROM: John Goodin, Branch Chief, Watershed Branch (WB)

Assessment and Watershed Protection Division (AWPD)

Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds (OWOW)

THROUGH: Patricia A. Bonner, Customer Service Director

Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation

Spencer Clark, ICR Desk Officer

Office of Environmental Information

TO: Desk Officer for EPA

Office of Management and Budget

Background:

U.S. EPA’s Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds (OWOW), Assessment and Watershed Protection Division (AWPD) plans to improve its delivery of environmental information on the TMDL Program Web site through a customer satisfaction survey of users. Improving the delivery of information on this site is directly tied to user experience and ensures that the EPA is meeting its customer needs according to the e-gov initiative.

Questionnaire Purpose and Description:

The purpose of the survey is to provide AWPD with specific ideas about how to better satisfy individuals who use the TMDL Web site. The survey consists of 6 questions addressing the following: 1) three demographic questions that will help AWPD define the needs and expectations of the customer groups and make more appropriate targeted improvements to the Web site; 2) three questions about how satisfied our customers are with the TMDL Web site in terms of ease of navigation, level of detail, subject matter, content organization and layout.

Participation in the survey will be voluntary as the questions will be available to visitors on the TMDL homepage via a web banner that links into the survey page.

Justification for inclusion of demographic questions:

As noted above, there are three questions on the survey that collect demographic information. Responses to these questions will greatly assist AWPD in the analyses of the survey and subsequently, improve the quality of service to visitors to the TMDL Web site. A justification for each of the three questions appears below:

Question #4: Which best describes your role in coming to our site? [Followed by a list of six choices and a blank space to specify ‘other’]

• Justification: the purpose of this question is to determine the various groups visiting the TMDL web site. Knowing the different types of visitors allows EPA to understand the variety of visitor needs and subsequently, tailor available content and improve usability of the web site based on those needs.

Question #5: How often do you visit the TMDL Web site? [Followed by a list of five frequency choices]

• Justification: the purpose of this question is to determine how often a respondent visits the TMDL Web site. Knowing the level of frequency that a respondent visits the web site allows EPA to better assess a respondent’s level of satisfaction. For example, the survey may indicate that frequent users of the site have higher levels of satisfaction with the site, while new users find it difficult to navigate. This might indicate that the site may need to improve its layout of content and navigability to assist first time visitors.

Question #6: How long have you been involved with TMDL-related work? [Followed by a list of five time frame options]

• Justification: the purpose of this question is to determine how much experience the respondent has with TMDL program components. Knowing how much experience respondents have with the TMDL program will help EPA assess respondent satisfaction with policy and technical materials currently available on the site. For example, the survey may indicate that respondents with more experience with the TMDL program had higher levels of satisfaction with certain technical documents than respondents with less experience. This might indicate that the materials need to be revised to better serve the needs of less experienced visitors.

Methodology and Use of the Questionnaire:

OWOW/AWPD plans to have the survey available in early March and will monitor the feedback and evaluate user responses. The survey will be posted on the web site for at least two months or until 100 responses are received. AWPD will then conduct analysis to identify opportunities to improve service to users of the TMDL Web site. All responses will be stored in a database, which will be used to track and analyze the feedback. Feedback collection, analysis, and reporting will require about 80 hours of staff time annually. The resources invested in implementing recommendations will vary annually depending on results.

Respondent’s Burden:

The survey should take an average of about 3 minutes (estimating 30 seconds per question) for each of 100 customers who respond, amounting to a total of 5 burden hours annually.

Number of Respondents: 100

Minutes per response: 3 minutes x 100 people = 300 minutes = 5 hours

Cost per hour: $17.50¹

Total Burden: 5 hours; $87.50

Agency Burden:

The estimated total annual burden hours for OWOW/AWPD including the technical, managerial, and clerical hours represents the amount of time used for feedback collection, analysis, and reporting.

Activities*	Hours	GSA Rate**	Cost
Technical hours	45	$43	$1,935
Administrative hours	30	$20	$600
Manager hours	5	$59	$295
Totals	80 hours		$2,830

*Activities were divided up into three categories: Technical Hours (GS-13), Manager Hours (GS-15), and Administrative (GS-7).

**GSA hourly rates were obtained from the US Office of Personnel Management’s 2008 General Schedule Hourly Rate Pay Table, and rounded to the nearest dollar.

EPA ICR 1711.05

OMB Control Number 2090-0019

Expiration Date: 08/31/09

Customer Satisfaction Survey for TMDL Web site

Please answer the following questions on a scale of 1 to 6 (1 being Very Satisfied and 6 being Very Dissatisfied):

1.) How satisfied are you with the following aspects of this site?

a. Layout 1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

b. Navigation 1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

c. Access to other resources 1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

d. Amount of content 1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

e. Technical information 1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

f. Maps 1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

g. Access to Data 1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

h. Content Organization 1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

Comments: ___________________________________________________________

2.) How satisfied are you that this site provides a good overview of the TMDL program (section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act)?

1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

Comments:______________________________________________

3.) How satisfied are you that the web site provides all the information you need?

1 2 3 4 5 6 N/A

If not satisfied, what missing information do we need to add to increase satisfaction? _______________________________________________

4.) Which best describes your role in coming to our site?

General public

Researcher/Scientist

Industry Representative

U.S. EPA

Federal Govt.

State Govt.

Other, please specify________________________

5.) How often do you visit the TMDL Web site?

This is my first time

Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Less Frequently

6.) How long have you been involved with TMDL-related work?

Less than 6 months

6 mo. -2 years

2 - 5 years

5 years or more

Not applicable

If we may contact you in the future about your survey please provide your email:

____________________________________________________

Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 3 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering information, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments on the Agency’s need for this information, the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, and any suggestions for reducing the burden, including the use of automated collection techniques to the Director, Information Collections Divisions, Office of Environmental Information, United States Environmental Protection Agency (Mail Code 2822T), 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20460-0001; and to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management & Budget, 725 17th Street NW, Washington, DC 20503. Attention: Desk Officer for EPA. Include the EPA ICR number 1711.05, and the OMB control number 2090-0019, and Expiration Date, 8/31/2009, in any correspondence.

1 Figure obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor weekly earnings of wage and salary workers as reported on January 17, 2008, in the BLS news release “Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers: Fourth Quarter 2007”. The weekly earnings are $700; this computes to $17.50 per hour for a 40 hour work week.