Assessment and Evaluation of the NOAA Climate Services Portal climate.gov

Building, understanding and maintaining relationships is critical for agencies that provide products and services for multiple target audiences. In a recent evaluation of NOAA's Climate.gov portal, researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison employed a new Quality of Relationship (QoR) tool to measure five elements of a good relationship:  awareness, trust, satisfaction, usability, and control mutuality.  Reviewers conducted a literature review and followed with data collection via focus groups, on-line surveys and usability studies directed at specific audiences:  (1) the climate-interested public; (2) climate science data users (scientists and applications-oriented professionals); (3) science educators (formal and informal); and (4) climate science policy decision-makers.  Conclusions and recommendations to NOAA indicate that QoR can add a new dimension to traditional Performance and Results (GPRA) reporting.