U.S. Department of Commerce
International Trade Administration
OMB Control No. 0625-XXXX
SECTION B. COLLECTIONS OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL
METHODS
1. Describe (including a numerical estimate) the potential respondent universe and any sampling or other respondent selection method to be used. Data on the number of entities (e.g. establishments, State and local governmental units, households, or persons) in the universe and the corresponding sample are to be provided in tabular form. The tabulation must also include expected response rates for the collection as a whole. If the collection has been conducted before, provide the actual response rate achieved.
The Commercial Service (CS) wants to capture customer satisfaction data for existing clients. The sub-populations within our client universe vary considerably and include the following:
New to Export (NTE) vs. New to Market (NTM) vs. Increase to Market (ITM) companies
Large (greater than 1,000 employees) vs. Medium-sized (500-999 employees) vs. Small (499 or fewer employees) businesses
Urban vs. rural companies (and other geographic considerations)
Service vs. manufacturing companies (and other industry considerations)
Given that the sub-populations vary considerably, the CS prefers to sample each subpopulation (stratum) independently using stratefied random sampling. The CS will use proportionate allocation for sampling within each starta by employing a sampling fraction in each of the strata that is proportional to that of the total population. However, if the CS determines that there is greater variability in some strata compared with others, a larger sample will be drawn from those strata with greater variability.
The estimated potential respondent universe is 3,750 companies and we expect that based on past response rates, the strategic user satisfaction survey will achieve a 40% response rate or approximately 1,500 survey responses.
2. Describe the procedures for the collection, including: the statistical methodology for stratification and sample selection; the estimation procedure; the degree of accuracy needed for the purpose described in the justification; any unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures; and any use of periodic (less frequent than annual) data collection cycles to reduce burden.
The data collection method chosen for the survey is an e-mail message delivering a hot link to a web enabled survey – in part, because this allows for minimum expense and should yield more considered answers.
3. Describe the methods used to maximize response rates and to deal with nonresponse. The accuracy and reliability of the information collected must be shown to be adequate for the intended uses. For collections based on sampling, a special justification must be provided if they will not yield "reliable" data that can be generalized to the universe studied.
If a client does not respond to the survey within two weeks, another e-mail reminder is sent to the client. In addition, returned e-mails are addressed systematically in order to increase response rates.
To address non-response rate, the CS will perform telephone interviews of non-respondents to inquire about their user satisfaction and complete the user satisfaction survey by phone.
4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken. Tests are encouraged as effective means to refine collections, but if ten or more test respondents are involved OMB must give prior approval.
Questionnaire construction is one of the most critical stages in the survey development process so a great deal of thought has gone into the design issues involved (e.g. development and pretesting) regarding the strategic customer satisfaction survey. In order to prevent the resulting data from being seriously misleading, the CRM Unit has worked with client-facing employees within the organization to make sure that the concepts be clearly defined and survey questions unambiguously phrased. Furthermore, designing a suitable questionnaire requires attention be given to its length and the order in which questions are asked – long questionnaires are apt to induce respondent fatigue and errors arising from inattention, incomplete answers, and refusals. In addition to making sure that the questionnaire is the suitable length, all questions in the survey have been pretested to ensure that they are understood by the respondents and do not adversely affect survey cooperation. In addition, the CS researched numerous public and private sector best practices and consulted with several customer satisfaction survey experts during the design of this survey instrument; including staff from the Burke Institute and American Customer Satisfaction Index.
5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on the statistical aspects of the design, and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), grantee(s), or other person(s) who will actually collect and/or analyze the information for the agency.
Individuals who will be or have been consulting on the statistical aspects of the design of the strategic customer satisfaction survey, as well as those individuals who will actually collect and/or analyze the information, are:
- Suzan Winters
Customer Relationship Management Unit
U.S. Commercial Service
U.S. Department of Commerce
(202) 482-6042 fax: (202) 482-2599
- Joseph P. Carter
Customer Relationship Management Unit
U.S. Commercial Service
U.S. Department of Commerce
(202) 482-3342 fax: (202) 482-2599
Clifton Brown
Customer Relationship Management Unit
U.S. Commercial Service
U.S. Department of Commerce
(202) 482-9045 fax: (202) 482-2599
LEGAL AUTHORITY: 15 U.S. C 4724
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT – SECTION B |
| Author | joseph carter |
| Last Modified By | GWELLNAR BANKS |
| File Modified | 2007-09-01 |
| File Created | 2007-08-31 |