ACS Website Pretesting Plan

This letter is to inform you of our plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). The Census Bureau plans to conduct a usability test of the American Community Survey (ACS) Web site. The purpose of the usability test is to provide information about the new changes the ACS Website has implemented, including new wording about the availability to complete the ACS online. In addition the testing will also give feedback on the supplemental resources for ACS data (e.g., data collection, data utilization, survey procedures, data access, etc.). ACS site is available to the public, and diverse users search the site seeking a vast range of information.

In July and August of 2012, staff from the Census Bureau’s Human Factors and Usability Group will interview 20 general public participants from the Washington DC metropolitan region. Interviews will be conducted at the Usability Lab at the Census Bureau. All participants must have a minimum of one year of Internet experience and use the Internet at least two times a week to search for information. General public participants will be recruited from the Usability Lab database, which is composed of people from the metropolitan DC area who volunteered to participate in studies after responding to a Craigslist.com posting or an ad in a local newspaper.

The testing materials used in this study include the following:

• Initial questionnaire about participants’ computer and Internet experience and some demographic characteristics;

• Set of tasks to accomplish using the ACS Web site;

• Three post task satisfaction questions asked at the conclusion of every task;

• A final satisfaction questionnaire; and

• Debriefing questions.

Tasks will be randomized so that no participant will receive the tasks in the same order. Participants will be asked to think-aloud while they are working on the tasks. Participants will be prompted to think-aloud when they fall silent with special probes such as “keep talking” or “what are you thinking.” At the end of each task, participants will answer three post-task satisfaction questions and at the end of the session participants will be complete a questionnaire designed to measure their satisfaction with the site as a whole. Subjective satisfaction ratings will be collected for such design elements as the layout of page, ease of finding information, and use of Census jargon. Participants will also provide feedback about the Web site during a debriefing, following the final satisfaction questionnaire. A copy of the initial questionnaire, the post-task satisfaction questionnaire, the final satisfaction questionnaire, and the task sets are all enclosed.

Respondents will be told that their participation is voluntary and all the information they provide is confidential. After they are recruited, respondents will receive follow-up reminders by telephone and/or email. Respondents who are not Federal employees will receive a $40.00 honorarium for their assistance.

We estimate that users will spend one hour on average completing the study, including time spent working on the demographic and satisfaction questions, the tasks and the debriefing. Thus, the total estimated respondent burden for this test is 20 hours.

The contact person for questions regarding data collection and statistical aspects of the design of this research is listed below:

Erica Olmsted-Hawala

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-4893

Erica.l.olmsted.hawala@census.gov