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pdfATTACHMENT A:
Taxpayer Protocol
Task Order 11, Phase 2: User Testing
Taxpayer Protocol
EITC Task Order 11, Phase 2
User-Centered Testing of www.irs./eitc
OMB No. 1545-1349
EITC Website Usability Interviews with Taxpayers
Session Recruitment Screener
Hello, may I speak to [TAXPAYER NAME]? My name is [INTERVIEWER NAME], and I am
calling from Westat, a private research company in Rockville, Maryland. We are
conducting a research study for the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS would like to learn what it’s like for taxpayers when they try to search for
information on their website about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). [If needed:
The Earned Income Tax Credit offsets federal taxes on earned wages for working
families and low income individuals.] We would like to know if you would be interested
in helping us test their website and give your feedback about how you think it works.
You are being invited to participate because you are a taxpayer and might look for
information about the Earned Income Tax Credit [EITC] on the Internet. We are having
people come to our Rockville, Maryland office to work with the IRS website during the
week of December/January [xx]. This should take about an hour and a half from start to
finish. To thank you for your participation, we will provide you with $150 cash.
Your participation in this activity is voluntary. Participation will not affect your taxes or
your tax status. Identifying information about you will not be shared with the IRS and
we will not ask you about any personal information.
[IF NEEDED: If you like, I can give you an address where you can send comments
about the time and burden for this research study. The address is Internal Revenue
Service
Tax Products Coordinating Committee
SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP
1111 Constitution Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20224.]
[IF NEEDED: If you have any questions about the study or need more information, you
may email Mary.J.O'[email protected]].
Would you be willing to participate?
IF YES:
Thank you very much. I need to obtain a few pieces of
information from you. [GO TO PAGE 2]
IF NO:
[THANK AND END]
Taxpayer Screener
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OMB No. 1545-1349
NAME:
ADDRESS:
WORK
PHONE:
CELL
PHONE:
EMAIL:
ARE YOU THE PERSON IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD WHO PREPARES THE TAXES, OR BRINGS THE TAXES IN
TO BE PREPARED?
Yes
No >> MAY I SPEAK WITH THAT PERSON? [RUN SCREENER AGAIN OR SET
APPOINTMENT FOR CALLBACK]
Name/Appointment time/Best Tel No. ___________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
DID YOU FILE A TAX RETURN LAST YEAR?
(Check one.)
No
Yes
Not sure
HAVE YOU EVER USED A PERSONAL COMPUTER?
Yes
No>>THANK & TERMINATE
HAVE YOU EVER USED THE INTERNET TO SEARCH FOR ANY KIND OF INFORMATION?
Yes
Taxpayer Screener
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No>>THANK & TERMINATE
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OMB No. 1545-1349
We would like to invite you to come to our Rockville office to help test the IRS.gov website. In the session
we will be asking you to help us evaluate the Earned Income Tax Credit portion of the IRS website. The
session should take about an hour and a half, and to thank you for your participation, we will provide an
honorarium of $150.
DID THIS TAX PAYER ACCEPT OR DECLINE THE INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THE USABILITY SESSION?
(Check one.)
Accepted
Declined participation. >>Describe reason he or she declined:
SESSION DATE & TIME:
Taxpayer Screener
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Website Evaluation of irs.gov/eitc
Script for Taxpayer Interviews
NOTE: Instructions to the moderator appear in blue font.
I.
Introduction and consent
Thank you for taking the time to help us out today. I’m ________________ and I work here at
Westat, a research company that does work for a lot of different government agencies on a
wide variety of topics. What we’re doing here today is helping the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) learn how to improve their website.
Today I will ask you to use the IRS’s website to find information about the Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC). In case you’re not familiar with it, EITC is a tax credit designed for individuals
and families who work but don’t earn a lot of money. Taxpayers who file for it on their tax
return could end up paying less tax, or even getting a refund. [If participant asks for more
information, we have brochures s/he can take home about EITC after the session.]
Today I want to learn what it is like for you as a taxpayer to look for information about EITC on
the IRS web site. The goal of this project is to make sure that taxpayers using the IRS web site
will be able to find information they need about EITC easily. I’ll be asking you to use the irs.gov
website to find different kinds of information that are posted for taxpayers and to share your
reactions with me. Your feedback will help the IRS make the best changes to improve the
website. This session will last approximately 90 minutes.
That is a one-way mirror [point to mirror]. One of my Westat colleagues is back there taking
notes while you and I work in this room.
[If IRS is observing session, read:] Observers from the IRS are also here today to observe and
see for themselves how people use the site.
Your participation in this research project is voluntary, and you have the right to skip any
question or stop at any time. Your decision to participate will have no effect on your tax status
and identifying information about you will not be shared with the IRS.
With your permission, we would like to videotape today’s session. The video will focus on your
on-screen activities and what you and I talk about during the session. We will not videotape
your face, because we want to protect the privacy of your participation today.
This consent form covers several important points about your participation. Please read it and
I’ll answer any questions you may have. [Ensure participant is agreeing to participate, have
him/her sign one copy of the Taxpayer Consent Form and keep one copy for himself/herself.]
Before we get started, I’d like you to fill out this brief questionnaire. Please let me know if you
have any questions as you fill it out. [Hand the Taxpayer Pre-test Questionnaire to the
participant to complete before continuing.]
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II. Website testing
I’m going to ask you to find some information that the IRS has posted on the irs.gov website
for taxpayers using this computer. Please work through these tasks as you would if you were
at work or at home, at a speed that’s comfortable for you. Remember that we’re testing the
site, we’re not testing you.
You might have some questions as you work. Please go ahead and ask them, because I’m
interested in learning from you what isn’t clear or easy to understand. However, sometimes I
may not be able to answer your questions, because I need to see how you use the site on your
own. We’ll have some time at the end so I’ll ask for your feedback about your experiences
using this site.
Do you have any questions at this point? [Answer any questions the participant has.]
As you’re working through the set of tasks I give you, please say out loud what you are
thinking, and tell me what you are looking at and clicking on as you do it. To give you an
example of what I mean, if we were having you test a website like Amazon.com you might tell
me what you’re doing by saying something like, “I’m scrolling down the page to see what kinds
of DVDs they have.”
I will be most interested in hearing what you expect to see when you click on something, and
what you like and don’t like about the site. Occasionally, after you've said or done something, I
may ask you to tell me more, so that I can better understand how you interpret and act on the
information you see.
Are you ready to start? Do you have any questions? [Answer any remaining questions the
participant has.]
[The computer should be booted up and set to the irs.gov home page, but make sure the
monitor is clicked off before asking Q1.]
Q1.
Let’s pretend that you wanted to look for information online about EITC on your own,
from home or work. Tell me what you would do (what actions would you take) to try to
find information about EITC on the Internet.
Probe :
Would you use a search engine? (Google, Yahoo, others) [Note
which engines P mentions]
If search engine, ask: What are some of the key words
you would type in the Search box to help you find this
information?
Probe :
Other actions?
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[Turn the monitor on to display the irs.gov home page on the screen.]
Now we’ll begin working with the computer. We’ll start at the home page for the IRS website.
[Make sure that the participant has a copy of the Taxpayer User Tasks.]
Here is the task I would like you to start with. Please read the task out loud so I can follow
along with you.
Moderator should follow along with own copy of the Taxpayer user task packet.
For each task, note the paths/webpages that the user selects to reach targeted information
and the questions they ask along the way.
Note areas where user seems to get hung up or lost and the actions they take to get back
to where they want to be.
For each task, if participant was not able to complete the task or breaks off, have her/him
try to get back to the IRS.gov Home page on their own. If participant is unable to return to
that page, note this and set the screen to the home page by using the HOUSE ICON.
III.
Post-test and questions from observers
After all tasks have been completed or time limit reached, hand the Taxpayer Post-test
Questionnaire to the participant to complete before proceeding to the debriefing questions.
Check with your observers during this time to see if they have any other questions.
IV. Debriefing and wrap up
Okay, I’d like to ask you some specific questions about what it was like for you to use this
website. [Administer the Taxpayer Debriefing Protocol, tailoring to participant’s experience as
necessary. Monitor time against remaining session activities.]
[Remember to give the cash incentive and get the participant’s signature on the incentive
receipt.]
Thank you very much for your help today. We appreciate your input!
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WEBSITE EVALUATION OF IRS.GOV/EITC
Consent for Participation and Session Recording
We are asking you to help us with a project that we are conducting for the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS). Today’s activity involves testing parts of the IRS.gov website to learn about how people look
for information about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on the site. We will use the information
you give us today to provide recommendations to the IRS for improving the website. We will be
asking you to look for different kinds of information on the website and to provide your opinions about
how it works. The session will take approximately 90 minutes.
Your participation in this research project is voluntary, and you have the right to stop at any time or to
refuse to answer any question. The things you say may be put in a written summary of this
discussion, but you will never be identified by name, and there will be no way to identify who said
what.
Also, we would like to videotape the session. Sometimes it is helpful to review a portion of a tape as
we make recommendations to the IRS for revisions. The videotaping will focus on your verbal
feedback and on-screen activities. Your face will not appear on the tape to protect the privacy of your
participation and eliminate the potential for identification.
If you agree to participate, please read and sign below.
I,
_______________________________________________________________,
(Print your name here)
consent to the video recording of this session, which is being conducted by Westat to support
the IRS evaluation of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) webpages on irs.gov.
I acknowledge that my participation in this session is voluntary, and that I will receive $150 for
participating today. I understand that the recordings will be used only by the research staff to
accurately capture the experiences I had while working with the website, and that my name will
not appear in the summary report.
I am aware that my participation in this website evaluation will have no effect on my personal
tax status, that identifying information about me will not be shared with the IRS, and that all of
the information I share today is protected under the Privacy Act.
____________________________________________________
Participant’s Signature/Date
If you have any comments regarding the time estimates associated with this study or suggestions on making this process simpler, please
write to the, Internal Revenue Service, Tax Products Coordinating Committee, SE:W:CAR:MP:T:T:SP, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW,
Washington, DC 20224. The OMB reference number for this project is 1545-1349.
Taxpayer version 12-01-08
IRS.gov Website Usability Evaluation
Taxpayer Pre-Test Questionnaire
We would like to learn a little more about you. We will not use your name with this information. If
you do not want to answer a question, you can skip it and move to the next item. All of your answers
will be kept private. DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME ON ANY PART OF THIS FORM. Please let
us know if you have any questions.
1. Are you...? (Please check one.)
Male
Female
2. What is your current age? (Please check one.)
19 or
50 - 59
younger
60 - 69
20 - 29
70 or more
30 - 39
40 - 49
3. What is the highest level of school that you have completed? (Please check one.)
11th grade or less
Some college
12 years of school, no diploma
College degree
GED
Post-graduate work/degree
High school graduate (diploma)
Other (specify): _______________________
4. How long have you been using a computer? (Please check one.)
Less than 6 months
6 months to 1 year
1 to 2 years
2 or more years
5. How long have you been using the Internet? (Please check one.)
Less than 6 months
6 months to 1 year
1 to 2 years
2 or more years
[Please continue on the other side.]
Taxpayer Pre-questionnaire
12-17-08
6. On a typical day in the past month, how many hours do you use the Internet for workrelated and/or personal reasons? ________________
7. Have you ever used the Internet to search for information about taxes? (Please check one.)
No STOP HERE.
Yes CONTINUE TO QUESTION 8 ON OTHER SIDE OF PAGE.
8. About how many times have you ever searched for information about taxes on the
Internet? (Please check one.)
1 time
2 to 5 times
More than 5 times
9. Briefly, please tell us about the kinds of information about taxes you have looked for on the
Internet.
______________________________________________________________________________
10. Which websites have you used to search for information about taxes?
______________________________________________________________________________
11. Have you ever used a government web site, such as www.irs.gov, to look for information
about taxes?
No STOP HERE
Yes Which website(s)?
_________________________________________________________________
THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!
Taxpayer Pre-questionnaire
12-17-08
OMB No.: 1545-1349
Website Evaluation of irs.gov/eitc
Taxpayer Task Scenarios
Participant Instructions:
Begin each task by starting from the www.irs.gov home page.
Read the task out loud so the interviewer can follow along with you.
Tell the interviewer what you’re doing while you’re looking for the information on the website.
(For example: “I’m scrolling down the page to see what it says at the bottom.”)
Task 1.
You recently heard on the radio that some people can pay less in taxes, or get a bigger
tax refund if they claim something called the “Earned Income Tax Credit”, or “EITC”, on
their tax return. You are thinking about claiming EITC on your taxes this year, but
you’re not sure if you can. Look on the irs.gov web site for information that tells you
what makes a person eligible to claim EITC.
Task 2.
You think you might be able to claim EITC on your taxes this year. You don’t have any
children, but your 10 year-old niece has been living with you most of the year. Your
neighbor told you she thought you could probably claim your niece as a dependent
when you file for EITC on your taxes because she lives with you. Use the irs.gov
website to learn what the rules are for claiming a child as a dependent when you file for
EITC on your taxes.
Task 3.
You’re wondering if you make too much money to be able to claim EITC on your taxes
this year. Use the irs.gov website to find out the highest amount of “earned income” a
person can have to be able to claim EITC on their taxes.
Task 4.
Your sister’s house in Louisiana was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. She has asked
you to look online to see if there is a way she claim this loss on her taxes. You know
she files for EITC on her taxes every year. Look on irs.gov to find information about
special rules that can help victims of Hurricane Katrina when they file for EITC.
Task 5.
A notice recently went around at your work telling employees that they can get their
EITC tax refund in advance by having it added to their paychecks if they filed a form in
the Human Resources office for something called “AEITC”. You don’t know what
AEITC is and want to learn more about it to see if it’s something you want to receive.
Use the irs.gov web site to learn what AEITC is.
Task 6.
Your tax preparer told you that you will be eligible to claim EITC on your taxes this
year, but he didn’t say how much of a tax credit you’ll get. Use the irs.gov website to
find an online tool that will let you figure out how much of an EITC credit you could get
on your 2008 taxes.
EITC Taxpayer Scenarios
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IRS.gov Website Usability Evaluation
Post-Test Questionnaire for Taxpayers
Think about your experience using the www.irs.gov website today. Please use the check boxes below
to tell us how much you agree or disagree with each of the following statements.
DO NOT WRITE YOUR NAME ON ANY PART OF THIS FORM.
Strongly
Disagree
(Please check one box for each statement.)
1. The webpages with information about EITC that are posted on
www.irs.gov are organized in a logical way.
2. I could tell what I needed to do on the website to complete the
tasks I worked on today.
3. I had difficulty finding information about EITC on the website.
4. I like using the IRS.gov website to find information about EITC.
5. The website helps me to find information about EITC easily.
6. I am not familiar with many of the terms used in the EITC pages on
this website.
7. If I came back to this website later, I would be able to find the
information I found about EITC again pretty easily.
8. The screens on this website are cluttered and distracting.
9. New Internet users would find this website easy to use.
10. Experienced Internet users would find this website easy to use.
11. This website has useful information about EITC that some
taxpayers might need.
12. I would recommend this website to other people.
13. I consider this website to be one of the better tax information
websites that I have visited. (Write “N/A” if you have never been
on a tax website before today.)
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Strongly
Agree
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IRS.gov Website Usability Evaluation
Debriefing Protocol for Taxpayers
Note: Interviewer to ask these questions of the respondent. Instructions to Interviewer appear in
blue font.
A.
General Reactions/Opening
[Display www.irs.gov Home Page on screen as you ask questions in Sections A & B.]
1. Overall, what was it like for you to use this website?
What did you like most about using this website? Why?
What did you like least about using this website? Why?
2. Now that you’ve worked with this website, how much computer or Internet experience do you
think people who use it need to have?
B.
Tell me more about that…
Usability and Navigation
[Continue to display the irs.gov Home Page on screen as you ask the following questions.]
1. How easy or difficult was it to try to find information about EITC when you started from the
IRS Home Page? Why?
2. What do you think about the way you moved or “navigated”, through the IRS website to
complete the tasks you worked on?
By “navigate” I mean the series of links that you had to click to reach the information.
o [If positive]: Why do you like [whatever participant mentions]?
o [If negative]: How would you prefer to navigate?
3. What do you think about the amount of scrolling (moving the mouse down to see everything
on a page) you needed to do to see the information posted in some sections of the website?
[If positive]: Why do you like [whatever participant mentions]?
[If negative]: What would you change?
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4. What do you think about the tabs listed at the top of the screen here? [Point out the tabs in
gray – Individuals, Businesses, etc - under the IRS header on the Home Page.]
Are any of these tabs labeled in a way where you weren’t sure what would happen when
you clicked them? If Yes, which ones?
5. Was there any time when you wanted to use the ‘Search’ function?
[If participant used it on their own while completing tasks, ask: “Tell me about the times you
decided to use the Search function.”]
[If yes]: Tell me more about when and why you needed to use Search.
[Direct Participant’s attention to Search function in upper right corner on screen]
What are some of the key words you would want to be able to enter into Search to find
information about EITC?
What kinds of information do you expect to come up when you use Search on this
website?
6. Was there ever a point when you felt “lost” while using the website?
If Yes: Tell me more about that.
7. How easy or difficult was it to get back to the IRS Home Page when you needed to? Why?
[Click on the “Individuals” tab at the top of the webpage to display the “Tax Information for
Individuals” webpage.]
8. How easy or difficult is it to find information about EITC from this webpage (the Tax
Information for Individuals page)?
How easy or difficult do you think it is to find this particular page? Why?
[Now display the www.irs.gov/eitc page on screen.]
9. This is considered the EITC “Home Page” on irs.gov. How easy or difficult is it to get to this
page from the irs.gov Home Page?
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10. How easy or difficult do you think it would be for taxpayers who want to find information
about EITC from this webpage (the EITC Home Page)?
C.
Screen Presentation
[Keep the www.irs.gov/eitc page (EITC Home Page) on screen.]
1. What do you think about the way this screen looks?
Colors?
Font size and type?
Topic arrangement?
Graphics?
o
o
[If positive]: Why do you like [whatever participant mentions]?
[If negative]: How would you suggest changing the look of the screen?
2. What do you think about the links, labels, and terms about EITC that are used here and
throughout the website?
D.
Were any terms, labels or links unclear?
o
Which ones?
o
What would you suggest instead?
User Strategies
[Keep www.irs.gov/eitc (EITC Home Page) on screen. Only ask #1 if participant had trouble starting
one or more tasks. Otherwise begin with #2.]
1. Where there any tasks you worked on where you weren’t immediately sure how to start?
If YES, how did you figure out what to do?
2. Which of the information search tasks that you worked on were especially difficult to
complete? Why?
3. Which was the easiest task to complete? Why?
4. Do the screens provide all the information you need as you are using the site? If not, what
else do you need?
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5. How did you know if you did something that was a mistake (e.g. clicked wrong link by
mistake)?
E.
What steps did you take to correct any errors you thought you made?
Content and Relevance
[Keep www.irs.gov/eitc (EITC Home Page) on screen.]
1. What do you think about the topics listed on the left menu bar (Under Individuals Topics and
IRS Resources)?
Which ones are of most interest to you? Why? [Explore those used; determine level of
interest in these topics.]
What additional information about EITC would you like to see on the site?
2. How useful do you think this website would be to a person who doesn’t know what EITC is
and wants to learn more about it?
What do you think should be added or changed to make the website more user friendly for
people looking for information about EITC for the first time?
3. What special features should be added or changed to the EITC pages on the IRS website to
make it more useful to you?
To what degree do you want the site to be interactive (e.g., chat rooms, blogs)?
o
IF INTERESTED: What kinds of things would you use these features for?
Would you find it helpful to be able to access media files (e.g., streaming video files) on
the site? For example, the video might show an expert explaining EITC.
o
IF YES: Give me an example of a time when you might use such a file.
4. [For taxpayers who said they have used other tax websites per response to Item 10 on Pretest Q]: How does this site compare to other tax-related web sites you’ve used?
What features, functions, or content have you liked about other sites that you think should
be incorporated on the IRS site?
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F.
Use of Information
1. How would you use the information you find about EITC on the irs.gov website?
o
o
o
Use it to help you decide about filing for EITC?
Give it to your tax preparer?
Give it to other people you know?
2. Would you recommend the irs.gov website to other taxpayers (e.g., neighbors, family,
friends)? Why or why not?
3. Do you think you would actually use irs.gov to find information about EITC?
Why or why not?
G.
Closing
1. Overall, how would you rate your experience using the irs.gov website to find information
about EITC? Would you say…? [Circle participant’s response.]
Very negative
Somewhat
negative
Neither negative
nor positive
Somewhat
positive
Very positive
2. Is there anything else you’d like to share with me about this website that we haven’t already
talked about?
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| File Type | application/pdf |
| Author | Teresa Koenig |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 0000-00-00 |