Invitation Letter

«Date»

Dear «Name»,

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) seeks to resolve differences in data reporting on Form EIA-804 Weekly Imports Report and on Form EIA-814 Monthly Imports Report and information reported to the U.S. Customs, Border and Protection. EIA is interested in understanding the methods importers use to determine the EIA classification of imported commodities and how importers define the reporting period for imports that clear customs. In addition, EIA is interested in receiving feedback on the amount of time and effort it takes you to complete these surveys.

[USE THIS TEXT FOR IN-PERSON INVITATION] Participation in this research is voluntary. We are conducting in person interviews with Form EIA-804 respondents and will be in your area the week of XXX. We want to visit with you to discuss your reporting process for completing this form. The interview will take approximately 1 hour.

[USE THIS TEXT FOR TELEPHONE INTERVIEW INVITATION] Participation in this research is voluntary. As part of this research project, we are conducting telephone interviews with Forms EIA-804 and EIA-814 respondents between the dates of XX/XX – XX/XX and want to discuss these research topics with you. The interview will take approximately 1 hour. 

Your responses will be protected as confidential information and results from this study will be aggregated so that no aggregate statistics can be used to identify you or anyone in your organization.

Your opinions are important to us and we look forward to your participation. If you would like to participate in an interview please use the following link below to set up

a date and time that works best with your schedule calendly.com/XXXX. Please reach out to Anna Hamelin on my staff if you have any questions at (202) 586-0858, email anna.hamelin@eia.gov.

Sincerely yours,

Nanda Srinivasan, Director

Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration

U .S. Energy Information Administration

1000 Independence Avenue SW

Washington DC 20585