RE: What kind and what amount of information do people need ? EPA has done survey work on these questions, but won't release it.

[Diane McCreary <mccreary.diane@epa.gov>]

The survey to which you refer was coordinated by EPA's Center for Environmental Information and Statistics (which has since become part of the new Office of Environmental Information).  Hopefully, this will answer your question about the survey results.  It is true that the results have not been published or widely distributed.  However, copies can be obtained upon request.  I'll do my non-statistician best to explain...

The reasons for caution in disseminating the results mostly center around the response rate which was 39%.  With such a relatively low rate, there is concern about whether the survey results can be extrapolated to the general population.  If you request copies of the survey results, there is a standard cover memo which states "...survey results should be characterized (and subsequently reported) only in terms of the percentage of survey respondents who reported their interest in seeking a type of information or a percentage of respondents who use a particular source of information, or a percentage of respondents, etc.  Survey results should not be reported as, ""x" or "y" percentage of the American public...", or as national estimates."

The person to contact regarding the survey results is Michele Berger.  She can be reached by phone at 202/260-1217 or by email at berger.michele@epa.gov.

Hopefully, this information clarifies the situation.  If not, please let me know.

By the way, here in Region 3, we did a much, much smaller focus group project (5 groups) on the public's environmental information needs.  One focus group was composed of librarians in the Charlottesville, VA area.  The results are available at http://www.epa.gov/reg3rcei/infoneed.htm, if you are interested.