What's New in 2005?

Comment Card: A new comment card has been approved by OMB (7010-0001, Exp 31 March 2006). The new comment card should be used in all applications where the older card was previously used. English and Spanish language versions of the new comment card are available.

Expanded Scope of Survey: Last year's survey was intended to produce a composite estimate of customer satisfaction across all recreation areas and visitor groups on the Project. This years' survey will produce separate results for project camping and day-use visitors.

Sample Size Requirements: Sample size requirements have increased as a result of two factors:

• This survey was introduced last year on a trial basis with a sample size of 160 completed comment cards. This years' survey is fully operational with a per-project sample size of 240. This was the same level of sampling effort requested of projects participation the national survey effort in 2002-3.
• Expanding the scope of the survey to include separate results for day-use and camping visitors required an increase in overall sampling effort to produce satisfaction results of reasonable precision for each the two visitor groups.

Low Sample Size Option: Projects at which annual visitation falls below specified thresholds may elect survey planning options that will reduce the target sample size from 480 to either 240 or 120 completed comment cards. Written justification must be provided during the survey planning process to elect some of the available low sample size options.

New Survey Tools and Procedures: The new comment card and expanded reporting requirement has resulted in changes to the survey planning, data entry, and reporting tools as well as the survey administration procedures. Be sure to read the instructions for Developing a Survey Plan and Data Collection Procedures before attempting to implement these activities.