Small Panel Interview Protocol

Bureau of Engraving and Printing Tactile Feature Program:

Small Panel Interview Protocol Script

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for agreeing to answer questions about tactile features to be incorporated into future U.S. Currency. Let me tell you what this is about.

I am from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing; the BEP produces all of the nation’s paper currency, which is then issued by the Federal Reserve. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is planning to add tactile symbols to paper money so that blind people can use their sense of touch to denominate different sample coupons, that is, determine whether the sample coupon is a $5, $10, or $20, for example. We are still doing research, trying to find the best way to make these symbols. I’ll be asking you to handle different samples with raised tactile symbols on them; you will be helping us by determining which symbols are the most perceptible to you.

Paperwork Reduction Act Notifications

Before we get started, I have to provide you several notifications required under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The questions being asked and your responses constitute a collection of information that is subject to the requirements of the PRA.

• The purpose of this information collection is to determine which tactile features may be the most effective in providing a means of assisting blind and visually impaired individuals in denominating U.S. paper currency.

• The information provided during this collection of information will be reviewed by the BEP, the Department of The Treasury, The Federal Reserve Board, The Federal Reserve Bank – Currency Technology Office, and the US Secret Service. The information will help these agencies analyze and collaborate on what type of tactile features are most effective.

• We estimate it will take 20-30 minutes for you to answer the questions being asked today.

• You are advised that your participation is completely voluntary, there is no obligation for you to provide responses, and you can decide to end the interview at any time.

• I want to assure you that the BEP is not going to collect any personally identifiable information from you today. You will not be asked your name, address, phone number, social security number, birthday, or any other information that could be used to personally identify you.

• BEP will do its best to maintain your answers as non-public information. The BEP may, however, share the results of this information collection with other agencies for the purposes of tactile feature development. In addition, BEP is obligated to provide records in response to requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act. Again, please note that no information that can identify you personally will be collected today.

• BEP is obligated to inform you that today’s information collection must be conducted under a valid control number issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The information collection being conducted today has been approved by OMB pursuant to a generic approval process, under the OMB control number 1520-0009. The clearance is posted on the OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Information Collection Review Dashboard, available at www.reginfo.gov.

INTRODUCTION TO RESPONDENT TASKS

In all tasks, the interviewer will hand coupons to the respondent one at a time, with the symbols on the upward facing side, on the upper left corner, from the respondent’s perspective. The respondent will feel each coupon and state whether or not the coupon has any tactile features on it.

Task 1: Introductory task to familiarize the respondents with the banknotes and testing process

Today I have with me many samples with symbols on them. The symbols are in the form of rectangles in the upper-left corner of the samples, which you can feel with your fingers. I have several different sets of these sample notes, which differ with respect to how the rectangles were made. You are going to help us study an important question—what is the best way to make these symbols that will go on paper currency?

So what I’m going to do is run you through a series of tasks with these test samples. For each task, we’ll do it several times because I’m going to be handing you different samples and asking you questions about them.

This first task is a task to get you familiar with the tactile features on the coupons. I’ll be asking you to hold a bill. When we do this, we’ll start with you holding the bill the exact same way each time. Hold this bill for a moment (interviewer hands a coupon to the respondent). When I hand you a bill, hold it with your right hand between the thumb and forefinger (pause for R to get into this position), and with your left hand, keep your thumb and forefinger on the lower corner of the bill, away from the symbols. And we’d like you to keep the bill up off of the table. This is what we call the “starting position.”

You will feel across the bill and determine if you feel raised symbols on the bill.

For this first task, I’ll give you a sample coupon to hold in the starting position. You will use your fingers to feel across the bill and determine if you feel raised symbols on the bill. When you have completed feeling the bill, I’d like you to drop the sample coupon and tell me whether or not the sample coupon had any rectangles on it. All right? Let’s start – here’s the first sample coupon.

[Make sure R is in the correct starting position for each trial]

Did the sample coupon have any rectangles on it? (Please say ‘yes’ if the sample coupon has any rectangles, no matter how many, say ‘no’ if the sample coupon has no rectangles on it at all).

	Correct	Incorrect
Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3
Sample 4
Sample 5

Figure 1. The configurations of the symbols on the coupons

Task 2: Accuracy task with stacks of coupons

In this task, the interviewer will place a stack of five coupons on the table in front of the respondent. The five coupons in the stack respectively bear the five symbol configurations noted above Figure 1. The symbols on all five coupons in the stack will all be of the same type: intaglio, screen press, coating embossed high, and coating embossed low that have been through different stages of wearing (worn, humidified, soaked). When the respondent says “Go,” the interviewer will start the timer, and the respondent picks up the top coupon in the stack, feels for the symbols, reports the number of symbols, drops the coupon, picks up the next coupon in the stack, and repeats this process until no coupons remain in the stack. The interviewer will record how much time elapses between the moment the respondent says “Go” and the moment that the respondent identifies the number of symbols on the final coupon. The interviewer will also record the respondent’s accuracy in identifying the number of symbols on each coupon and the respondent’s commentary on the ease of use.

When the respondent finishes the first stack of five coupons, the interviewer will present the next stack. The interviewer will present a total of eleven stacks. The first stack will be for practice, to familiarize the respondent with the task. The remaining ten stacks include one each of the four types of tactile features from the three types or wearing with the exception on one tactile feature that was subject to only one of the wearing processes.

For this task, I’ll be putting a stack of bills in front of you. Each of the bills in the stack will have 1, 2, 3 or 4 rectangles on it, or may have no rectangles at all. If it has 2 rectangles, they may be close together or spaced apart.

What I’d like for you to do is pick up one bill at a time. Feel the bill any way you like, but do not hold the bill against the table. Then tell me how many symbols are on the bill and if they were spaced far apart. Do this, one bill after another, until you reach the last bill in the stack. I’d like you to do this as quickly as you can, but most importantly, I need you to be accurate too, okay? After each stack I’ll ask you to rate how easy or difficult it was.

All right then, say the word “Go” when you are ready to begin. When you say “Go,” I will start timing you and you should pick up the first bill.

(Do this 11times: the first is a practice trial, then once for each stack. Time each stack separately. Start the timer the moment that the respondent says “Go.” Stop the timer the moment that the respondent states the number of rectangles on the final sample coupon in the stack. After each stack, ask the respondent to rate the difficulty on a 1-5 scale.)

Practice Task

	Correct	Incorrect
P1
P2
P2S
P3
P4

Time: ____________

STACK 1 (practice): On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is very easy and 5 is very difficult, how easy or difficult was it to count the number of rectangles? _________

Task A

	Correct	Incorrect
A3
A4
A1
A2
A2S

Time: ____________

STACK A: On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is very easy and 5 is very difficult, how easy or difficult was it to count the number of rectangles? _________

Task B

	Correct	Incorrect
B3
B2S
B2
B1
B4

Time: ____________

STACK B: On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is very easy and 5 is very difficult, how easy or difficult was it to count the number of rectangles? _________

Task C

	Correct	Incorrect
C4
C2
C1
C2S
C3

Time: ____________

STACK C: On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 is very easy and 5 is very difficult, how easy or difficult was it to count the number of rectangles? _________

This will be continued and repeated for Task D through Task K corresponding to the table below:

Sample ID/Task	Print Method	Treatment
A	Coat-Emboss High	Worn (30 min)
B	Coat-Emboss High	Humidified
C	Coat-Emboss High	Soaked
D	Coat-Emboss Low	Worn (30 min)
E	Coat-Emboss Low	Humidified
F	Coat-Emboss Low	Soaked
G	Screen	Worn (30 min)
H	Screen	Humidified
J	Screen	Soaked
K	Intaglio	Worn (30 min)