CE External Stakeholder Survey

CE Stakeholder Survey, 2021

Thank you for helping the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collect critical feedback regarding the Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) program.

The CE program provides data on expenditures, income, and demographic characteristics of consumers in the United States. Your responses to this survey will help us improve our existing services.

Even if you are not a frequent user of CE products, any feedback you can provide would be appreciated. Your participation in this survey is completely voluntary. We estimate that it will take approximately 25 minutes to complete. We are collecting this information under OMB Number 1225-0088. Without this currently approved number, BLS could not conduct this survey.  (Expiration date: January 31, 2024.)

The survey questions are based on broad user experience and responses will be aggregated for analysis.

If you have any questions about this survey, please e-mail CEXINFO@bls.gov or call 202-691-7006.

Click Next below to begin the survey.

This survey is being administered by SurveyMonkey.com and resides on a server outside of the BLS domain. BLS cannot guarantee the protection of survey responses and advises against the inclusion of sensitive personal information in any response.

_____________________________________________________________

1. Have you ever used Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE) data products?

• Yes

• No

• Don’t know

2. Have you ever visited the CE website (https://www.bls.gov/cex/)?

• Yes

• No

• Don't know

3. How familiar are you with CE data?

Very unfamiliar	Unfamiliar	Familiar	Very unfamiliar

4. For what purpose do you use CE data? (Check all that apply)

• Educational uses

• Economic research/analysis

• Financial research/analysis

• Personal interest

• Policy research/analysis

• Other – please specify:___________

5. Which CE products do you use most often ?

• Tables

• Public Use Microdata

• LABSTAT (BLS Labor Statistics)

• Research articles

• News releases/reports

• Other - please specify:

6. How useful are CE data to you?

• Not at all useful

• Slightly useful

• Moderately useful

• Very useful

• Extremely useful

7. Please describe why CE data are useful to you or not in the box below:

8. How did you first learn about CE data products? (Check all that apply)

• Blog

• Conference

• Coworker or colleague

• Internet search

• Media or press

• Research paper

• Teacher or professor

• Do not recall

• Other – please specify:

9. How long have you used CE data?

• Less than 1 year

• 1-5 years

• 6-10 years

• 10+ years

• Don’t know

10. Please rate your level of agreement with each of the following statements:

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree	No basis to decide
I understand what data the CE collects
CE data are of high quality
I believe that the CE methodology measures expenditure change as accurately as possible
I can find the data that I need (tables, LABSTAT, microdata)
I know how to get help if I have questions about CE data

Please describe in the box below why you selected disagree or strongly disagree to the statements in the previous question.

11. Have you used any of the following types of CE tables in the past 12 months?

	Yes	No	Don’t know
Calendar Year Tables
MidyearTables
Multi-Year Tables
Cross-Tabulated Tables
Metropolitan Statistical Areas Tables
Region, Census Division, or Population Area Tables

(Only items with a “yes” response in the preceding table will be listed in the next table). How often have you used each of the following types of CE tables in the past 12 months?

	Never	1-5 times	6-12 times	More than 12 times
Annual Calendar Year Tables
MidyearTables
Multi-Year Tables
Cross-Tabulated Tables
Metropolitan Statistical Areas Tables
Region, Census Division, or Population Area Tables

12. CE tables are available in Excel, PDF, and HTML format. Please rank your format preference below (1-most preferred format to 3-least preferred format) .

• Excel

• PDF

• HTML

13. What changes, if any, should be made to the tables the CE program provides? (Check all that apply)

• Add additional types of cross-tab tables (please provide specifics below)

• Reduce the set of tables to only the most important (please describe the items you think we should continue to produce)

• Add more geographic tables

• Keep the current set as is

  

• No opinion

• Other specify:

14. How useful are each of the following source for obtaining CE data?

	Not at all useful	Slightly useful	Moderately useful	Very useful	Extremely useful	Do not use/ Not familiar with this
CE Microdata
News releases
Midyear tables
Annual tables
Research articles/reports
BLS staff response to CE information inquiries
One-screen search (tool on BLS website that uses a pop-up data browser - CE LABSTAT)
Multi-screen search (tool on BLS website that uses multiple search screens - CE LABSTAT)

15. Please indicate how satisfied you are with the following CE data products.

	Not at all satisfied	Slightly Satisfied	Moderately satisfied	Very satisfied	Extremely satisfied	Do not use
Technical information (for example, CE Handbook of Methods)
LABSTAT database
CE FAQs (frequently asked questions and answers)
CE glossary (definitions of terms in CE data products)
Research products page
Annual (calendar year, midyear) tables
Data comparisons
Publications and reports
Microdata
Other – please specify: __________

16. Based on your experience, please rate your level of agreement with the following statements.

	Strongly Disagree	Disgree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree	No basis to decide
The news release provides useful information
The news release is easy to understand
The news release contains the right amount of data
The news release contains the right amount of charts and tables

What additional analysis would you like to see in the news release?

17. We periodically update the CE website based on user feedback. Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements about the CE website.

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree	Not familiar with website
The CE news release is easy to find
CE data are easy to find
Information on CE Methodology (Handbook of methods) is easy to find
Contact information for CE staff is easy to find
I think the website was designed for people like me with my skills and background

18. Please rate the level of usefulness on the CE Website contents below:

	Not useful	Minimally useful	Very useful	Not familiar with webpage
CE Home
CE Methods
CE News Releases
CE Publications
Midyear tables
Annual tables
CE LABSTAT Database
CE Public Use Microdata
CE Workshop And Symposium
CE Geographic Data
CE Research Products
CE Library
CE FAQ
CE Glossary
CE Survey Materials
CE Redesign
CE Data Quality and Comparisons
Information for CE Respondents

19. The CE home page provides a list of new announcements and recent releases along with other information. Are you familiar with the CE announcements and current releases placed on the CE homepage?( Note: If the respondent response is other than Yes, please skip question 20 and move directly to 21. )

• Yes

• No

• Not sure

20. Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements about the CE announcements and current releases.

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree
They are easy to find
They are updated in a timely fashion
They provide the right amount of details

Please provide any additional thoughts or comments about the CE announcements and current releases below.

21. Have you ever contacted the CE staff with questions about the CE data?

• Yes

• No

22. How satisfied are you with the CE program staff response to your CE inquiries?

	Extremely Dissatisfied	Dissatisfied	Neither dissatisfied nor satisfied	Satisfied	Extremely satisfied
Contents of response
Timeliness of response
Customer service
Overall satisfaction

Please provide any additional comments about your experience with our customer service below.

23. How likely are you to recommend CE products (CE tables, Microdata, LABSTAT, or Publications) to a friend or colleague?

Not at all likely	Not likely	Neutral	More likely	Extremely likely
1	2	3	4	5

24. Which category best describes the primary organization where you work or study?

• Industry or trade association

• Federal government

• State government

• Local government

• Student at a school/university

• Education professional at a school/university

• Research organization

• Financial institution

• News media

• Nongovernmental organization

• Consulting institution

• Blog

• Private citizen

• Other (please specify)

25. Do you use expenditure data other than from BLS?

• Yes (go to 26)

• No

26. What other sources of expenditure data do you use? (Check all that apply)

• Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)

• Current Population Survey (CPS)

• American Community Survey (ACS)

• Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID)

• Survey of Consumer Finance (SCF)

• National Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA)

• Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS)

  

• Food and Nutrition Surveys (FNS)

• Other (please specify)

27. Any other comments about the CE program or suggestions for new products or improvements to the program are welcome. If you have additional comments please send to CEXINFO@bls.gov .

Thank you for your time. We appreciate your input.

If you would like to learn more about BLS expenditure data, please visit our website.

Thank you

File Type	application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Author	Mockovak, William - BLS
File Modified	0000-00-00
File Created	2023-12-11