OMB Clearance Request for the OMBudsman Pilot Program Survey

OMB Clearance Request
for the
Ombudsman Pilot Program Survey
(August 18, 2010)

A. Survey Background
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) designed and developed the
Patents Ombudsman Program in response to customer feedback that the prosecution of
patent applications does not always proceed in accordance with established
procedures. In some situations, the patent applicants, attorneys, and agents have felt
that examination has stalled and their efforts to move their applications forward through
the normal channels have not been effective.
The objectives of the Patents
Ombudsman Program are: (1) to facilitate complaint-handling for pro se applicants and
applicant’s representatives whose applications have stalled in the examination process;
(2) to track complaints to ensure each is handled within ten business days; (3) to
provide feedback and early warning alerts to USPTO management regarding training
needs based on complaint trends; and (4) to build a database of frequently asked
questions accessible to the public that give commonly seen problems and effective
resolutions.
Implementation of the program is scheduled for Spring 2010. The program will be
piloted for a one-year period. After the one-year period, the USPTO may extend the
pilot program based on a comprehensive process evaluation.
B. Survey Purpose
The proposed survey is a key component of the process evaluation, providing a
program monitoring system and identifying potential opportunities for program
enhancement. This survey is being conducted by the USPTO’s Ombudsman Program
and will be developed, administered, and summarized by USPTO personnel. A survey
is the only way the USPTO can gain consistent, reliable, and representative information
from the customers choosing to use the Ombudsman Program. The USPTO will use
the data gathered from the survey to address the questions of whether to continue the
program, and if it is to be continued, what modifications need to be made to increase its
effectiveness. The USPTO also envisions using data collected from this initial survey
as baseline metrics for comparison in any future process or summative evaluations of
the program.
There are no statutes or regulations requiring the USPTO to conduct this usage and
satisfaction measurement. The USPTO will use the survey instrument to implement
Executive Order 12862 of September 11, 1993, Setting Customer Service Standards,
published in the Federal Register on September 14, 1993 (Vol. 58, No. 176).

C. Survey Design
The Ombudsman Program Survey is a voluntary survey. Due to the nature of customer
use of the system and lack of e-mail addresses, the survey will be a mail-based survey.
The USPTO believes this will be a one-time assessment of current user activities,
needs, and satisfaction levels.
A survey packet containing a cover letter, a one-page questionnaire, and a postagepaid pre-addressed return envelope will be mailed to potential respondents.
The survey questionnaire will be designed for completion in five (5) minutes and contain
the following questions:
•

How satisfied were you with the following:
o Receiving prompt response from the Ombudsman Office after your initial
inquiry?
o Timeliness of USPTO in addressing the issue raised to the Ombudsman
Office?
o Ability of the Ombudsman Office to put you in contact with the right
USPTO personnel responsible for facilitating your inquiry?
o Ease of use of the program for initiating an inquiry?
o Overall satisfaction with the Ombudsman Program?

[Scale used: Very Dissatisfied; Dissatisfied, Neutral; Satisfied; Very Satisfed]
•

How likely are you to recommend the Ombudsman Program to other USPTO
customers that have issues similar to your?

[Scale used: Definitely Would Not; Probably Would Not; May or May Not; Probably
Would; Definitely Would]
Only limited demographic data will be collected:
•

How many inquiries have you initiated with the Ombudsman Office?
[One (1); Two (2); Three or More (3+)]

•

Please indicate in which Technology Field the majority of your inquiries were
made:

[Chemical (TCs 1600/1700); Electrical (TCs 2100/2400/2600/2800); Mechanical
(TCs 3600/3700); Designs (TC 2900)]

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D. Respondent Pool
The respondent pool covers all customers that request the Ombudsman Program’s
assistance in facilitating the examination of a patent. The USPTO expects 200-250
actual users of the Ombudsman Program per week during the pilot period. It is
unknown how many unique customers there will be during the one-year pilot period.
Program users will be sampled only once regardless of the number of times they used
the program. The sampling frame will be constructed by extracting all records in the
Ombudsman database and then subjecting it to a matching program to identify repeat
users. Customers’ first usage of the system will be identified as the primary record and
all duplicate records will be removed before the sample selection process. The survey
instrument will collect data regarding the number of inquiries made by each customer
for any post-stratification needs.
The respondent pool for this survey does not cover non-users of the program since use
of the Ombudsman Program is not necessary for the examination of a patent. The
evaluation is focused on the process from the users’ perspective. If necessary, the
USPTO will use other avenues to address questions of why some customers use the
system and others do not.
E. Sampling Method
It is unknown how many customers will be repeat users of the system, but the
population of unique customers will be large enough to warrant random sampling to
make inferences for the population as a whole. Dependent on the population size of the
users, a random sample will be generated to ensure 95% confidence level with a
sampling error of +/-5% for survey findings. To achieve this accuracy level, the
maximum number of completed surveys needed is 384. Assuming a 60% response
rate, at most 640 users (384/0.60) will be sampled. If the population is small enough
that the finite population correction factor can be used, the sample size will be slightly
smaller.
F. Collection Procedures
The surveys will be mailed to program users. The mailing address will be gathered from
the contact information associated with the patent application in question. The survey
packets will contain a postage-paid return envelope for use in returning the completed
survey. The survey period will be open for a period of five (5) weeks. Customers that
do not respond within the initial 3 weeks (allowing for returns to be processed) will
receive a second survey package requesting participation.
G. Expected Response Rate
The USPTO has not conducted a survey on patent customers that use an optional
mechanism for advancing prosecution and does not have an accurate baseline for
estimating the response rate of this survey. However, the USPTO has surveyed its
customers in the past on different topics, and given the nature of the close personal

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contact with the office for this project plus the brevity of the questionnaire, the USPTO is
estimating a response rate of 60%.
The USPTO believes that both professionals and paraprofessionals will complete these
surveys, at a rate of 75% of the current professional rate of $325 per hour and 25% of
the para-professional rate of $100 per hour. The professional hourly rate used for the
calculation is the median rate for attorneys in private firms as published in the 2009
report of the Committee on Economics of Legal Practice of the American Intellectual
Property Law Association. This report summarized the results of a survey with data on
hourly billing rates. The para-professional hurly rate comes from the 2008 National
Utilization and Compensation Survey, published in March 2008 by the National
Association of Legal Assistants (NALA). The hourly rate for professionals, calculating
75% of $325, totals $244, while the hourly rate for the para-professionals, calculating
25% of $100, totals $25, for a combined hourly rate of $269.
The USPTO estimates that the respondent cost burden for this collection will be $8,608
per year (384 responses * 0.083 hrs per response * $269). These area fully loaded
rates.
H. Follow-up Procedures Employed
Sampled customers not responding within the initial three (3) weeks will be sent a
second survey package seeking their participation. There will not be any additional
follow-up conducted for this survey.
I. Assurance of Confidentiality
The data collected from this survey will be confidential. Responses will be used to
compile summary statistical reports only. The USPTO will only report the aggregated
data and the frequency of responses, not the individual responses or comments about
the survey. Assurances will be included on the survey form and in the cover letter. The
survey is voluntary and is not mandated by law. The survey forms will be retained per
the USPTO’s record retention schedule.
J. Analysis Plan
In addition to generating descriptive statistics such as frequencies and variances of
each survey item, bivariate correlations will be generated to identify relationships
between variables. Quantitative analyses are conducted using SPSS® software.
Summary and analysis programs are performed in batch mode using SPSS® command
syntax created prior to the close of data collection to ensure timely release of survey
data. Ad-hoc and exploratory analyses are performed as needed throughout the
analysis and reporting period. Survey reporting will be primarily limited to frequencies
and cross-tabulations of survey items against demographic variables (frequency of use
and technology fields). Any perceived differences will be tested for statistical
significance using methods appropriate for the data collected (Chi Square, z-tables,
etc.).

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