Itsinourhands 2010 User Website Testing Plan

The Census Bureau plans to conduct website research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pre-testing research (OMB 0607-0725). We plan to conduct in-depth interviews and focus groups to understand people’s online information needs and goals with regards to the “itsinourhands” website being created to promote the 2010 Census. This research will help define the online vision for the 2010 Census communications campaign and ensure that it resonates across a broad array of target audience groups. In addition, the research is designed to help define usability goals, aid in understanding the end users’ perspective and help architect the user site(s) experience.

The specific objectives of this study are to:

• Understand the users’ overall use of the online channel and how that relates to the 2010 Census:

  • What are your expectations for online experiences?

  • What type of online content & features would you want?

  • Where would you want to find them?

• Evaluate the effectiveness of existing 2010 Census online communications on census.gov

• Prioritize content & features based on users’ need

• Identify primary digital experiences and channels that could be used by the Census to deliver 2010 communications

In order to reach a disparate multicultural audience within the larger Census clusters and in the scope of a small-scale study, a joint methodology is proposed. The scope of this research request is to interview 42 total respondents with two complimentary approaches.

Thirty one-on-one in-depth interviews will be conducted in August and September of 2008 via telephone with representatives of the different, smaller ethnic groups. In addition, 2 focus groups of 6 respondents each who represent the larger, more homogeneous clusters will be held. These activities will be conducted the DraftFCB, the Census Bureau’s contractor for the 2010 census public information campaign. However, participants will be recruited by the separate research contractors, and will be screened for medium to high Internet usage and specific target audience demographic criteria.

The target audience for the research is as follows:

• Diverse America

  • Advantaged Homeowners / All Around Average II

  • Single Unattached Mobiles

• Black

• Hispanic

• Asian

• Puerto Rico

• American Indian/Alaska Native

• Emerging Markets

• Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islands

Part One

The telephone in-depth interviews will be conducted throughout the country. Participants will be reminded a few days ahead of time about the phone interview to verify that the scheduled time is still good. Participants will be paid $50 for their time.

A copy of the discussion outline for the in-depth interviews and focus groups is enclosed.

Part Two

We will be conducting a total of two focus group interviews of 6 participants each, one with Single Unattached Mobiles and one with Adv Homeowners/All Around Avg II.
We plan on conducting the Advantaged Homeowners/All Around Average II group in the West or Midwest and the Single Unattached Mobiles group in New York. We plan to pay participants $75.

All participants will be informed that their participation is voluntary, and that their thoughts and opinions will not be revealed in an individually-identifiable manner to anyone outside of the research organization conducting the research and Census Bureau staff involved in the project.

The telephone interviews will last between 30 and 45 minutes for a total of 23 hours (30 x ¾ hour). The focus group sessions will last approximately 90 minutes for a total of 18 hour (12 x 1 ½ hours). Thus, the total estimated burden for this research is 41 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding the design of this research as follows:

Nancy Bates

Census 2010 Publicity Office

Bureau of the Census

Washington, DC 20233

(301) 763-5248

nancy.a.bates@census.gov