Census Web Site Usability Testing Plan

Census Web Site Usability Testing Research

Background

The Census Bureau has asked DraftFCB to oversee and conduct website research under the generic clearance for 2010 Census Communications Campaign Testing Activities, OMB#0607-0950. We plan to conduct 24 individual interviews for the purposes of reviewing how people interact with our site and its overall ease of use. This research will help us understand the most effective approach to designing and producing the 2010Census.gov web site in order to offer a robust and easy to understand experience to the end user. These possibilities must be explored further in order to help ensure the success of the 2010Census.gov web site

The specific marketing campaign goals are:

• Increase mail response

• Improve overall accuracy and reduce the differential undercount

• Improve cooperation with enumerators

The specific research objectives are:

• Evaluate the 2010Census.gov web site

• Is the site easy to understand? Does the user know intuitively how to navigate the site given the way the creative is presented?

• Can the user complete the main objective of the site (i.e. getting the info they need to help the fill out the form whether it be a Language Assistance Guide or getting answers to question on information security)?

• Evaluate calls to action and navigational elements for persuasiveness and end-user comprehension

Methodology

Due to the time constraints around the delivery of the 2010 Census site, we recommend a succinct but sufficient number of interviews. We believe that 24 interviews, with 18 English respondents and 6 Spanish respondents, will supply the necessary directional findings needed to refine the site.

Target Audience

The target audience of the research is as follows:

• 18 English-speaking interviewees focus that are to consist of ‘Mass’ or ‘Diverse America’ participants.

• 6 Spanish-speaking interviewees that are to reflect Spanish speaking Hispanics

We plan on conducting the 24 interviews in New York City. We plan to pay participants $40.

Screening Burden

We expect to screen approximately 280 potential participants in order to get 28 qualified participants. We plan to recruit 28 participants to protect against any drop-outs.

The total amount of screening burden hours, based upon all contacts made whether qualified and unqualified, is estimated at 24 hours based on 5 minutes of screening time.

Survey Burden

For the main survey portion of this research, the estimated burden hours for participants who qualify would be 20 hours, 1 hr for each of 6 Spanish interviews, 45 min for each of 18 English interviews.

Recruitment costs for qualified respondents (28) would be $1,120, based upon payment of approximately $40 per participant. We will be recruiting 28 to protect from any drop-outs.

Total Burden

The total burden hours (inclusive of screening and moderated sessions) for all participants regardless of qualification: 44

The total burden cost: From $1,120

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

Eric Newburger

4600 Silver Hill Road, Room 8H486

Suitland, MD 20746

301-763-3649

eric.charles.newburger@census.gov