Cognitive Study on Modifications to Forms EIA-819 and EIA-22M

**Form EIA-819 Moderator’s Guide**

This guide is designed to provide the moderator and the client the various topics and issues to be covered. A good focus group should be conversational. Keep in mind that the questions may not be asked verbatim nor will they necessarily be asked in the same order.

[I. Introduction and EIA’s purpose of conducting this survey (1 minute)]

Welcome and thank you for participating in this focus group.

EIA uses Form EIA-819 and EIA-22M to collect information from companies that produce fuel ethanol, biodiesel, renewable fuels, and fuel oxygenates. EIA is considering merging these two forms into a single survey form.

We will review each portion of this survey and we will ask for your feedback on each screen. Some screenshots may not apply to your facility, however, please provide feedback on each screenshot, even if your facility does not produce or use a particular product.

Please note there are no right or wrong answers. We want your honest thoughts and opinions. You don’t need to worry about typos or spelling and everyone can type at once.

[II. Warm-up Topics (5 minutes)]

Please tell me a little about your background experience or education in ethanol or biodiesel fuel production operations?

Are you the person responsible to fill out the survey forms EIA-22 or EIA-819 for your company? If no, who is?

How long have you been filling out these survey forms?

What is your job title/position?

Based on operations at your facility, how would you classify your organization?

• Group 1 (Producers of fuel ethanol) Current EIA-819 Respondents

• Group 2 (Producers of biodiesel) Current EIA-22 M Respondents

• Group 3 (Producers of renewable diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel, naphtha, gasoline, and other renewable fuels not listed elsewhere) Possible EIA-810 Respondents

• Group 4 (Producers of Motor Gasoline Blending Components and oxygenates for fuel use) EIA-819 respondents

[Starting with Section 1, 2 and 3]

Here is the first section of the survey. Please review it and tell me the first thing that you notice when looking at your screen. Please give details on why it was the very first element you noticed.

What do you notice next?

Did you notice the instructions at the bottom when you viewed this page?

Can you identify which production category you are responding for?

Were the instructions on the front page helpful to you? If no, why not?

What changes would you make to the instructions to make it easier to understand and complete?

Are there any other changes you would make to the instructions?

Is the purpose of page 1 clear? If no, why not?

What would make it clearer?

Does the layout of Page 1 make sense? If no, why not?

What do you like about the layout of this Page 1?

What do you not like about the layout of Page 1?

What recommendations do you have on Page 1?

[Sections 3 & 4 - This process will be the same for most sections and data elements]

Now I am going to show you sections 3 and 4 of the survey. Please review it and tell me the first thing that you notice. Please give details on why it was the very first element you noticed.

Does the layout of this section make sense? If no, why not?

What do you like about the layout of this section?

What do you not like about the layout of this section?

What recommendations do you have for the layout?

Is it clear what cells need to be filled out?

Is the purpose of this section clear? If no, why not?

Are there any column headings that you do not understand or are unclear to you?

Is the design layout of the rows helpful in understanding what you need to report?

Are any row labels unclear?

Do you have any recommendations to the row labels?

What would make it clearer?

[Continue with Sections 5 & 6, 7 & 8 - This process will be completed for each section before moving on to the next section]

Now I am going to show you sections 5 and 6 of the survey. Please review it and tell me the first thing that you notice. Please give details on why it was the very first element you noticed.

Does the layout of this section make sense? If no, why not?

What do you like about the layout of this section?

What do you not like about the layout of this section?

What recommendations do you have for the layout?

Is it clear what cells need to be filled out?

Is the purpose of this section clear? If no, why not?

Are there any column headings that you do not understand or are unclear to you?

What would make it clearer?

Is the design layout of the rows helpful in understanding what you need to report?

Are any row labels unclear?

Do you have any recommendations to the row labels?

[Continue with Sections 9, 10 and 11]

Now I am going to show you sections 9, 10, and 11 of the survey.

Looking at Section 9 first, is it obvious what cells you need to fill out?

Do you know what information to report in the column?

What is the unit of measurement for reporting data in the column?

Are there any row labels that you do not understand or are unclear to you?

What would make it clearer?

[Closing]

If you were hired to improve the form, what would you do and please give details on why?

Thank you for your great feedback here today! Please feel free to type in any additional comments or thoughts you might have. Once you’re finished, just click “Logout.” Have a great day.

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