Customer survey 2015 OMB clearance letter

July 2, 2015

Chad Whiteman

Department of Energy Desk Officer

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

Washington, DC 20503

SUBJECT: DOE-887(99), “USE OF GENERIC CLEARANCE FOR THE ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION’S WEB CUSTOMER SURVEY”

Dear Mr. Whiteman:

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) plans to use the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved generic clearance, DOE-887, (DOE Customer Surveys’ OMB No. 1901-0302), to conduct a short survey of EIA’s website customers. Your action is anticipated within two weeks; however, EIA will not conduct this survey without your approval. Results of this data collection will be submitted in the annual report of surveys conducted under the generic clearance.

The survey EIA is proposing to conduct this year is the same web-based survey we have conducted for the past six years, which provided significant useful feedback. The results of this and previous surveys were valuable in leading EIA to change and improve its navigation, web content and presentation, and electronic delivery of energy information. This year we are interested in getting feedback on the use of our social media channels, the use of our website on mobile devices, and our readers’ understanding about trends in petroleum energy sources as a proxy for energy literacy.

In 2014, EIA’s website had 20.5 million visitor sessions, for an average of 1.7 million visits per month. With the move to virtually 100 percent electronic dissemination of information, EIA has responded to the growth in electronic customers and the increased focus on electronic government. We realize that the design and functionality of a government statistical website is critical. Customers, including policy-makers, business and financial markets, the energy industry and other businesses, the media, teachers and students, and private citizens all rely on energy information from EIA that they can easily access and understand.

The survey has 12 questions, some with follow-up questions. Depending on respondents’ answers, some respondents could have a maximum of 16 questions.

The questions are organized in three sections: two demographic questions at the beginning, five questions (some with possible follow-ups, described below) about or related to our website, and the remaining five questions about EIA’s public image, the customer’s energy literacy, the use of EIA’s social media channels, use of our website on mobile devices, and an open-ended question intended to provide feedback to EIA.

Rationale and Use of Data for Some of the Questions

For Question 5, EIA seeks direct responses from customers about how they use EIA information. EIA has anecdotal information about customer tasks and needs, but nothing measurable collected directly from them except for responses to this survey. We have used the information gathered from this question in budget documents and other reports.

For Question 8, this is a variation of a standard image question often asked in focus groups, “What words would you use to describe EIA?” We have selected adjectives customers have used to describe EIA in narrative sections of previous surveys. Audience research will enable EIA to understand how it is viewed by customers, and to target changes to products and marketing strategies.

For Question 9, we want to know, given EIA’s limited resources, what web improvement would people most like EIA to pursue. They can select one of the nine choices as well as provide their own suggestion. If people select the option to make the website responsive for mobile devices, we want to know if they have accessed EIA’s website from a mobile device and if they were able to accomplish what they wanted to do. Responses to this question will inform website development decisions.

For Question 10, EIA has moved into social media. We began with Twitter, followed by YouTube and Facebook, and now Flickr. We want to know what users think about accessing EIA information via these channels. We have included an open text box area if users have comments or want to give us ideas.

For Question 11, one part of EIA’s mission is public understanding and education. EIA would like to know the level of understanding its customers have about basic energy issues and trends. Several years ago on our customer surveys we asked about the source of our oil imports as a barometer of our users’ energy literacy. Two years ago, we asked about changing trends in oil production. Last year we asked about the use of renewable energy sources to generate electricity. This year we propose to ask about how much oil consumed by the United States comes from foreign sources. If a large number of respondents select the wrong answer or say they do not know the answer to this question, EIA will use that finding to make improvements in its basic energy information and will provide new, easy-to-understand products in an appropriate place on our website, such as our energy education products. Regardless of the answer chosen for this question, we plan to include a follow-up screen that gives the correct answer and a brief explanation.

The medium for administration of this survey will be the website itself. EIA has created an electronic survey form (HTML document with the questions is attached) that will be posted on the EIA website, allowing customers to easily and automatically submit their feedback. We will present the invitation to the survey after the customer has been on the website for brief period of time. The invitation will ask if they want to take the survey at that moment or have it presented to them at a later time (in five minutes).

The code for fielding the survey is similar to that used by the American Customer Satisfaction Index survey, the survey tool broadly used across the government and cleared by OMB. EIA’s code ensures that our survey will not be blocked by pop-up blocker software. We want to make sure that the broadest possible customer population has the opportunity to respond. We also use temporary cookies to ensure that the survey is only presented once per customer. If they respond to the survey or say they do not want to take it, they will not see the invitation again.

The 12-question survey (not including the possible follow-up questions) is expected to fit on three computer screens. This relatively short survey will encourage participation, as has been our experience in the past.

EIA plans to have this survey on the website for up to one month, or until 5,000 responses are received. The number of returns will be monitored each day. The response rate is expected to be similar to that seen last year, when we only had the survey online for one week.

Because EIA does not have a list or frame of its website customers, EIA cannot designate a scientific sample, although direct input from customers is needed. We do expect responses from a diverse group of customers based on the fact that customers surveyed in the past represented a diverse group and the sheer volume of input from previous surveys.

While the responses to this survey cannot be claimed as being representative of all users, EIA will get an understanding of users’ opinions by obtaining consistent information from a large number of users. During the survey period, EIA can compute a proxy response rate by calculating survey responses/unique web customers per day, although the actual response percentage for most web surveys is expected to be very small.

All participation in this survey is voluntary. No self-identification information will be requested. All results will be presented in aggregate form. Subsequent analysis of the data collected will limit any divulgence of individual customer responses.

The attached survey will take about four minutes to complete based on tests conducted with sample participants. The burden for the targeted customer group should not exceed 334 hours (5,000 potential respondents multiplied by 4 minutes each).

Susanne Johnson, EIA's Information Management Specialist, is the point of contact for questions and may be reached at 202-586-4795. Other questions should be directed to Lawrence Stroud at 202-586-6242.

Sincerely,

Nanda Srinivasan

Director, Office of Statistical Development and Statistical Integration

U.S. Energy Information Administration