OMB Memo

Generic Information Collection Request (Addendum)

Request: The purpose of this letter is to inform OMB of additional experiments conducted for the project, Mobile UI Design Framework for Survey Operation – Phase 1. The original letter specified five experiments in Study 1. This addendum specifies additional 22 experiments for Study 2 of Phase 1 – developing guidelines and collecting evidence supporting the guidelines.

We estimate that each participant will spend a maximum of 60 minutes completing some of the experiments. During a 60-min session, three to six experiments from Study 1 and/or Study 2 will be administered. The participants will receive $40 to offset the costs of participation. The total burden hours does not change, nor does the timeline or the participant pool.

Purpose: The experiments for Phase 1, Study 2 cover the research topics listed in Table 1. The Experiment Number is used internally by the Census Bureau staff for bookkeeping purposes, but is not shown to the participant. The assignment of experiments to a participant depends upon the experiment development schedule. If an experimental design for a particular research topic calls for a questionnaire, most of the questions in the questionnaire are selected from surveys designed by the U.S. Census Bureau, other U.S. government agencies, or major survey organizations. The questions were selected such that the data collected from the experiment would be appropriate to address the research topic.

Table 1. Phase I – Study 2 experiments

Experiment Number	Research Topic
11	Placement of logout button
12	Label of logout button
13	Alignment of text
14	Use of masking and auto tabbing for numeric entry fields
15	Typeface styles for question text
16	Design of date input methods
17	Design of dropdown boxes
18	Design of response options
19	Format of action buttons
20	Design of currency entry boxes
23	Question grouping (paging versus scrolling)
25	Labeling of navigation buttons
27	Use of breadcrumb trails
28	Text field labeling
29	Labeling for within question “Help”
31	Placement of general help
32	Display of error messages
33	Branding/Use of logos
34	Design of open-ended response boxes
36	Virtual keyboard
37	Placement of “next” and “previous” navigation buttons
38	Use of predictive text

Population of Interest: The population of interest did not change. We will conduct sessions with up to 180 participants.

Timeline: Data collection will take place through October 2017.

Language: English only.

Method: Researchers from the Usability Lab at the U.S. Census Bureau will conduct these experiments in person. Only Census-owned equipment will be used for the experiments. All data collection activities will comply with the Census Bureau policies and regulations on privacy protection and IT security. To facilitate data analysis, a video recording of participant’s task performance may be conducted with the participant’s permission. Participants will be informed that their response is voluntary, the information they provide is confidential, and that only the Census Bureau staff who are involved in the project will have access to the information for only research purposes.

Sample Recruitment: This has not changed. We will conduct experiments at community senior centers. The intercept method will be used to recruit participants.

Use of Incentive: We will be providing $40 per participant.

Length of interview: The length of one experimental session is expected to be 60 minutes per participant. We expect to make up to three calls to the senior center to arrange a date for the visit. Each call will take on average 5 minutes.

Protocol: Enclosed are (1) a sample study plan (Experiment 23); (2) information to be presented to the participants in each experiment, e.g., questions or tasks; (3) Privacy Act Statement; and (4) Consent Form.

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

Lin Wang

Center for Survey Measurement

U.S. Census Bureau

Washington, D.C. 20233

(301) 763-9069

[email protected]

Enclosures