Form Appendix A-B Appendix A-B Survey Protocol

Appendix A

High School Student Protocol

Recruitment criteria: We are looking for high school students (ages 18-19) to participate in this study.

Scenario: The Bureau of Labor Statistics would like your feedback on our K-12 site. The site provides educational resources for children, teens, and educators.  For this study, we are looking for feedback from high school students. 

This voluntary study is being collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics under OMB No. 1220-0141. We will use the information you provide for statistical purposes only. Your participation is voluntary, and you have the right to stop at any time. This survey will take no more than 20 minutes to complete. This survey is being administered by TryMyUI.com and resides on a server outside of the BLS Domain. The BLS cannot guarantee the protection of survey responses and advises against the inclusion of sensitive personal information in any response. By proceeding with this study, you give your consent to participate in this study.

We would like to make the website as easy to use as possible.  We are going to ask you to do a few tasks so you can experience how easy or difficult it is to use. Your feedback is very important to this process, so please be honest and let us know if you see anything we can improve. 

Please don't spend too much time on any one task to ensure you get through each of them, and read the instructions for each task carefully. 

Because you will be moving around different pages on the website, before you begin each task, please be sure you are on the main K12 Page (the current page you see).  

Tasks:

1.) State your first impressions of the site. For instance, you can discuss any or all of the following: 
  • What strikes you first? 
  • What is the purpose of this website?  What can you do here? 
  • Who do you think the target audience of the site is? 
  • What types of information, data, and resources are available? 

2.) Start at the BLS K-12 homepage (http://www.bls.gov/k12). 
  Find the BLS definitions for “Occupation” and “Industry.”  Explain the terms in your own words.  How are these concepts different? 

3.) Start at the BLS K-12 homepage (http://www.bls.gov/k12).  Find a BLS milestone from 2009 
  • What milestone did you pick? 
  • Was it easy or difficult to find a milestone from 2009 on the timeline? Please explain. 
  • Would you change anything on the timeline?  If so, what? 

4.) Start at the BLS K-12 homepage (http://www.bls.gov/k12). 
  Find and report the unemployment rate for Texas in October 2015. 
  Was it easy or difficult to find the unemployment rates? Please explain. 

5.) Start at the BLS K-12 homepage (http://www.bls.gov/k12). 

 In what occupation will there be the most new jobs created between 2012 and 2022? 
  • Was it easy or difficult to find this information? Please explain. 

Survey questions:

What did you like or dislike about the BLS K-12 website?

Would the site be a good resource (for example, for school work or career planning), for students your age? Why or why not?

How could the website be improved?

What types of content would you like to see on the website?

Appendix B

Protocol for Educators

Recruitment criteria: Middle school counselors and teachers of math, statistics, economics, or social studies, who might use Bureau of Labor Statistics data

Scenario: The Bureau of Labor Statistics would like your feedback on our K-12 site. The site provides educational resources for children, teens, and educators.  For this study, we are looking for feedback from middle school teachers and counselors. 

This voluntary study is being collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics under OMB No. 1220-0141. We will use the information you provide for statistical purposes only. Your participation is voluntary, and you have the right to stop at any time. This survey will take no more than 20 minutes to complete. This survey is being administered by TryMyUI.com and resides on a server outside of the BLS Domain. The BLS cannot guarantee the protection of survey responses and advises against the inclusion of sensitive personal information in any response. By proceeding with this study, you give your consent to participate in this study.

We would like to make the website as easy to use as possible.  We are going to ask you to do a few tasks so you can experience how easy or difficult it is to use. Your feedback is very important to this process, so please be honest and let us know if you see anything we can improve. 

Please don't spend too much time on any one task to ensure you get through each of them, and read the instructions for each task carefully. 

Because you will be moving around different pages on the website, before you begin each task, please be sure to follow the instructions for the starting page of each task.  

Tasks:

1.) Please let us know what you teach. 
  • What grade do you currently teach? 
  • Do you teach a specific subject?  If so, what is it? 

2.) Now start at http://www.bls.gov/k12/. State your first impressions of the overall site. For instance, you can discuss any or all of the following: 
  • What strikes you first? 
  • What is the purpose of this website?  What can you do here? 
  • Does the site contain content you would teach to students in your classroom?  Why or why not? 

3.) Now start at the BLS Teacher’s Desk page (http://www.bls.gov/k12/teachers.html).  Talk about your first impressions of the page: 
  • What do you notice about the site? 
  • Do any of the resources look relevant for your classroom? If so, which ones and why? 

4.) Start at the BLS K-12 Teacher’s Desk page (http://www.bls.gov/k12/teachers.htm).   

   Find and review the poster titled “How BLS Collects and Publishes Statistics.” 
  • What are your impressions of the poster? 
  • What grade level do you think the poster is most appropriate for? 
  • Is this something you could incorporate into your classroom?  Why or why not? 

5.) Find and review the poster titled “Learning and Earning.” 
  • What are your impressions of the poster? 
  • What grade level do you think the poster is most appropriate for? 
  • Is this something you could incorporate into your classroom?   

6.) Start at the BLS Teacher’s Desk page again (http://www.bls.gov/k12/teachers.html).   
    There are five classroom activities here. Please briefly read the description for each of them. Select and open the “Worksheet” (pdf) for one activity that looks relevant to your curriculum. For example, if you want to select the “How do you spend your time?” activity, then open the “Overview” pdf. 
     
    Once you have read the Overview and/or Worksheet for the activity that you selected, please answer the following questions: 
  • What are your impressions of this activity? 
  • What age group do you think is most appropriate for this classroom activity? 
  • Are the instructions on how to implement the classroom activity clear? 
  • Would this classroom activity fit well with your current curriculum? Why or why not? 
  • What improvements could we make to this classroom activity?

Survey Questions

What resources on the site are the most useful to you? Why?

What other types of content (e.g., classroom activities, posters, or other resources) or topics would you like to see on the BLS K-12 page in the future?

What other websites do you use to get ideas for economic lesson plans?

How could we improve the site?

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