Justification for Change

Evaluation of CDC’s National Contact Center: CDC-INFO

(OMB No. 0920-0753)

We are requesting a change to OMB No 0920-0753, the Evaluation of CDC’s National Contact Center (CDC-INFO).

CDC-INFO offers three OMB-approved satisfaction and quality assurance surveys to its customers: Interactive Voice Response Survey, Live Phone Follow-up Survey, and the Web Survey for E-Mail Inquiries. The requested changes are only for the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Survey (attachment A) which serves as a built-in feedback system for callers who contact CDC-INFO. Currently, the survey asks 11 questions and takes about 4-7 minutes to complete, with a yearly burden of 6,133 hours. The proposed changes to the survey reduce the yearly burden to 3,067 hours and reduce the survey time to 2 minutes. The estimated number of persons who participate in this survey each year is 92,000.

The changes to the IVR survey involve the following:

• replacing survey questions based on new CDC performance measures,

• reducing survey length by 4-5 minutes, and

• removing demographic questions (race, gender, and age) from survey.

Summary of Changes

1. New Performance Measures

On the basis of 7 years data, the evaluation outcomes and performance measures have been refined. The new performance measures will better assess CDC-INFO’s utility and customer service impact. The original survey questions (attachment A) will be replaced with questions (attachment B) that address the new performance measures. The new performance measures and questions follow:

Performance Measures	Questions
Measure impact of CDC-INFO services.	Do you think the information provided will help you or your family get or stay healthy?
	Did what you learn make you want to change any behaviors?
Measure customer satisfaction with agent.	Were you satisfied with the agent who handled your call today?
Measure usefulness of CDC-INFO services.	Would you recommend CDC-INFO to others?
Validate CDC-INFO services.	Is CDC-INFO a critical resource for protecting and promoting health?
	Why did you contact CDC-INFO by phone? (Select the most important reason)
	Please select any other forms of communication you would like CDC-INFO to offer.

II Reduce Survey Length

We want to encourage feedback by shortening the survey, simplifying the response choices, and setting caller expectations at the onset of the survey. Right now, a low percentage of CDC-INFO callers participate in the IVR survey. Based on the response loss percentage per question, respondents are gradually hanging up before they progress to the final questions. To increase participation and completion rates, we want to reduce the survey burden time by more than half. This objective can be met by removing all demographic questions. In addition, we propose to limit the response options to “Yes” or “No” and to limit the number of prompted choices. Callers will be informed that the survey will “only take about 2 minutes” to complete and will “help CDC-INFO improve its service.”

III Remove Demographic Questions

CDC-INFO has collected demographic information for 5 years and has analyzed and developed profiles of its core customers by age, race, and gender. These data informed the drill-down customer satisfaction analyses by audience segment. By deleting questions about demographics, the survey length and completion time will be reduced.

Here are the deleted demographic questions:

1. Are you male or female?

2. How old are you?

3. What race or ethnicity do you identify with most?

4. Do you identify with any other race or ethnicity?

5. What other race or ethnicity do you identify with?

Justification

CDC-INFO routinely disseminates critical health and safety information. Its uniqueness is its integrated approach to delivering public health information while at the same time collecting data that informs system enhancements and program communications. For the past 4 years the evaluation of CDC-INFO has provided volumes of data, reports, and presentations on the progression of this service. The outcome of this feedback is tangible, but can also be improved with refined performance measures and a higher sample size.

Changings to the IVR survey would streamline CDC-INFO’s evaluation approach by; (1) refining IVR survey performance measures; (2) reducing the survey burden hours; and (3) increasing the participation and response rates of the IVR survey.

Our customers are defined as any individual or group seeking health or public health information from CDC. To proactively evaluate customer interactions and gather insights for implementing effective measures that meet the agencies goals we need to increase the number of customers who participate in the IVR survey. In order to increase IVR survey response and participation rates, CDC-INFO would like to offer our customers a faster survey (attachment B). By surveying more CDC-INFO users regularly, we can ensure that they have an effective, efficient, and satisfying experience with CDC-INFO, thus maximizing the health impact of the information and ultimately benefiting public health.

Estimate of Revised Annualized Burden Hours

The estimated numbers of respondents represent the product of the average number of calls or emails handled by CDC-INFO and response rates to each respective survey are based on evaluation data obtained in the past 3 fiscal years. The burden per response for the interactive voice response satisfaction survey is based on pilot testing with no more than nine participants.

Type of Respondent	Form Name	No. of Respondents	No. Responses per Respondent	Average burden per Response (in hrs)	Total Burden Hours
General Callers	Brief Interactive Voice Response Survey (English & Spanish)	92,000	1	2/60	3,067
Email Inquirers	Web Survey for E-mail Inquiries (English & Spanish)	1,460	1	3/60	73
General Callers	Live Phone Follow-up Survey (English & Spanish	3,125	1	7/60	365
Total Burden Hours					3,505