G293 STEPP Course Evaluation Submission Request

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0651-0080)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: G293: STEPP Course Overall Evaluation

PURPOSE: To ascertain the impact of previous 3-day STEPP courses on current business practices, determine interest in future advanced STEPP courses.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Respondents will be attendees of the 3-day STEPP courses.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one or multiple)

[ ] 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.

Business Unit: Office of Patent Training

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

Personally Identifiable Information:

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

1a. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to

the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

2. If applicable, has a System of Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No [X] N/A

Gifts or Payments:

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

BURDEN HOURS

Name of Instrument	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
STEPP Overall Evaluation & Future Advanced Courses	165	10 minutes	27.5 hours
Totals	165		27.5 hours

The USPTO estimates that 100% of the surveys will be conducted online.

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is the combined average hourly rate of $64.20 per hour for a GS-14 step 6 + $19.30(30%) * 4 hours and which totals an hourly rate of $83.50. $83.50 * 4 hours = $334.00

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?

The universe consists of 325 unique attendees of previous STEPP 3-day courses. Each will be emailed a survey invitation via a web link. Historically, external USPTO surveys have realized around a 50% responses rate. That percentage has been applied to get the hourly burden noted above. The universe is small enough that using a smaller sampling plan would not provide statistically reliable results.

Administration of the Instrument

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

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain: live poll software

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

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