Focus Groups for 2017 Census of Agriculture Promotion Material

U SDA NASS

NASS Census Messaging

Focus Group Testing Questions

10/23/15

NASS Census Messaging

Focus Group Testing Questions

Questions for each individual concept (“Your Voice. Your Future. Your Responsibility” (Control), “Better Data. Better Decisions”, “American Agriculture by the Numbers”, or “Agriculture Counts”). Questions will be repeated four times for each set of messages to be tested:

1. Looking at the statement “[insert individual concept]” – what does that mean to you?

PROBE: How motivating do you find this statement to take action? Action may include to sign up to be counted in the Census of Agriculture, to respond to the Census of Agriculture, or to look for and use Census of Agriculture data. On a scale of 1 – 5, how motivating in this statement (1 “Not Motivating at All”, 5 “Very Motivating”)?

2. How would you rate your overall impression of this message? On a scale of 1 – 5 (1 “Very Negative”, 5 “Very Positive”)

3. Is it evident to you that this is for the Census of Agriculture?

4. Is it evident to you that this is from the USDA?

5. Is it evident to you that this is from the National Agricultural Statistics Service?

6. What, if anything, do you dislike or what concerns you about this concept?

Questions after evaluating all four individual concepts:

1. Which concept do you most prefer?

PROBE: What makes you choose that concept over the others?

2. Which concept is the most attention-getting?

PROBE: What makes that concept more attention-getting than the others?

3. Do any of these concepts motivate you to take action for the Census of Agriculture (i.e. sign up, respond, look for/use census data)? If so, which one?

PROBE: What is it about that concept that makes it more motivating than others?

4. [Only if needed] If none of the four concepts would motivate you to take action, what type of concept would? What key words, phrases, messages, and visuals are important to you when talking about the Census of Agriculture?

5. Do any of the concepts improve your opinion of the Census of Agriculture?

PROBE: If so, which one improves your opinion most?

PROBE: What is it about that concept that makes you improve your opinion?

6. Of the four concepts (“Your Voice. Your Future. Your Responsibility.” (Control), “Better Data Better Decisions”, “American Agriculture by the Numbers”, or “Agriculture Counts”), which concepts best represents the Census of Agriculture?

PROBE: What is it about that concepts that makes it the best fit for the Census of Agriculture?

7. Of the four concepts (“Your Voice. Your Future. Your Responsibility.” (Control), “Better Data Better Decisions”, “American Agriculture by the Numbers”, or “Agriculture Counts”), which image is most memorable?

PROBE: What is it about that image that makes it more memorable?

8. Each concept featured several logos and graphics, did you notice those? Which ones?

PROBE: What did you think about when you saw the USDA logo?

PROBE: What did you think about when you saw the NASS Agriculture Counts graphic?

PROBE: What did you think about the Census of Agriculture graphic?

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