CFI 163 USDA ERS Publications questionnaire

U.S. Department of Agriculture FINAL VERSION

Economic Research Service

U.S.D.A. Economic Research Service

Customer Satisfaction Survey 2008

Final Version

Introduction

The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) is committed to providing you, our customers with research and data that truly meet your needs. Gathering your feedback helps to ensure that we are delivering on our commitment to you. To this end, we have commissioned the CFI Group, an independent third-party research group, to conduct a survey that asks about your satisfaction with ERS’s products and services as well as ways that we can improve our service to you.

The CFI Group will hold confidential your response to the survey. Your response will be combined with information from other respondents for research and evaluation purposes so that we may continue to meet your needs in the future. This brief survey will take about 10 minutes of your time. If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Leslee Lowstuter at LesleeL@ers.usda.gov.

This survey is authorized by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget Control No. 1501-0191.

Please click on the "Next" button below to begin the survey.

Demographics

Demo1. Which of the following best describes your organization?

1. University/College

2. Government agency

3. Commercial/Business

4. Non-profit agency

5. Other (Specify)

Demo2. What is your current position/role?

1. Banking or finance analyst

2. Agribusiness

3. Congressional staff

4. Farmer or rancher

5. US government employee (Executive Branch)

6. Media

7. State or local government employee

8. Student

9. University or college faculty

10. Other (Specify)

Usage of ERS products

Use1. How many ERS products or services do you currently use/subscribe to?

1. 0

2. 1

3. 2

4. 3

5. 4

6. 5 or more

7. Don’t Know

(ASK IF USE1 = 2 – 6)

Use2. Which best describes how frequently you use ERS products or services?

1. Daily

2. Weekly

3. Monthly

4. Less than once a month

Use3. For which of the following areas of interest do you use ERS? (Select all that apply)

1. Agricultural trade, markets and policy

2. Rural America

3. Food safety

4. Diet, nutrition and health

5. Natural resources and the environment

Use4. Now, please indicate your primary area of interest. (Select One)

1. Agricultural trade, markets and policy

2. Rural America

3. Food safety

4. Diet, nutrition and health

5. Natural resources and the environment

6. Other (Please specify)

ERS Topic areas of interest

ERS1. Which of the following ERS products do you use? (Select all that apply)

1. Data Products (Agricultural Resource Management Survey, state fact sheets, commodity yearbooks, food consumption database, etc.)

2. Amber Waves (The ERS magazine)

3. Research Reports (Research on economic policy issues related to agriculture, food, the environment and rural development.

4. Outlook Reports (Regular reports on the situation and outlook for major agricultural commodities (commodity-specific reports, trade reports, agricultural baseline projections, etc.)

5. Briefing Rooms on the ERS website

6. Other (Please specify)

ERS2. Which ERS product do you use most often? (Select One)

1. Data Products (Agricultural Resource Management Survey, state fact sheets, commodity yearbooks, food consumption database, etc.)

2. Amber Waves (The ERS magazine)

3. Research Reports (Research on economic policy issues related to agriculture, food, the environment and rural development.

4. Outlook Reports (Regular reports on the situation and outlook for major agricultural commodities (commodity-specific reports, trade reports, agricultural baseline projections, etc.)

5. Briefing Rooms on the ERS website

6. Other (Please specify)

Analysis/Research

Thinking about the ERS product that you use most frequently, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “Poor” and “10” is “Excellent” please rate that product on the following:

A/R1. Clarity of the writing style used

A/R2. Insight provided by ERS analysis

A/R3 Thoroughness of analysis provided by ERS

A/R4. Objective viewpoint

A/R5. Research is relevant and timely for your needs

A/R6. Overall quality of ERS analysis

Data

Thinking about the ERS product that you use most frequently, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “Poor” and “10” is “Excellent” please rate that product on the following:

Data1. Accuracy of data provided

Data2. Usefulness of the data provided

Data3. Thoroughness of the data

Data4. ERS data meeting your information needs

Format

Thinking about the ERS product that you indicated you use most frequently, on a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “Poor” and “10” is “Excellent” please rate that product on the following:

Format1. Organization of material

Format2. Ease of finding information

Format3. Design and presentation

Delivery

Delivery1. Which is your preferred method of receiving information from ERS?

1. Online via PDF

2. Online via html

3. Hard copy (Publications, newsletters, etc.)

4. E-mail

5. Other (Specify)

On a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “Poor” and “10” is “Excellent” please rate ERS on the following:

Delivery2. Timely product delivery

Delivery3. Ease of use

Customer Service

CS1. In the past year, have you contacted ERS regarding any of the products or services you use?

1. Yes

2. No

(ASK IF CS1 = 1)

CS2. Please rate the service provided to you by the ERS representative who helped you. Use a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “Poor” and “10” is “Excellent”.

CS3. Please rate the representative’s ability to resolve your issue. Use a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” is “Poor” and “10” is “Excellent”.

ACSI Benchmark Questions

Now we are going to ask you to please consider ALL of ERS’s products and not only those we just asked about.

1. First, please consider all your experiences to date with ERS’s products. Using a 10-point scale on which “1” means “Very dissatisfied” and “10” means “Very satisfied,” how satisfied are you with ERS’s products?

2. To what extent have ERS’s products fallen short of your expectations or exceeded your expectations? Please use a 10-point scale on which "1" now means "Falls short of your expectations" and "10" means "Exceeds your expectations."

3. Forget the products offered by ERS for a moment. Now, imagine the ideal economic research product. How well do you think the products of ERS compares with that ideal? Please use a 10-point scale on which "1" means "Not very close to the ideal" and "10" means "Very close to the ideal."

Comparison to similar agencies

Comp1. What sources besides ERS do you use for economic research products or services?

1. Other U.S. government agencies

2. Foreign governments or International agencies

3. Commercial firms

4. Non-profit organizations

5. Other (specify)

Comp2. Rate the performance of ERS in providing services compared to the performance of other sources, such as those you mentioned you use in the previous question? Please use a 10-point scale on which "1" means "Falls short of other sources’ performance" and "10" means "Exceeds other sources’ performance."

Outcomes

Outcome1. How likely are you to recommend ERS’s products to your colleagues? Please use a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” means “not very likely” and “10” means “very likely.”

Outcome2. How confident are you in using the information provided by ERS for your needs? Please use a scale from 1 to 10, where “1” means “not very confident” and “10” means “very confident.”

Closing

ERS would like to thank you for your time and participation today. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

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