Consumer Research

The EPA's industry and trade association partners in the Consumer Labeling Initiative (CLI) sponsored and funded a voluntary research project jointly designed with all the other members of the CLI to learn how people across the country currently interact with labels, and how those labels might be improved. The study explored:

what information people want and use on labels
how easy it is for them to find what they need
when they look for and use specific pieces of information
what information formats they prefer
what things they understand; and
what things they find confusing.

National Family Opinion (NFO), a major marketing research firm, was hired to conduct the study, which began in May 1998 and ran throughout the summer.

The study included both telephone and written surveys conducted with consumers in each of the three CLI product categories -- indoor insecticides, outdoor pesticides and herbicides, and household hard surface cleaners. The surveys were sent to over 4,100 households across the country, statistically representing the entire U.S. population, and almost 2,700 households completed and returned both parts of the surveys. The study results will be included in the CLI Phase II Report, which should be available in Summer 1999.

If you would like to see the questions that were asked in the study, you can download and view the .pdf format files located on this page. There are three files for each product category: a telephone survey file; a written survey file; and a file containing the image of a mock product label that survey respondents were asked to consult when answering some of the survey questions. A printout of the five volumes of tabulated answers from the study is available for inspection and copying in the public Administrative Record for the project, AR-139 Consumer Labeling Initiative, located in the TSCA Non-Confidential Information Center, Room NEB 607, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460, telephone (202) 260-7099. The data are not currently available in an electronic format.

The findings, conclusions, and recommendations from the study appear in the CLI Phase II Report, which was published electronically and in hard copy in December 1999. Click on the Phase II Report button to review the report online or to download it. You can also order a print copy by contacting the Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse (PPIC) by telephone at 202-260-1023 or by email addressed to ppic@epa.gov. You can request the Report from the PPIC by name or by its publication number, EPA742-R-99-004.

We extend our profound thanks to our industry and trade association partners for their willingness to share this information.

You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

Indoor insecticides:

Telephone survey (.pdf file - 503 k)
Written survey (.pdf file - 819 k)
Product label (.pdf file - 121 k)

Outdoor pesticides and herbicides:

Telephone survey (.pdf file - 486 k)
Written survey (.pdf file - 835 k)
Product label (.pdf file - 543 k)

Household hard surface cleaners:

Telephone survey (.pdf file - 417 k)
Written survey (.pdf file - 1114 k)
Product label (.pdf file - 140 k)

Consumer Research

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