Memo

The Census Bureau plans to conduct additional research under the generic clearance for questionnaire pretesting research (OMB number 0607-0725). We will be conducting usability testing for Census Bureau’s eCorrespondence website. The eCorrespondence website is currently under development and will serve as an identity authentication portal by which respondents will access the online survey instruments and provide secure communications between respondents and Census Bureau staff. Over the next two years, most of the Census Bureau’s economic surveys will be migrated to the eCorrespondence website.

We plan to conduct usability interviews with respondents in order to test the layout and functionality of the prototype website. We will focus on the effectiveness of the design of screens (labels, instructions, button placement, etc.) in conveying the intended use and functionality of each screen. During the interviews, we will present respondents with a letter containing instructions to access the eCorrespondence site. We will then ask respondents to log in to the site and perform various tasks including account creation, use of the messaging system, and delegation of the survey to another company employee.

We plan to conduct usability interviews with respondents from up to 25 companies that responded to the 2015 Annual Survey of Manufactures and 2015 Report of Organization. We will attempt to complete interviews with approximately equal numbers of single-location and multiple-location companies. The interviews will take place at business locations in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area and other areas yet to be determined.

Interviews will be conducted in October 2016 by staff from the Data Collection Methodology & Research Branch within the Census Bureau’s Economic Statistical Methods Division. Collection operations staff may participate as observers of the interviews as they are able. Interviews will be audio recorded with respondents’ permission. Once interviews are scheduled, researchers may send participants follow-up emails to remind them of the appointments. Participants will be informed that their responses are voluntary and that the information they provide is confidential and will be seen only by Census Bureau employees involved in the research project. We will not be providing monetary incentives to participants in this study.

We estimate that it will be necessary to interview one respondent at each business. We estimate the interviews will take up to 1 hour (25 cases X 1 hour per case = 25 hours). Additionally, to recruit respondents we expect to make up to five phone contacts per completed case. The recruiting calls are expected to last on average two minutes per call (5 phone calls per completed case X 25 cases X 2 minutes = 4.2 hours). Thus, the estimated burden for this project is 30 hours (4.2 hours for recruiting + 25 hours for interviews).

Enclosed are copies of the screenshots of the eCorrespondence website, a letter with instructions for accessing the eCorrespondence site, an example of a confirmation email sent by the eCorrespondence website, an example of a delegation email sent by the eCorrespondence website, and a draft interview protocol.

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

Aryn Hernandez

Data Collection Methodology & Research Branch

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-7982

Aryn.Hernandez@census.gov

Enclosures

cc:

William Bostic          (DIR) with enclosures

Nick Orsini (DIR) “ “

Kevin Deardorff (EWD) “          ”

Lisa Donaldson (EMD) “ “

Carol Caldwell (ESMD) “         ”

Cynthia Hollingsworth (EWD) “ “

Michelle Karlsson (EMD) “ “

Julius Smith (EWD) “ “

Carma Hogue (ESMD) “         ”

Diane Willimack              (ESMD)   “         ”
William Davie (ESMD) “         ”

James Jamski (EMD) “ “

Theresa Riddle (EWD) “ “

Danielle Norman (PCO) “          ”