CS-11-283 - Cover Sheet

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 1545-1432)

T ITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: IRS Communications, Liaison, and Disclosure (CLD) Customer Satisfaction Survey: Small Business Tax Workshops.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this survey is to initiate a formal process for measuring stakeholder satisfaction with the services and materials that CLD provides for the Small Business Tax Workshops. CLD will use the results of this survey to gauge where improvements could be made to their materials and services as it relates to Small Business Tax Workshops. CLD may also use the comments to improve other similar products and services they provide to their stakeholders.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: The respondents to this survey will be the administrator/sponsor who actually requests and receives the materials for the Small Business Tax Workshops that they sponsor. Some of these administrator/sponsors may also be the instructors that are teaching the class. However, some of the administrator/sponsors will only have received the material and then provided that information to the instructors. The survey will not be distributed to the students in the class. Only the administrator/sponsor is being surveyed in their role as administrator/sponsor.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [x] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Reuben Robinson, Chief, SB/SE Research Philadelphia

Signed: /s/ Laura Forest, acting for Reuben Robinson

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [x] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ x ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [x] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
All administrators/sponsors of Leveraged Small Business Workshops who have requested materials to put on a Small Business Workshop will receive a survey.	233 (75% of 310, the total universe of potential respondents)	5 minutes	26 hours
Totals	233	5 minutes	19 hours

The total universe of potential respondents is 310. The expected response rate is 75%.

There is no screening of respondents.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $0. There will be no additional costs to the Federal government.

Expected dates of data collection are from 8/8/2011 through 8/19/2011.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [x] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

We do have a customer list that defines the universe of potential respondents. For the purposes of this survey there is no sampling plan as the entire universe of administrator/sponsors will receive a survey.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[x] Other, Explain (Email)

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [x] No

Attachment B: Cover Letter for Survey

Attachment C: Survey Instrument

Attachment D: Supporting Statement

Supporting Statement

Approval Request to Conduct Customer Satisfaction Research

(OMB #1545-1432)

1. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances Making the Collection of Information Necessary

Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies to provide service to the public that matches or exceeds the best service available in the private sector. In order to work continuously to ensure that our programs are effective and meet our customers’ needs, SB/SE Research seeks to obtain OMB approval of a survey to collect qualitative feedback on our service delivery. By qualitative feedback we mean information that provides useful insights on perceptions and opinions, but are not statistical surveys that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the population of study.

This collection of information is necessary to enable SB/SE Research to garner customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in accordance with our commitment to improving service delivery. The information collected from our customers and stakeholders will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and satisfying experience with SB/SE Research’s programs. This feedback will provide insights into customer or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, collaborative and actionable communications between SB/SE Research and its customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute directly to the improvement of program management.

2. Purpose and Use of the Information Collection

Improving SB/SE Research programs requires ongoing assessment of service delivery, by which we mean systematic review of the operation of a program compared to a set of explicit or implicit standards, as a means of contributing to the continuous improvement of the program. The SB/SE Research will collect, analyze, and interpret information gathered through this survey to identify strengths and weaknesses of current services and make improvements in service delivery based on feedback. The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: timeliness, communication with IRS contacts, which workshops are used more than others, and areas for improvement in the support and materials sections. Responses will be assessed to plan and inform efforts to improve or maintain the quality of service offered to the public. If this information is not collected, vital feedback from customers and stakeholders on SB/SE Research’s services will be unavailable.

SB/SE Research will only submit a collection for approval under this clearance if it meets the following conditions:

• Information gathered will be used only internally for general service improvement and program management purposes and is not intended for release outside of the Internal Revenue Service (if released, procedures outlined in Question 16 will be followed);

• Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions; ¹

• Information gathered will yield qualitative information; the collections will not be designed or expected to yield statistically reliable results or used as though the results are generalizable to the population of study ; 

• The collections are voluntary;

• The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents and the Federal Government;

• The collections are non-controversial and do not raise issues of concern to other Federal agencies;

• Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the near future; and

If these conditions are not met, SB/SE Research will submit an information collection request to OMB for approval through the normal PRA process.

The types of collections that this survey covers include, but are not limited to:

• Qualitative customer satisfaction surveys (e.g., post-transaction surveys; opt-out web surveys)

SB/SE Research has established a manager/managing entity to serve for this survey and will conduct an independent review of this information collection to ensure compliance with the terms of this clearance prior to submitting this collection to OMB.

3. Consideration Given to Information Technology

The survey will be sent out via email to the entire universe or participants. The participants will be asked to return their responses to an email address that will be provided in the survey. The email inbox will be secured by password.

4. Duplication of Information

No similar data are gathered or maintained by the Internal Revenue Service or are available from other sources known to SB/SE Research.

5. Reducing the Burden on Small Entities

Small business or other small entities may be involved in these efforts but SB/SE Research will minimize the burden on them of information collections approved under this clearance by asking for readily available information, and using short, easy-to-complete information collection instruments. Only administrators/sponsors of the Small Business Workshops will be asked to complete the short survey.

6. Consequences of Not Conducting Collection

Without these types of feedback, SB/SE Research will not have timely information to adjust its services to meet customer needs.

7. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances. The information collected will be voluntary and will not be used for statistical purposes.

8. Consultations with Persons Outside the Internal Revenue Service

Not applicable.

9. Payment or Gift

The SB/SE Research will not provide payment or other forms of remuneration to respondents.

10. Confidentiality

No personally identifiable information will be gathered.

11. Sensitive Nature

No questions will be asked that are of a personal or sensitive nature.

12. Burden of Information Collection

The information will be collected via a Customer Satisfaction Survey. The surveys will be distributed, collected and analyzed electronically. The annual burden hours requested (26 hours) are based on the number of collections we expect to conduct over the requested period for this clearance.

Estimated Annual Reporting Burden
Type of Collection	No. of Respondents	Annual Frequency per Response	Hours per Response	Total Hours
Customer Service Survey	233 (75% of 310, the total universe of potential respondents)	1	5 minutes	19 hours

Expected dates of data collection are from 8/8/2011 through 8/19/2011.

The total universe of potential respondents is 310. All administrators/sponsors of Leveraged Small Business Workshops who have requested materials to put on a Small Business Workshop will receive a survey. The expected response rate is 75%. There is no screening of respondents.

13. Costs to Respondents

No costs are anticipated.

14. Costs to Federal Government

The anticipated cost to the Federal Government is approximately $0 annually

15. Reason for Change

Not applicable. This is a new request.

16. Tabulation of Results, Schedule, Analysis Plans

Feedback collected under this information collection provides useful information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized to the overall population. Findings will be used for general service improvement, but are not for publication or other public release.

Although SB/SE Research does not intend to publish its findings, SB/SE Research may receive requests to release the information (e.g., congressional inquiry, Freedom of Information Act requests). SB/SE Research will disseminate the findings when appropriate, strictly following the Internal Revenue Service's "Guidelines for Ensuring the Quality of Information Disseminated to the Public.", and will include specific discussion of the limitation of the qualitative results discussed above.

17. Display of OMB Approval Date

We are requesting no exemption.

18. Exceptions to Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions

These activities comply with the requirements in 5 CFR 1320.9.

B. STATISTICAL METHODS

The primary purpose of these collections will be for internal management purposes; there are no plans to publish or otherwise release this information.

1. Universe and Respondent Selection

SB/SE Research has email addresses of all the administrators/sponsors who have requested Small Business Workshop materials. Each administrator/sponsor who arranges a Leveraged Small Business Workshop (LBSW) will receive a survey via email. The survey will be sent out via email. One week after the initial evaluation is sent a follow up evaluation will be sent. This will be done in an effort to generate a higher participation rate. Respondents will be able to return the survey via email to the Internal Revenue Service.

There will be no sampling in this survey, as the entire universe of participants will receive a survey.

2. Procedures for Collecting Information

The participants who attend the class will not be given an evaluation to complete. Only the administrator/sponsor for the organization providing the classroom training will receive an evaluation. The administrator/sponsors who receive an evaluation will not be evaluating the performance of the LBSW classroom, just the support provided by CLD.

Research will have a “cut off” date for accepting any returned evaluations for each event. The administrator/sponsors who receive the survey will be given two weeks (including the one week after the reminder letter is sent) to complete and return the evaluation survey.

Expected dates of data collection are from 8/8/2011 through 8/19/2011.

3. Methods to Maximize Response

Information collected under this survey will not yield generalizable quantitative findings; it can provide useful customer input, but it does not yield data about customer opinions that can be generalized.

4. Testing of Procedures

Pretesting will be done with internal staff and/or customers who are familiar with the programs and products. The number of pretest respondents will not exceed nine members of the public.

5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection

The names and contact information for this project are:

• Kareem Williams, Program Analyst, SB/SE Research‑Philadelphia

• John Kennedy, Statistician; SB/SE Research-Philadelphia will be the points of contact.

1 As defined in OMB and agency Information Quality Guidelines, “influential” means that “an agency can reasonably determine that dissemination of the information will have or does have a clear and substantial impact on important public policies or important private sector decisions.”

10