Usability Issues from Testing a Census Web Survey: Results from Testing of the Census Quality Survey (CQS)
Kathleen T. Ashenfelter
U.S. Census Bureau
Temika Holland
U.S. Census Bureau
Sabin Lakhe
U.S. Census Bureau
Elizabeth Nichols
U.S. Census Bureau
Victor Quach
U.S. Census Bureau
In 2010, the Census Bureau conducted the Census Quality Survey (CQS) in order to estimate measurement error, such as simple response variance, from a Census Internet questionnaire compared to that from a Census paper questionnaire (Bentley, Reiser, Stokes, & Meier, 2011). The Census Bureau's Human Factors and Usability Lab performed usability testing on prototypes of the CQS Internet questionnaire and provided feedback based on human factors considerations to the developers of the survey prior to its release. For a data-collection Web survey to be successful, its user interface must support the user in completing the survey in an efficient, effective, and satisfying way. The Census Bureau's Usability Lab conducted two rounds of usability testing of the online CQS instrument in April and June of 2010. The goal was to identify elements of the user interface design that were problematic and led to ineffective and unsatisfying experiences for potential respondents of the survey. Usability issues identified during testing are discussed along with potential suggestions for the improvement of future online surveys.
