Customer Satisfaction Survey for the NSF Electronic Research Administration Forum, November 5, 2020

Survey Questions

NSF ERA Forum Webinar Survey Fall 2020

Thank you for participating in the November 2020 ERA Forum Webinar! Your feedback is very important to us. Please complete the following survey based on your participation in the webinar. Responding is voluntary and should take about two minutes to complete. A federal agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number; the number for this is 3145-0215.

Section Title: Respondent and Institution Profile

Survey Questions and Answers
	Questions	Answers
	In what capacity do you primarily interact with NSF? (Required)	Principal Investigator (PI) co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) Other Senior Personnel Other Authorized User (OAU) Sponsored Project Office staff Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) Other (please specify) [text box]
	Which of the following best describes your current organizational affiliation? (Required)	Large research university Primarily undergraduate institution Minority serving institution Community college Other non-profit organization For-profit organization Other (Please specify) (text box)
	What is the size of your organization? (Please do not include student enrollment.) (Required)	25 or less 26 to 100 101 to 500 501 to 1,000 1,001 or more

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Section Title: NSF Proposal Preparation and Submission Systems

Questions in this section relate to your use of FastLane and Research.gov proposal preparation and submission systems. Please respond to the following questions.

Survey Questions and Answers
	Questions	Answers
	How often do you typically prepare or submit proposals to NSF? (Required)	Have never prepared or submitted 1 to 5 times per year 6 to 10 times per year 11 to 15 times per year 16 to 20 times per year More than 20 times per year
	How many proposals have you prepared using Research.gov? (Required)	1 [Skip to Q7] 2 to 10 [Skip to Q7] More than 10 [Skip to Q7] I have only explored the system without preparing a specific proposal [Go to Q6] I have never used the system [Go to Q6]
	What is preventing you from preparing a proposal using Research.gov? (Required)	Select all that apply: [ALL ANSWERS  QUESTION #10] The Proposal Type needed is not yet available in Research.gov. I prefer FastLane. I am familiar with FastLane. I have not had time to learn the new Research.gov system. My organization requires me to use FastLane. I tried to prepare a proposal using Research.gov, but it was not submitted because of compliance check warnings or errors. Other: [Open ended text]
	Please rate each statement from 1 (Strongly Agree) to 5 (Strongly Disagree). Research.gov is easier to learn than FastLane. Once learned, Research.gov is easier to use than FastLane. The Research.gov webpage layout is more intuitive than the FastLane webpage layout. Research.gov webpages are easier to read than FastLane webpages. I find I work more efficiently in Research.gov than in FastLane. Overall, Research.gov meets my expectations.	1 – Strongly Agree 2 – Agree 3 – Neither Agree nor Disagree 4 – Disagree 5 – Strongly Disagree
	What do you like most about Research.gov?	Open ended (text box)
	What do you like least about Research.gov?	Open ended (text box)
	If you started a proposal in Research.gov but decided instead to use FastLane, please explain why.	Open ended (text box)
	NSF seeks to reduce administrative burden and ensure equity among proposals through automated compliance checking. This includes checks for font type, minimum font size, and minimum line spacing requirements. NSF is exploring an alternative approach that would include checking for text character density rather than font type, font size, and line spacing. This check would likely be based on a density of approximately 15 characters per inch. NSF is interested in your input and experiences with character density compliance checks.	Open ended (text box)

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Section Title: New Research.gov Proposal Preparation Demo Site

Based on the ERA Forum Webinar presentation, please respond to the following questions regarding the Research.gov Proposal Preparation Demo Site.

Survey Questions and Answers
	Questions	Answers
	How will you or your organization use the Research.gov Proposal Preparation Demo Site?	Select all that apply: To learn proposal preparation using Research.gov To train staff in proposal preparation using Research.gov To answer questions for others who are preparing Research.gov proposals To run proposal document compliance checks Other (please specify) [text box]
	What features are important to have in the Research.gov Proposal Preparation Demo Site?	Open ended (text box)

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Section Title: Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending Support

Based on the ERA Forum Webinar presentation and your experiences, please provide feedback regarding preparation of Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support documents.

Survey Questions and Answers
	Questions	Answers
	How many times have you used SciENcv to prepare NSF Biographical Sketch or Current and Pending Support documents?	0 [go to Q17] 1 time [go to Q15] 2 to 10 times [go to Q15] More than 10 times [go to Q15]
	How satisfied were you with what you saw today about preparing Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support documents using SciENcv?	Very Satisfied Satisfied Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied Dissatisfied Very Dissatisfied
	Please provide suggested improvements to the Biographical Sketch and/or Current and Pending Support NSF-approved formats (in SciENcv and/or the NSF fillable PDFs).	Open ended (text box)

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Section Title: Survey Wrap-up

Based on the overall ERA Forum Webinar presentations, please respond to the following questions.

Survey Questions and Answers
	Questions	Answers
	Your comments, questions, and feedback are very important to NSF. Based on the ERA Forum Webinar on Research.gov proposals, please include any additional feedback.	Open ended (text box)
	Please share any topics of interest you would like to focus on at future NSF ERA Forums.	Open ended (text box)
	OPTIONAL: If you would like to be added to NSF’s list of volunteers who participate in future application usability studies, surveys, and webinars, please enter your contact information.	Your Name: ______________________________ Your Organization: ________________________ Your Email: ______________________________
	Did you find today's ERA Forum informative?	Yes No Neutral
	Please share any suggestions for the improvement of future ERA Forums.	Open ended (text box)

Thank you for participating in this survey!

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