2357ss04 PartB

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

1. Universe and Respondent Selection

The rating activities under this clearance will be made available to all end users who access the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site. The end users are not required to complete the ratings however they are allowed to do so when accessing the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site.

The ratings are to be completed with an in-house tool to change or improve programs, products or services. The accuracy and reliability of the results of these surveys is adequate to their purpose.

The ratings approach for the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site does not require statistical sampling, just as statistical sampling is often not included for customer satisfaction surveys. 5,000 ratings per year are expected and this will be a subset of the number of overall visitors to the site based on end user interest to respond. The number of responses anticipated is based on responses to the Regulations.gov web site.

The email address field on the Registration section is made available to all end users who register for the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site. The end users are required to complete the email address field when accessing the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site to provide comments, rate content, or tag information. The URL address field on the Registration section is made available to all end users who register for the Regulations.gov exchange web site, but end users are not required to complete the URL address field. Topic discussions and comments can still be viewed by those users who choose not to register.

The email address field on the Registration section is to be completed with an in-house tool and will be used by the end user to establish a user account or profile. The accuracy and reliability of the results of this field is adequate to its purpose.

The email and URL address fields collection for the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site does not require statistical sampling, just as statistical sampling is often not included for contact forms. 1,000 users per year are expected and this will be a subset of the number of overall visitors to the site based on end user interest to respond. The number of responses anticipated is based on responses to the Regulations.gov web site.

The tagging of content is made available to all end users who access the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site. The end users are not required to tag or label information about themselves or tag information they or another visitor provided, however, they are allowed to do so when accessing the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site.

The tagging of content is to be completed with an in-house tool and will be used by end users to define themselves and their own or other’s content. The accuracy and reliability of the results of this form is adequate to its purpose.

The tagging of content for Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site does not require statistical sampling, just as statistical sampling is often not included for customer satisfaction surveys or contact forms. 1,000 tags per year are expected and this will be a subset of the number of overall visitors to the site based on end user interest to respond. The number of responses anticipated is based on responses to the Regulations.gov web site.

The submission of support or oppose comments is made available to all end users who access the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site. The end users are not required to tag or label information about themselves or tag information they or another visitor provided, however, they are allowed to do so when accessing the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site.

The submission of support or oppose comments is to be completed with an in-house tool and will be used to change or improve programs, products or services. The accuracy and reliability of the results of this form is adequate to its purpose.

The submission of support or oppose comments for the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site does not require statistical sampling, just as statistical sampling is often not included for customer satisfaction surveys or contact forms. 1,000 support or oppose comments per year are expected and this will be a subset of the number of overall visitors to the site based on end user interest to respond. The number of responses anticipated is based on responses to the Regulations.gov web site.

2. Procedures for Collecting Information

End users will access the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site and will be presented with options to browse the web site. Within the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site are web pages displaying different potential functionalities or capabilities under consideration for the Regulations.gov web site. The end user will be allowed to submit ratings of one through five stars for a given functionality they view on the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site.

End users on the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site will also be provided with a link to a “Comment page”. This web page will include the ability for end users to rate content, tag content, submit a comment, or submit a ‘support or oppose’ comments on these different functionalities or on other end user’s comments if they so desire.

End users on the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site will also be provided with a link to a Registration section, “User Account” web page. This web page will include a required email address field for the end user to submit their email address and an optional URL address field for the end user to submit a relative URL if they so desire. It will also include a field for the user to tag content about themselves (e.g., Professional Category – such as ‘Academic / Professor’.)

3. Methods to Maximize Response

The results of the ratings will be prominently displayed on the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site and this prominent placement will help maximize responses. The brevity of the rating approach and simplicity of the rating categories themselves will also aid in maximizing responses.

The email and URL address fields on the Registration section will be prominently displayed and this prominent placement will help maximize responses. The brevity of the email/URL address field and simplicity of the field will also aid in maximizing responses.

The tagging of content will be linked from the comment page and the Registration section of the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site and these prominent placements will help maximize responses. The brevity of the form and simplicity of the questions will also aid in maximizing responses.

The support or oppose comments will be linked from the comment page of the Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site and this prominent placement will help maximize responses. The brevity of the form and simplicity of the questions will also aid in maximizing responses.

4. Testing of Procedures

The responses to the ratings, email/URL address field on the Registration section, tagging of content, and support or oppose comments will all be treated like customer satisfaction surveys and will not be formally tested against statistical practices. It is the intention of the eRulemaking Program to leverage the responses to provide feedback on potential functionalities under consideration for the Regulations.gov web site. The intent is to leverage this voluntary feedback to deliver enhanced Regulations.gov capabilities to improve public access to, participation in, and understanding of the rulemaking process and similar federal public notice and comment decision making. The information will not be used for statistical purposes or sampling purposes.

5. Contacts for Statistical Aspects and Data Collection

There are no applicable statistical contacts. The Project Manager for Regulations.gov ‘feedback exchange’ web site is Bryant Crowe, and he can be contacted at crowe.bryant@epa.gov or at 202.566.0295.