0057 Final Just 2009 Part A

SUPPORTING STATEMENT
UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
Customer Panel Quality Survey
OMB Control Number 0651-0057

A.

JUSTIFICATION

1.

Necessity of Information Collection

For the past 10 years, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has
used surveys to obtain customer feedback regarding the products, services, and related
service standards of the USPTO. The USPTO has used the results from these surveys
to measure how well the agency is meeting established customer service standards, to
identify any disjoints between customer expectations and USPTO performance, and to
develop improvement strategies. Typically, these surveys asked customers to express
their satisfaction with the USPTO’s products and services based upon their interactions
with the agency as a whole over a 12-month period.
In order to obtain further data concerning customer ratings of the USPTO’s services,
service standards, and performance, the USPTO developed the Customer Panel
Quality Survey. This survey narrows the focus of customer satisfaction to examination
quality. The USPTO partners with Westat, an independent research firm, to administer
the Customer Panel Quality Survey.
This survey uses a longitudinal, rotating panel design to assess changes in customer
perceptions and to identify key areas for examiner training and opportunities for
improvement. All patent agents and attorneys who have been registered to practice
before the USPTO for longer than one year and who belong to a firm that has filed more
than six patents in the past year will be eligible for the study. The study will also include
independent inventors who have filed six or more patents in the past year. The USPTO
will draw a random sample of these customers from their database. Due to the rotating
panel design, some sample members will be surveyed twice in order to measure
change over a period of time. Each year of the survey will include two waves of data
collection.
The USPTO plans to survey individuals from large domestic corporations (including
those with 500+ employees), small and medium-size businesses, universities and other
non-profit research organizations, and independent inventors. The USPTO does not
plan to survey foreign entities.
This is a voluntary survey and all responses will remain confidential. The collected data
will not be linked to the respondent and contact information that is used for sampling
purposes will be maintained in a separate file from the quantitative data. Respondents
are not required to provide any identifying information such as their name, address, or
Social Security Number.

There are no statutes or regulations requiring the USPTO to conduct these customer
surveys. The USPTO uses surveys to implement Executive Order 12862 of September
11, 1993, Setting Customer Service Standards, published in the Federal Register on
September 14, 1993 (Volume 58, Number 176).
2.

Needs and Uses

The Customer Panel Quality Survey is primarily a mail survey, although respondents
also have the option to complete the survey electronically on the web. The content of
the two versions of the survey will be identical. Respondents can choose whether to
mail the completed survey back to the USPTO’s survey contractor (Westat) or respond
to the survey online through Westat’s secure website.
A pre-notification letter describing the study and asking for participation will be sent to
all sample members. An example of this pre-notification letter is provided in this
submission (Ref. A). This letter will be followed in 2-3 business days by a survey packet
containing the questionnaire, a separate cover letter prepared by the Commissioner of
Patents that explains the purpose of the survey, and a postage-paid, pre-addressed
return envelope. Instructions for completing the survey electronically will also be
included in the packet. These instructions will include details for accessing the survey
online through Westat’s website and provide a username, password and 5-digit survey
ID number that respondents will need to access the electronic survey. One week after
the survey mailing, a reminder/thank you postcard will also be mailed to all sample
members. An example of this card is provided in this submission (Ref. B).
One week after the reminder/thank you postcard is sent, all sample members who have
not completed the survey will receive a follow-up nonresponse prompting telephone call.
The primary purpose of these phone calls is to remind nonrespondents of the survey
date and to answer any questions that they may have concerning the survey. Because
these calls are intended as prompting calls, messages will be left if respondents are not
available. Westat will not make repeated phone calls if a message was left on an
answering machine or with a receptionist/secretary, etc. The Westat telephone staff will
encourage survey nonrespondents to complete the survey using the web option in order
to expedite completion of the survey. The survey nonrespondents will not be asked to
complete the survey over the telephone with the Westat telephone staff since this
survey is not intended to be administered over the telephone. A suggested script has
been developed to ensure that all of the staff conducting the follow-up phone calls ask
the same questions, in the same manner (Ref. C).
The Information Quality Guidelines from Section 515 of Public Law 106-554, Treasury
and General Government Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2001, apply to this
information collection and comply with all applicable information quality guidelines, i.e.,
OMB and specific operating unit guidelines (See Ref. D, the USPTO Information Quality
Guidelines).

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This proposed collection of information will result in information that will be collected,
maintained, and used in a way consistent with all applicable OMB and USPTO
Information Quality Guidelines.
Table 1 outlines how this collection of information is used by the public and the USPTO.
The mail and online versions of the survey are exactly the same, so a separate copy of
the online version has not been included in this submission.
Table 1: Needs and Uses of Information Collected from the Customer Panel Quality Survey
Form and Function
Customer Panel Quality Survey
(paper and electronic survey)
(Ref. E)

3.

Form #
No Form
Associated

Needs and Uses
•

Used by individuals who work at firms that file more than 6 patent
applications a year to provide the USPTO with their perceptions of
examination quality.

•

Used by the USPTO to gather feedback to assist them in targeting
key areas for examination quality improvement and identify
important areas for examiner training.

Use of Information Technology

Currently, the USPTO does not generally use mechanical or other technological
collection techniques to collect responses to surveys. However, those respondents who
choose to respond to the Customer Panel Quality Survey can do so electronically.
Although the Customer Panel Quality Survey is primarily a mail survey, the USPTO has
expanded it to be a combined paper and Internet format. Respondents can choose to
mail their survey to Westat, or they can provide their responses electronically over the
Internet. The cover letter that accompanies the survey provides the web survey URL,
instructions for completing the survey online through the survey contractor’s (Westat’s)
secure website, and the username and password for the survey.
At this time, the USPTO does not plan to disseminate any of the information collected
from the surveys electronically. As more of these surveys are conducted, the USPTO
will reevaluate whether this would be beneficial. The USPTO may choose to share
particular findings with customers through normal communication vehicles such as
lectures and general office publications, but there are no plans for a survey-specific
formal report to be distributed to respondents or the public at large.
4.

Efforts to Identify Duplication

This information is collected only when sampled respondents at organizations who file
more than six patents a year respond to the Customer Panel Quality Survey. Currently,
there are no available methods to gather the type of information proposed by this survey
directly from USPTO customers. The survey questions relate directly to customers’
perceptions of examination quality, as well as information about the customers’
frequency of contact with the USPTO. This information is not generally available from
other sources and is not collected elsewhere. Therefore, this collection does not create
a duplication of effort.

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5.

Minimizing the Burden to Small Entities

In an effort to minimize burden, the number of questions are limited to the minimum
required to obtain useful information. All sizes of businesses and individual customers
will participate in these various surveys to accurately portray customer requirements
and service quality.
It is important to include small businesses in these surveys because the USPTO wants
to encourage their use of the patent systems. However, as the sample selection is
designed to include individuals located at top-filing firms, small businesses will only be
included in the sample if they submit more than six patent applications a year.
Furthermore, the sampling rate for individuals working at businesses submitting a higher
number of patent applications per year (i.e., more than 40) is greater than for individuals
working at businesses who submit a lower number of patent applications a year. Under
this sampling design, the Customer Panel Quality Survey sample will primarily
concentrate upon individuals at large, top-filing organizations.
6.

Consequences of Less Frequent Collection

The information collected from the Customer Panel Quality Survey is needed on a semiannual basis so that the USPTO can identify problems with examination quality and
work to resolve these issues in a timely manner. Timely, valid information on customer
assessment of the USPTO’s performance is needed in order for the USPTO to
accomplish these measures. While the survey was initially conducted on a quarterly
basis, in order to reduce costs to the Federal Government, and based on the current
use of the survey data and ability of the USPTO to implement changes, a semi-annual
collection was adopted for this clearance submission. If this information was collected
less frequently, the USPTO would not be able to generate a reliable measure of
examination quality on a continuing basis.
7.

Special Circumstances in the Conduct of Information Collection

There are no special circumstances associated with this collection of information.
8.

Consultation Outside the Agency

The 60-Day Federal Register Notice was published on March 27, 2009 (74 Fed Reg.
13421). The public comment period ended on May 26, 2009. No comments from the
public were received.
In addition, there have been no comments from the corporations/businesses, law firms,
educational institutions, and independent inventors frequently interviewed through these
types of surveys concerning the time required to provide the information requested in
the Customer Panel Quality Survey.

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Finally, no specific feedback was solicited from the Patent Public Advisory Committee,
but they were briefed on the USPTO’s intentions with the Customer Panel Quality
Survey. No objections were raised by the Committee. Experts contracted to assist the
agency in strategic planning efforts commented on the survey plan as it relates to
addressing the USPTO’s quality initiatives, and the agency made some minor
adjustments to the survey plan to reflect those comments.
9.

Payment or Gifts to Respondents

This information collection does not involve a payment or gift to any respondent. This
survey is voluntary, so the respondent is not required to answer the questions.
10.

Assurance of Confidentiality

Data collected from the surveys will not be linked to the respondents in any way. All
contact information collected from the questionnaire will be maintained in a separate
electronic file from the quantitative and qualitative data. At the end of the data
collection, three files will be maintained by the survey contractor (Westat). One file will
contain respondent contact information and will establish a current and continuous
sample file for use in future survey administrations. The second file will contain the
aggregate quantitative data and will be delivered to the USPTO. The third file will
contain the qualitative data generated from the one open-ended survey item: this data
will consist of verbatim text written by the survey respondent. Once the three files are
created, respondent information will not be realigned with the data collected.
Applicants can also choose to complete their survey online through Westat’s website. A
generic username and password is needed to access the survey. Additionally, each
respondent is assigned a unique 5-digit identification number. The username,
password, and survey ID numbers are generated by Westat and provided to the
respondent in the prenotification letter and the cover letter that is sent with the mail
survey.
The web survey will operate on a Windows server 2003 running Internet Information
Servicer version 6.0 with an underlying SQL server 2000 database. The survey will be
protected with Secure Sockets Layer (SSL0, which allows respondents to submit survey
responses privately and securely.
Respondents will have the option of providing Westat with their e-mail address upon
completion of both the mail and online versions of the survey. Respondents may be
selected no more than twice to participate in the survey during the field period. Due to
the panel design of the Customer Panel Quality Survey, respondents may be selected
to complete this survey more than once. If respondents choose to provide Westat with
their e-mail address, they will receive future survey mailings by e-mail, should they be
selected in a subsequent wave of data collection. This e-mail address will be appended
to the file of respondent contact information.

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The Customer Panel Quality Survey is protected under the Confidential Information
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002. All survey data will be destroyed at the
end of the project.
11.

Justification for Sensitive Questions

None of the required information in this collection is considered to be of a sensitive
nature.
12.

Estimate of Hour and Cost Burden to Respondents

Table 2 displays the burden hours and costs of this information collection to the public
for each year of the study, based on the following calculation factors:
•

Respondent Calculation Factors
Out of a sample size of 2,842 for each wave of data collection, the USPTO estimates
that 1,193 completed surveys will be received, for a response rate of 42%. This
estimate was based on the response rates of the previous survey waves that the
USPTO has conducted. Each year of the survey will include two waves of data
collection with an estimated 2,386 completed surveys received annually (1,193
completed surveys x 2 waves of the survey). Of this total, the USPTO estimates that
30% (716) of the surveys will be returned by mail and that 70% (1,670) of the surveys
will be completed using the online option.

•

Burden Hour Calculation Factors
The USPTO estimates that it takes approximately ten minutes (0.17 hours) to complete
either the paper or online version of this survey. This includes the time to gather the
necessary information, respond to the survey, and submit it to the USPTO.

•

Cost Burden Calculation Factors
The USPTO believes that patent attorneys will complete these surveys.
The
professional rate of $310 per hour used in this submission to calculate the respondent
cost burden is the median rate for attorneys in private firms as published in the 2007
report of the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual
Property Law Association (AIPLA). This report summarized the results of a survey with
data on hourly billing rates. This is a fully-loaded rate.

Table 2: Burden Hour/Burden Cost to Respondents (Year One)
Item

Hours
(a)

Responses
(yr)
(b)

Burden
(hrs/yr)
(c)
(a) x (b)

Rate
($/hr)
(d)

Total Cost
($/hr)
(e)
(c) x (d)

Customer Panel Quality Survey

0.17

716

122

$310.00

$37,820.00

Electronic Customer Panel Quality Survey

0.17

1,670

284

$310.00

$88,040.00

Total

- - - -

2,386

406

- - - -

$125,860.00

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13.

Total Annualized Cost Burden

There are no capital start-up, maintenance, operation, or recordkeeping costs
associated with this information collection. Respondents do not need to submit filing
fees with these surveys. The USPTO provides postage-paid, pre-addressed return
envelopes for the completed mail surveys so there are no postage costs associated with
this information collection. Therefore, this information collection does not impose any
additional annual (non-hour) costs on the respondent.
14.

Annual Cost to the Federal Government

The USPTO has hired a contractor to conduct the Customer Panel Quality Survey, so
this survey is not conducted or processed by USPTO personnel. The USPTO estimates
that the contractor (Westat) will spend about $131,468 per wave of data collection, or
$262,936 per year. These costs include developing, conducting, and processing the
survey. This estimate includes various tasks such as processing the related survey
correspondence, performing data entry tasks, sampling, analyzing the data gathered,
and preparing reports on the findings. This estimate also includes all labor costs and
other direct costs. This is a significant cost reduction from the initial two years of data
collection. In addition to cutting the survey down from 4 waves per year to 2, per wave
costs have been reduced by 40% since many of the start-up tasks, such as web site
and analysis programming, are already developed and functional.
15.

Reason for Change in Burden

Summary of Changes Since the Previous Submission
The OMB approved this information collection on October 2, 2006 with 3,168 responses
and 539 burden hours. There are no annualized (non-hour) costs for this collection.
With this renewal, the USPTO estimates that the total burden for this collection will be
2,386 responses and 406 burden hours. This is a decrease of 782 responses and 133
burden hours over the currently approved burden for this collection. The decreases in
the responses and burden hours are due to program changes.
Changes in Burden Estimates Since the 60-Day Federal Register Notice
In the 60-Day Federal Register Notice published on March 27, 2009 for this renewal, the
USPTO reported that this collection would have an estimated 3,168 responses and 539
burden hours. The USPTO did not expect that the burden for this collection would
change from the last submission. However, since the publication of the notice, the
USPTO reviewed the survey particulars and decided to change the frequency of this
survey. In the currently approved collection, the Customer Panel Quality Survey is
conducted on a quarterly basis. With this renewal, however, the USPTO has decided to
conduct the survey semi-annually. This change is based on how the USPTO uses the
survey data and on the agency’s ability to implement changes suggested by the survey

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results. Conducting the survey semi-annually will also reduce the costs to the Federal
Government.
The USPTO now estimates that the responses and burden hours for this renewal will be
2,386 and 406, respectively, which is a reduction of 782 responses and 133 burden
hours per year.
Changes in Respondent Cost Burden
Although the estimated hourly rates used to calculate the respondent cost burden have
actually increased since the last submission, the overall respondent cost burden has
decreased since the USPTO will not be conducting this survey quarterly. The USPTO
believes that the Customer Panel Quality Survey will be completed by attorneys. In the
previous submission, the hourly rate used was $304. Based on the median rate
published in the 2007 report of the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the
AIPLA, this rate has increased to $310 per hour. The total respondent cost burden for
the currently approved collection is $163,856. With this renewal, the USPTO estimates
that the total respondent cost burden will decrease by $37,996, to $125,860 per year.
Changes in Responses and Burden Hours
The USPTO estimates that the number of surveys submitted for this collection will
decrease by 782, from 3,168 to 2,386 responses. As a result, the USPTO believes that
the total burden hours for this collection will decrease by 133 hours, from 539 to 406
burden hours. These decreases are the result of program changes:
•

Originally, the Customer Panel Quality Survey was conducted on a quarterly basis.
However, based on the USPTO’s current use of the survey data, the agency’s
ability to implement changes based on the survey responses, and to reduce costs
to the Federal Government, the USPTO has decided to conduct the survey semiannually. Additionally, the USPTO believes that fewer individuals will decide to
complete the mail survey than was previously estimated. In the currently approved
collection, the USPTO estimates that 70% of the surveys will be returned by mail;
for this renewal, the USPTO now estimates that only 30% will be returned by mail.
Based on these factors, the USPTO estimates that the number of surveys returned
by mail will decrease by 1,502 responses, from 2,218 to 716 responses per year.
This in turn will reduce the burden by 255 burden hours, from 377 to 122 burden
hours per year. Therefore, this collection takes a burden decrease of 255
hours as a program change.

•

The USPTO believes that the number of surveys completed electronically will
increase, despite the overall decrease in the survey submissions. In the currently
approved collection, the USPTO estimated that 30% of the surveys would be
completed electronically. For the renewal, the USPTO believes that 70% of the
surveys will be completed electronically. Since the USPTO believes that more of
the surveys will be submitted electronically, the agency estimates that the

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electronic submissions will increase by 720 responses, from 950 to 1,670
responses per year. In turn, the USPTO estimates that the burden hours will
increase by 122 hours, from 162 to 284 burden hours per year. Therefore, this
collection takes a burden increase of 122 hours as a program change.
The USPTO estimates that the total burden for this collection will be reduced by 133
hours, from 539 to 406 burden hours per year. The USPTO estimates that this
collection will have an increase of 122 hours and a reduction of 255 hours resulting from
program changes, for a total reduction of 133 burden hours per year. Therefore, the
USPTO estimates that this collection has a total burden reduction of 133 hours
per year resulting from program changes.
16.

Project Schedule

The USPTO does not plan to publish this information for statistical use.
After each wave of data collection is completed, a report summarizing the results of the
survey will be prepared by the USPTO’s contractor. At the end of each year of data
collection, a more in-depth summary report will be prepared by Westat to discuss
changes in examination quality across the waves of data collection. The primary
audience of this report is the USPTO.
The primary goal is to measure change in examination quality over a fixed period of
time. Respondents will be asked to evaluate their perceptions of examination quality
and their recent interactions with the USPTO.
The USPTO estimates a start date of January 1, 2010, for the various activities related
to the renewed Customer Panel Quality Survey. A projected schedule for the initial
survey under this clearance is provided below:
Wave 12 (January 2010)
Task
Assemble pre-notification
booklet packages

Due Date
letters

and

survey

Week of January 4th

Launch CPQS web survey

Monday, January 11th

Mail pre-notification letters

Monday, January 11th

Mail survey booklet packages

Monday, January 18th

Mail reminder postcards

Monday, February 1st

Send e-mail reminder

Monday, February 1st

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Begin telephone non-response prompting
Close data collection

Monday, March 1st

Deliver Quarterly report to USPTO
17.

Monday, February 8th

Monday, March 22nd

Display of Expiration Date of OMB Approval

The Customer Panel Quality Survey includes the OMB Control Number and the
expiration date.
18.

Exception to the Certificate Statement

This collection of information does not include any exceptions to the certificate
statement.

List of References
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.

Pre-notification letter
Thank you/Reminder postcard
Suggested Script for Prompting Telephone Calls
The USPTO Information Quality Guidelines
Customer Panel Quality Survey (paper and electronic survey)

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